Podcast | Digging deeper – Blockchain: over the bitcoin

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You would think that the second most populous country in the world could easily win second place in any competition. But you know it's not that simple, if only from our Olympic golds. And silver and bronzes.

We enter a respectable second even if in a couple of significant areas. One, with 3.5 million people, we have the second largest developer community in the world. The United States has the largest with 5 million. Two, like a recent one Moneycontrol The article points out that we have the second largest group of blockchain developers in the world: 19,627 in total on the last count. This is a super specialization for you. Specialization in something super that is.

Because as a series of end-of-year trend reports have begun to point out, blockchain will continue to be one of the super-technological trends for 2019.

Gartner, the research and analysis company, says the technology will generate $ 3.1 trillion worth of commercial value by 2020. Blockchain ranks seventh in the list of 10, since we still feel a bit obsessed from positions and positions. And, apart from that, a little pleased that China is not the first to change. We are a competitive people. Yup.

But to come back, if blockchain is the most searched term on gartner.com from 2017, that is, and we have the 2ND the largest group of experts in the area, technology certainly deserves a closer look.

Welcome to Digging Deeper, a series of podcasts on Moneycontrol. Today we take a look at what it means to have a larger blockchain developer pool for India, which blockchain is in the first place and why wired he believes he could transform the art world. Ok, while that last bit is true, it's really here to serve as clickbaits. Or whatever the audio equivalent of that is.

First link in the chain: origin and definition

So the definitions of blockchain are not that simple for us laymen around us – probably because it's the most wanted term on Gartner. From the number of times you have to visit the site and reread the articles, perhaps.

Even blockchain for dummies is not particularly useful. What is however is a Forbes contributor analogy for blockchain. Bernad Marr says and we quote, "Some people have called blockchain the" value internet "which I think is a good metaphor.

On the internet, anyone can publish information and therefore others can access it anywhere in the world. A blockchain allows anyone to send value anywhere in the world where you can access the blockchain file. But you must have a private and encrypted key to change only the blocks you have.

Using your private key and someone else's public key, you can transfer the value of what is stored in that section of the blockchain. "

However, the definitions may not be required. Most people who at least read the newspapers every day have heard of bitcoin superstars (threatening to turn into a real box office these days). Blockchain is the proverbial invisible wind under its wings.

A part here. Satoshi Nakamoto, credited with thinking about blockchain technology, is certainly not a bird or an airplane, but may not even be a superman. Satoshi Nakamoto could very well be a group of people using that nickname. In any case, Satoshi Nakamoto, in a 2008 document, wrote on peer-to-peer networks as a solution to the problem of double spending in digital currency. In simple terms, physical currencies such as banknotes and coins can only exist in one place at a time, so there is no possibility that the same banknote or coin will be spent at the same time. This does not apply to digital currencies that run the risk of being "spent in two" because the digital currency is not immediately removed from someone's possession after being spent, and digital information is easier to replicate or copy.

Nakamoto proposed a decentralized approach to transactions, which Investopedia explains how a network of buyers and sellers can interact with each other and should not be addressed through a sort of centralized clearing house. The real estate market is a good example of a decentralized structure, where buyers and sellers make transactions between them without having to channel any part of the process through another entity.

This decentralized approach translates into the creation of blockchains.

The block refers to the digital information on 1, the transaction itself – including date, time, value, etc., 2, information about the participants involved as user names and so on, and 3, information that differentiates one block from another. Very similar to human DNA but indicated in this context as hash.

Whenever new data is added to a block, it is added to a blockchain. So a blockchain is actually a collection of multiple blocks.

And here's what makes this technology really interesting and interesting – in a blockchain, transaction timestamps are added to the end of a previous timestamp, creating a historical record that can not be edited. The blocks are stored in a linear and chronological way with new blocks added to the end of the chain. If the information on a single block is changed, changes to the unique code or to the hash will also occur. But the following block will still keep the old hash, which means hackers will have to modify the hash on EVERY block to cover their tracks. Sounds do you think? Do not have ideas. It is all but feasible when the blockchain increases in size, which is what happens when new data is added and the transactions increase. The computational power required to modify such blockchain records is enormous: a very effective deterrent to attack.

We believe it is safe to eliminate Gartner's definition of blockchain. We quote:

"Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger, an expanded chronological list of cryptographically and irrevocably signed transactional documents shared by all participants in a network."

Definitions, history and key attributes out of the way, time to tell you what interesting things the world is doing with blockchain technology these days, considering it has not been easy to decipher so far. But more on the next challenges.

Interesting uses for Blockchain

In an October 22 article on technology trends for 2019, Forbes Collaborator Peter High said and quoted, "Blockchain promises to reshape industries by enabling decentralized trust, providing transparency and reducing friction between business ecosystems, while many CIOs are just beginning to explore the blockchain and assess its potential, the former Users like Walmart and Maersk are already expanding their pilot programs. "

It can not be denied that the proofs of concepts have served well and are strengthened by the big names of retailers. Or spinach, pop-eye style. A New York Times piece talks about how in the spring this year, dozens of Walmart buyers got sick after consuming contaminated vegetables from the store. Months later, in September, Walmart announced that it would require its spinach and lettuce breeders to contribute to its blockchain database to help identify the contamination.

More daal-chawal kind of uses for blockchain in the retail world – Carrefour uses technology to track tomatoes, eggs and chicken as they travel from farms to stores.

Eastman Kodak has a blockchain platform that allows photographers to manage and record ownership of their work. Dinamica Picture Agency – are you listening? Apart – Dinodia dates back to 1987 and is the first photo library in India.

Then a wired piece from November 20, with the enticing title "8 trends that will shape the world in 2019" talks about how blockchain could find a clean place in the art market – providing a unique record for each piece of art, from the initial authentication to the current property.

The article quoted Ed Vaizey MP, former UK minister for communications, culture and creative industries, saying, "Only five percent of the $ 500 billion blockchain industry is focused on the art: Blockchain could increase the speed, transparency and volume of sales of art works globally and, most important of all, democratize the industry so that we can all benefit from its riches. "

Although not half fun, but closer to home and hot off the plate, a TechCircle article of 21 November, talks about HSBC India and ING Bank that together distribute blockchain to accelerate a commercial finance agreement involving the largest listed company by market capitalization. No point for hypothesis.

Forbes has a whole piece on 35 innovative uses for blockchain that include the security of medical records, replacing the need for login and password, yes please, preventing the spread of conflict diamonds, sharing the unused space of the hard disk, public security and transport solutions, ensuring a faster and more effective disaster relief and response, management of bank guarantees and maritime insurance … everything is okay and plausible so far … and this too – allowing the creation of democratically structured organizations, and potentially also of states or nations, using blockchain tools.

There are many more of course, but clearly Blockchain has a lot of uses in addition to the usual cryptocurrency applications like Bitcoin and in the banking and financial sectors.

Still only the number 7 on the Gartner list?

Daniel Newman writes for Forbes Says with skepticism, and we quote, "As we continue to explore this miraculous technological operator, we understand that blockchain is a bit of a mess, it's too complicated for lay people to use right now, and there's no standard way to use it because we all want to use it differently. "

He adds, however, that the mass adoption of blockchain can happen if there is a plug and play version of it that is easy to use and understand. We feel your pain Daniel.

Furthermore, a Deloitte report states that the main challenge facing Blockchain is the lack of awareness of technology, especially in areas other than banking and finance, and a lack of understanding of how it works.

Bitcoin Magazine & # 39; s The article on the Nasdaq website draws attention to a very important challenge – privacy and security – in the context of a key feature of technology: Blockchains is designed to be accessible and visible to all those who contributed to the blockade or transferring data over the network. We quote, "Governments and corporations need to be able to protect and restrict access to their data for a myriad of reasons, which means that blockchain technology can not work in sensitive data spaces until this challenge is not met. "

The piece also lists the initial costs, the integration of legacy systems and energy consumption as some of the other challenges facing blockchain.

The opportunities of India – for development and developers

Before arriving in India, adding potential to the blockchain is leading to technology films such as IBM and Microsoft that have made enormous commitments to technology. Significantly, IBM uses the Hyperledger Blockchain creator tool to help organizations build their own distributed accounting system and smart contract systems.

Microsoft, besides being one of the first to adopt blockchain, has obtained several patents regarding the use of blockchain in payment gateways and secure storage. Microsoft also allows companies and developers to implement their own blockchain using Stratis in Microsoft Azure.

Placing blockchain in the context of India, a Livemint The article at the beginning of November says and we quote: "The public blockchain offer huge opportunities for India through four dimensions, jobs, capital, solutions to the problems of India and global strategic positioning. decentralized on public blockchains can solve a myriad of Indian problems, such as eliminating brokers, ensuring data security, reducing corruption and tampering with financial registers and improving the speed of service delivery by governments and corporations. "

It is clear that India Inc has embarked on its journey of digital transformation and is heading towards the future, while the main strategic trends of AI, Internet of Things (IoT), Autonomous Things, Augmented Analytics, Blockchain and other emerging technologies to work in silos and start converging.

And the opportunity for the second largest community of blockchain developers in the world is summarized in Livemint therefore: Blockchain is now the fastest growing skill set required at work sites, with job growth rates of 2000-6,000% and wages for blockchain developers 50-100% higher than normal developer jobs. The decentralized nature of projects with distributed teams can translate into lakhs of well-paid jobs from all over the world that are available to Indian developers. "Unquote.

While our night skies light up with dollar signs in the eyes of 19,627 Indian blockchain developers, Satoshi Nakamoto has, as communicated to another bitcoin developer in a 2011 email, "moved on to other things".


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