Introduction
Blockchain is one big reality that will soon come to us face to face in the very near future. Blockchain is often associated with Bitcoin, not only by the concept but also by the person some people believed to be the inventor of it. These two, Blockchain and Bitcoin are actually from two different persons.
In 2009, Nakamoto released the Bitcoin blockchain and digital currency. Satoshi Nakamoto is then frequently credited with developing blockchain technology aside from being recognized for creating the first contemporary cryptocurrency, which enables Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies.
The truth is blockchains were developed at a completely different period and place than Bitcoin, which is without dispute Nakamoto’s innovation. David Chaum, a 1982 PhD candidate at the University of California at Berkeley (California), wrote about a blockchain database during his dissertation, a generation before Nakamoto’s white paper. So when was blockchain invented real? The fascinating answer is way back in 1982.
Blockchain Before Bitcoin
With long years apart, we can say that blockchain was conceptualized before Bitcoin. Although Chaum was not the first to create a decentralized database, he should earn you the prize if you ever appear on a game show and are asked who created the blockchain.
Although Chaum’s suspicious networks were not built to serve digital money, the relationship was nonetheless clear. Using his experience with blockchain technology, Chaum established DigiCash in 1989. The business introduced a cryptocurrency in 1995 that went by the names digicash, cyberbucks, and eCash.
The digital currency offered by digiCash promised to offer many of the capabilities of contemporary cryptocurrencies. Anonymity was highlighted by the corporation as a major perk. The corporation claimed that even the government could not read encrypted eCash transfers. The project failed because Chaum was unable to persuade banks to fund it and because there was no internet infrastructure to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions other than exchanges. In 1998, DigiCash filed for bankruptcy.
History Was Almost Repeated
When a related research article showed up on internet discussion boards in 2008, the history of blockchain and blockchain technology started to get fascinating. Satoshi Nakamoto was credited as the author of the paper back then, which was entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.”
According to experts, David Chaum’s blockchain system many years ago and the one described in the Nakamoto research paper is nearly and almost the same. The addition and introduction of the Bitcoin proof-of-work approval and consensus method and ways for validating and securing data blocks and coin mining is the sole significant difference. Though the majority of people still believe that Satoshi Nakamoto was the author and inventor of blockchain technology.
In order for software engineers all across the world to contribute something to the project, Nakamoto posted the blockchain source code on SourceForge in 2008. In January 2009, the first ever modern blockchain and its companion digital currency, Bitcoin, were introduced and started to get known.
For a while some believe, it seemed as though the Bitcoin project would suffer the same unfortunate end as DigiCash. For Bitcoin to acquire the symbolic value or amount of one US dollar, it took more than two years. Bitcoin did not achieve a value of 1,000 euros until 2017. Since that time, the coin’s value has continued to fluctuate as usual while significantly increasing up until now.
A Deluge of Blockchains
In the run of two years, Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency and blockchain that was functional and used. Litecoin and Namecoin to name some, two blockchain-based digital currencies that are derived from the Bitcoin project, were both published by developers in 2011. Peercoin was added next in the year 2012. Five blockchains were launched the next year 2013, including Dogecoin, the first meme coin.
Two years later, a group that included Bitcoin project participants unveiled the Ethereum blockchain in 2015. As a platform for decentralized apps, Ethereum was introduced. Ethereum was somehow a little different. Different blockchains only supported certain cryptocurrencies, and that was it. Thousands of blockchain-based applications are built on top of the Ethereum blockchain since it stores executable source code in addition to data. Due to its adaptability, the Ethereum blockchain is perfect for hosting both NFTs and dApps.
Currently, researchers and computer scientists are testing different repetitions of the procedure of the fundamental blockchain design. Although common blockchains operate efficiently under light loads, they have difficulties scaling to accommodate large-scale applications. Transaction costs skyrocket, and processing times can take many days instead of just a few hours. A large number of the new blockchains incorporate creative fixes to solve these issues.
Researchers are still experimenting with resolution methods, the coordination of simultaneous subchains, private blockchains, and some other technological challenges. Instead of serving as all-purpose replacements for national currency issued by governments, the bulk of new cryptocurrencies is created to support specific applications or industries. Recent blockchain applications are widely used for purposes unrelated to cryptocurrencies. Sometimes improvements to the essential blockchain architecture benefit these apps.
Even if governments around the world approved legislation making the bitcoin market illegal, these blockchains would continue to perform essential functions in healthcare, identity management, supply-chain management, entertainment, and other industries. The reality is that we cannot do away with blockchain.
Conclusion
To put it simply, consider blockchain as a technology that lowers the cost of trust between organizations and people, making commercial transactions simpler, less expensive, and less hazardous. Blockchain technology makes it so that a digital asset cannot be copied indefinitely, opening the door for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Even if there is some disagreement regarding the worth of particular NFTs, their value lies in the fact that they cannot be copied and sold again.
Blockchain is currently being used in many different applications, and it appears that this growth will continue apace. The worldwide blockchain market is anticipated to expand in size. The buzz surrounding blockchain is starting to materialize, and it is in fact genuine. Being able to do certain things, like transferring money around, without the involvement of intermediaries has several positive and helpful applications.
And let us be real for a second: Blockchain technology will soon be embraced by the general public, whether we like it or not.
