Hello internet and welcome to everWonder.
Of all the new technologies, there is one that could revolutionize the world - just
as the World Wide Web did before.
At least, it is working fast towards this future, and many large companies like IBM,
Microsoft or even governments are aware of this potential and are investing in perfecting
this technology.
Mind you, I'm not speaking about cryptocurrencies.
They are just one of many different applications of this technology.
In this video, I try to make things as easy as possible by simplifying a lot about this
wide and complex topic.
Blockchain itself is a way to store and transmit data.
The key features are security, speed, low cost, consistency and especially that a third
party is no longer required.
This is done by decentralizing a public ledger that holds all the information.
But let's start slow.
Like I said, you can imagine the blockchain as a ledger keeping track of all occurring
changes.
Just like the old bookkeeping ledgers we've been using for centuries.
But instead of keeping it in one place, it gets copied and distributed across the web
to multiple different computers.
Everyone can get a copy, even you at home.
So if you'd like to commit fraud, instead of changing just one ledger you'll need
to change every single one or at least a majority at the same time.
Otherwise, the change is detected and discarded.
This is a way to make systems more fraud-proof, but there are more things in place to make
it secure.
For now, all we have is the transaction information but no blocks or a chain.
Let's look back at our book.
Think of a block like a page of this ledger.
You start by recording all the upcoming transactions.
Once you're finished, a checksum of the block is created, and the page is finished.
For now, there is nothing keeping me from changing a transaction and redoing the checksum
except for the decentralized ecosystem.
This is where the chain comes in.
After the first page is distributed, we start recording all following transactions on the
second page.
But this time, we also include the checksum of the previous page or block.
Then a new checksum is created for page 2 and distributed to all ledgers around the
web.
This is the chain.
Every block knows the checksum of the one before it, and it itself is part of its own
checksum.
The result of this concept is that if I change for example Block number 3, I'll get a different
checksum.
Not only does this create a conflict for this specific block across other ledgers, but also
in the following block since the recorded sums no longer match.
I would need to change Block 4 in order to hide my change.
But doing this creates a conflict in Block 5 and so on.
This means the more blocks are written in front of your transaction, the harder it is
to change anything – ever.
If you already transferred cryptocurrencies, then you probably noticed the term, for example,
"10 confirmations needed".
This means you have to wait until 10 new blocks are written in front of your transaction to
confirm its, let's say, unchangeability.
But if everyone can get this ledger and write new blocks to the chain, why is there no collision,
conflict or fraud directly at the top level?
Let us look into this now.
To participate in cryptocurrencies, you need a wallet.
You can create as much as you want without effort or registration.
This itself is just a key so you can deposit or withdraw currency.
Losing this key means losing access to your vault.
You know it is there, you can see it, but you can never access it again.
On the other hand, this concept makes it very secure as long as you keep your key safe.
Once you have your wallet, you can choose if you want to create blocks or not.
This creation of blocks is also called mining.
So if you want to mine the new block, you'll need a copy of the ledger.
I mean, where else would you like to write it down once you create a new block?
The next step is to slow down this process to avoid collisions and increase integrity.
This is done by making the miners compete in solving a cryptographic riddle.
Once a miner finds the right answer, it is broadcasted to all the other ones out there
which in turn validates the riddle and transactions.
If everything checks out, the new block is added to the chain and synchronized throughout
the network while the miner is compensated for their work through transactions fees and/or
the creation of new currency.
This sounds amazing - but nothing is perfect.
I guess you all heard about the energy consumption problem of mining.
Especially when everyone competes but only one wins.
You can regard the effort of the others as wasted energy.
There are always new ideas to combat many of these problems such as proof of stake or
even newer ones.
But each of them brings along a new set of problems to solve.
Still, progress is the key to the future.
Without trying to steadily improve new technologies, we wouldn't have the internet or cars.
Far enough back, we wouldn't even have tamed fire or fabricated the first tools.
Technology and progress are one of the keys that make us human in the first place.
And with that being said: See you in the next video.
Have a good one!
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