Principles of bitcoin and blockchain
bitcoin is equivalent to digital gold. As a generally recognized equivalent, gold naturally has monetary properties and has been regarded as a kind of currency since ancient times. Bitcoin was born in 2009 and created by a person named Nakamoto. As the earliest digital currency, it was worthless at the beginning of creation. Until 2017, the highest transaction price of bitcoin exceeded 30000 RMB. The reasons why bitcoin became a valuable digital currency are as follows:
first of all, it is like gold, as a natural mineral, The total amount of bitcoin is limited. Bitcoin can not be over issued according to its own algorithm, so there will be no rapid devaluation of currency e to excessive currency issuance. The number of bitcoin is controlled to no more than 21 million e to the algorithm, so it can not be issued in large quantities, so its value is guaranteed
The price of a bitcoin soared from more than $20000 to $40000. This can not help but arouse my research interest, or simply understand what bitcoin is, what its mechanism looks like, and uncover its mystery. Therefore, after a simple search of some information and some understanding of the special currency, I sorted out the information on hand< (3) purpose: decentralize, rece risk
all servers in the distributed network can store and process data, and each server has equal status, which can store more data and has higher security<
this is the general content of popular science. If you want to know more about it, you can take a look at Nakamoto's paper and the official popular science video below
Seeing some answers to the debate on the definition of blockchain, I suddenly realize that my answer to this explanation principle has always been directed at bitcoin. There is no specific and unique answer in the instry between the definition of blockchain. Here I first summarize the characteristics of "blockchain" according to the papers I read:
1; Hash chain & quot There are several nodes participating in the system operation (distributed)
3. Reach a consensus on the consistency of basic data (consensus agreement / algorithm) through a certain protocol or algorithm
since bitcoin is currently one of the most typical and influential applications of blockchain, it will be much easier to understand how bitcoin uses blockchain before understanding other forms of blockchain applications
blockchain technology is not only the underlying technology of bitcoin, but also the core and infrastructure of bitcoin bitcoin has been running without any centralized organization operation and management. Later, bitcoin technology was abstracted, which was called blockchain technology or distributed ledger technology
extended data:
disadvantages of blockchain technology applied to digital currency:
first, there is no circulation management organization for "decentralization" blockchain technology is essentially a distributed database system with one-way linked list logic structure and P2P network design mode, which determines that there is no unified central control system for virtual currency based on blockchain technology
Second, it is difficult to effectively control the quantity supply the circulation of virtual currency based on blockchain technology is fixed, and according to Fisher Equation, the total transaction volume of the whole society under a certain price level in a certain period has a certain proportion with the required nominal currency volume, while the constant currency volume obviously can not meet the requirements of the growing total price of social goods Thirdly, "mining mechanism" is difficult to create recognized value bitcoin itself has no value and no national credit support. Some people think that "by continuously consuming computing power and energy to inject value into virtual currency", but it is obviously not the most efficient choice to consume millions of calculations in order to find a hash value that meets the requirements Fourthly, procers and early holders are easy to get high seigniorage any virtual currency based on blockchain technology is held by a few people at the initial stage of its development. Take bitcoin as an example. At first, bitcoin was only a proct of a few people's game. The first bitcoin purchase in May 2010 was $10000 BTC's purchase of $25 pizza. The first bitcoin transaction completed in July of the same year was $0.04/btcWhen we were young, we all played the game of throwing handkerchief. To win in the game, we should not only be quick-sighted, but also know the information at the first time, because the children with handkerchief will walk quickly by us, and then inadvertently throw the handkerchief down. But in the process of throwing handkerchief, we should not only be quick to see, but also know the information, These children will definitely pause behind us. If we can find this pause, we can seize the opportunity to seize this child
the same is true for bitcoin. Many people always think that bitcoin is a process of continuous rise and fall. As long as they buy it at a low price, they can wait for the price of bitcoin to rise. When the price of bitcoin rises to a certain extent, they can get huge wealth by selling the bitcoin in their hands. This idea is really wrong
So I think the principle of bitcoin is similar to that of losing a handkerchief. First of all, we need to know the news and seize the opportunity. Second, we need to know who has the handkerchief. Last but not least, we need to be quick in the process of losing a handkerchief, Every turn is the best time2. The transaction information of bitcoin is recorded in a decentralized ledger, which is called blockchain
3. According to the principle of cryptography, each block is connected in chronological order to form a chain structure, so it is named blockchain.