Let's start with some quick definitions. The blockchain is the technology that allows the existence of cryptocurrencies (among other things).
Bitcoin
is the name of the best-known cryptocurrency, the one for which blockchain technology was created as we currently know it. Essentially, a digitized and decentralized public ledger, the blockchain is a formation of digital information, or blocks, stored on a network of computers that create a database.When verifiable transactions are made, information is stored in blocks that, when full, are added to the chain.1 Cryptocurrency operates through the blockchain, since it is also a decentralized digital system. Defined as a digital or virtual currency, cryptocurrencies use cryptography for security reasons and are not owned by any particular authority, making it difficult for governments to manipulate them. 2.Only public blockchains need cryptocurrencies to work, while private blockchains don't need them. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum work with a technology called blockchain.
In its most basic form, a blockchain is a list of transactions that anyone can view and verify. The Bitcoin blockchain, for example, contains a record of every time someone sent or received bitcoins. Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that powers them allow value to be transferred online without the need for an intermediary, such as a bank or credit card company. There is no mandate or requirement for cryptocurrencies to boost and incentivize network members, since centralized corporations manage these private blockchains.
Permissionless blockchains, such as the Bitcoin blockchain, reward network participants called miners for solving a complex mathematical puzzle. By taking the means of transaction out of closed and isolated networks, the blockchain helps to solve some of the challenges related to the interoperability of different financial systems around the world. A blockchain allows a person to securely send money to another person without going through a bank or a financial service provider. This short, six-week online course will expand your practical knowledge of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and reveal how crypto assets are destined to shape the future of the financial industry.
In exchange for contributing their computing power to the blockchain, miners are rewarded with small amounts of cryptocurrency. The Ethereum blockchain is a further evolution of the idea of the distributed ledger, since, unlike the Bitcoin blockchain, it is not designed solely to manage digital money. Nearly all cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin, are protected through blockchain networks. This section of the FinTech guide briefly covers cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin) and blockchain technology (a protocol for a peer-to-peer electronic cash system).
The terms have become synonymous, perhaps because the first blockchain was the database in which every bitcoin transaction (the first cryptocurrency) was stored. The following sources from the Internet and from the printed collections of the Library of Congress are useful for learning more about cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. Bitcoins are “mined” through that huge decentralized network (also known as peer-to-peer) of computers, which also constantly verify and ensure the accuracy of the blockchain. The data stored on the blockchain is tamper-proof because the network of nodes (the different computers on which the shared database is stored and that validate transactions) can cross-reference to locate the source of a controversial change, so the technology has several possible cybersecurity applications.
However, the blockchain is mainly concerned with the decentralized storage of information and the consensus of certain digital assets, which may or may not be cryptocurrencies...
