Bitcoin and Blockchain basics

Several years ago a revolutionary technology called blockchain showed up on the scene. It’s probably the biggest invention since the creation of the Internet. The first cryptocurrency using the blockchain was Bitcoin and since then, thousands of other alternative coins arose.

Blockchain has no central point of failure, so it’s very difficult for authorities and corporations to control or regulate it.

In this article we are going to take a look at the inner workings of the blockchain technology, its security, ways of storing bitcoin, and the meaning of the Bitcoin halving that happened last week.

Note: “Bitcoin” references the network and the payment system, “bitcoin” references the currency and the currency unit.

Blockchain

Cryptocurrencies represents a type of decentralization, which takes the power over money away from the banks. Thanks to the blockchain, no institution can directly tamper with the cryptocurrency progression.

One of the primary goals of the Bitcoin blockchain is to provide people with a secure way to store money, so if another financial crisis was to come, your funds would stay safe and independent of the banking system.

Blockchain is a globally distributed ledger, implemented as a chain of blocks. Each block stores…