#episode 1 : Blockchain,Mining,Block

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shubham-dhage-T9rKvI3N0NM-unsplash.jpg Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to visit. In this blog article, I attempted to summarize three blockchain concepts in five phrases so that you could quickly absorb them.

What is Blockchain ?

  • It's a secure digital ledger (records) of transactions that are copied and spread throughout the complete network of computers.

  • It's a peer-to-peer database that's shared between multiple computers connected by a peer-to-peer network.

  • It's a combination of cryptography, networking, incentive mechanisms use to facilitate the process of storing and validating transactions among a network of computers.

  • It stores new data(i.e digital ledger/record/transaction) by adding a new block that's linked to the previous block using cryptography.

  • Data stored in the blockchain is immutable, and append-only means data can be added to the system but cannot be deleted. Also, it takes the entire computer to agree before data can be updated which is 99.9% impossible.

What is Blockchain Mining ?

  • Since Blockchain is a digital record of transactions; Blockchain mining is the process by which a new transaction(records) is added to the Blockchain.

  • It is the incentive mechanism used to reward miners to help verify that a blockchain transaction is secure verify and valid.

  • Computer systems in the network compete to solve a complex mathematical puzzle which results to create a hash of a block of transactions that can not be forged

  • The first computer to solve the complex mathematical puzzle gets a reward of a cryptocurrency and it updates other computers on the network this process is repeated but this time the puzzle becomes harder.

  • It is important to note that not all cryptocurrencies can be mined, thus only proof of work-based cryptocurrency can be mined. (more on this in a future episode)

What is Block ?

  • A block is the actual data structure where a transaction is permanently stored on the blockchain.

  • when a block is created it has 3 basic units called data, nonce, and hash.

  • The block header hash is formed as a result of the nonce being generated at random when a block is constructed.

  • a block holds unverified transactions and when the puzzle is solved(mining) the transaction is sealed and immutable

  • The nonce is set to a 32-bit whole number used to seal a block

I appreciate your taking the time to read this. Please leave a comment and/or feedback.

Also, please share to assist someone in learning the fundamentals of blockchain terminology.

Next, we'll talk about Transactions, Consensus, and Nodes.

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