Blockchain can be referred to growing listing of documents, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography. Each block refers to the former block and collectively produce the blockchain. Blockchain is known as âDistributed Ledger Technology' (DLT), as it works upon the system which keeps a replica of an existing ledger of the transaction at numerous places as Blockchain document timestamps couldn't be tampered with timestamps of files, so practically rendering it tamperproof and fool-proof in safety.
Major types of Blockchain
Namely, there are major three types of Blockchain in use in todayâs time which are
1)Public Blockchains
A Blockchain network which is based upon permission-less distributed ledger technology where anyone can join and do transaction can be said as Public Blockchain system. Such a system is where anyone with an internet connection can join and access the Public Blockchain network. There are many cryptocurrencies which come under this form of Blockchain.
Advantages and disadvantages
Being an open network, anyone can join such networks, also it brings transparency among users over the given network as any available data is present to be scrutinized if wanted by any user. Such Public blockchain requires no intermediaries to work. One of the most glaring shortcomings of Public Blockchain networks is that they suffer from lack of transaction speed, as in many instances it might take minutes to complete a transaction. Another thing is that over many instances that had been issues of scalability. That is the greater number of users get joined over a particular network, the slower it becomes. Although there had been attempts to sort this issue out.
Examples
Bitcoin
Ethereum
2)Private Blockchains
A Blockchain network which is being controlled by an entity and works in a closed restrictive mechanism can be called as Private Blockchain. Such Blockchains are best suited for private entities such as corporates which might use it effectively to allow only a few selected participants to access the network. Over such a network different parameters can be set which might include accessibility and authorization.
The base of such Private Blockchain networks can be said as decentralized in nature where one authority looks after it is contrary to Public Blockchain networks which are purely decentralized in nature.
Advantages and disadvantages
Due to a lesser number of participants, these Private Blockchain networks are extremely fast as compared to their Public Blockchain counterparts, which ultimately makes is faster transactions. Again, due to a lesser number of users here scalability is not an issue, apart from that being centralized nullifies the slowing down of network if the number of users grow. One of the biggest drawbacks of Private Blockchains is that they are not truly decentralized which contradicts the very philosophy of distributed ledger technology, which is Blockchain.
Examples
Hyperledger
R3 Corda
3)Consortium Blockchains
Due to various shortcomings of Public and Private based Blockchain respectively, there had been initiatives from various firms to work upon such a network system, which would combine the qualities of both Public and Private Blockchain systems. In such a Consortium based Blockchain system, there are some aspects that are public and some of them are kept private to suit the needs of the organization. It may be said that in the Consortium Blockchain system the features like transparency, privacy, and efficiency are more efficiently tuned where there is more than one party that consolidates the power.
Advantages and disadvantages
Being having features of both Public and Private Blockchain systems, it offers better control over resources and custom features. These Blockchain systems offer better scalability and security. Along with that it is more efficient and works well with well-defined governance structures. Being less transparent and it is also much less anonymous compared to other Blockchain which makes it disadvantaged to some extent.
Examples
R3
IBM Blockchain
Blockchains uses in various sectors
Monitoring of supply chains âWhen it comes to monitoring of supply chains, none comes as handy as blockchains come to it. By eliminating paper trails blockchains had been doing a wonderful job to pinpoint various inefficiencies within the supply chains, as well as locate products in real-time. Apart from that blockchains for monitoring of supply chains, allows businesses as well as consumers to see how products performed from a quality control perspective in various time frames.
Payment processing and money transfers
With the advent of blockchains, the financial transactions which used to take 7 days to 24 hours, now can be processed in a matter of a few seconds. Thereby blockchains for financial transactions came as a boon for digital currency dealings.
Retail and loyalty reward programs
Blockchain can also be used as a peer to peer distributed ledger technology that provides a shared, immutable and transparent register of all actions. It is secured using cryptographic primitives such as hash function, digital signature, and encryption, hence blockchains for data sharing will be the trend in the coming time.
Data sharing
Blockchain can also be used as a peer to peer distributed ledger technology that provides a shared, immutable and transparent register of all actions. It is secured using cryptographic primitives such as hash function, digital signature, and encryption, hence blockchains for data sharing will be the trend in the coming time. Many IT giants are developing innovative Blockchain-based solutions and Rejolut is one of them to provide customized solutions according to the needs of their clients.
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