Top Indian Startups in the Field of Blockchain Technology

The blockchain technology has been a real game-changer for businesses that rely on the use of sophisticated technology to operate. It is commonly known as the distributed ledger technology and became mainstream to the world after Bitcoin was introduced into the market. This marvelous technology that was at the core of Bitcoin eventually went on to find many other applications. Given the demand for the blockchain technology, it is also growing popular as a career option for technology professionals.

One can easily opt for a blockchain technology course online and obtain relevant knowledge and skills required to work in this domain. Let’s delve deeper into what this technology holds and also find about the start-ups that are leveraging this revolutionary technology into the Indian market.

Understanding the Blockchain Technology

At the very core of blockchain technology lays the principle of decentralization and transparency. It can be understood as a system of recording important financial data and transactions that have a decent economic value. The interesting thing about this record-keeping distributed ledger technology is that it makes it almost impossible to cheat the system and alter the information without giving up the identity. All the transactions are recorded using an immutable cryptographic signature termed as ‘Hash’.

The blockchain structure comprises of blocks that contain information about the transactions which are encrypted and time-stamped and these blocks are connected in a chain in such a way that tracing the transactions is far easier. Any edits in the blocks make it apparent for all the participants in that blockchain. The highly decentralized nature of this technology removes the need for any central middlemen and provides equal authority to all the participants. This makes it perfectly suitable for running digital currencies like Bitcoin.

Indian Startups in the Blockchain Arena

Now that we have understood what Blockchain technology entails let’s look at some of the most promising Indian startups in this sector.

  1. Matic Network: Matic Network originated from the tech-hub of India, Bangalore. It was co-founded by Jayant Kanani, Anurag Arjun and Sandeep Nailwal. The team of Matic network raised a sum of $5,600,000 through the public token sale in the year 2019. Matic Network intends to scale the Ethereum blockchain solution using an adapted model of Plasma protocol. It also aims to counter two major issues related to Etereum blockchain, the slow block confirmations and high transaction charges.
  2. Nuo: Nuo offers a new and easy platform to lend and borrow cryptocurrency. It was co-founded by Varun Deshpande, Siddarth Verma and Ratnesh Ray in the year 2018. Some of the exclusive features include smart contract, personalised loans, Meta Tx, instant trading. It has also started a new digital banking platform with the name Juno that leverages Ehtereum and uses the Nuo protocol to provide the neo banking services. It has also expanded its operations to Singapore in addition to its Mumbai office.
  3. CoinDCX: CoinDCX is based out of Mumbai and was started in the year 2018 by co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal. CoinDCX intends to provide a single platform for a diverse range of crypto-based financial products and services. The proprietary aggregation model by CoinDCX provides the highest liquidity from the most prominent global crypto exchanges. It also has a credit facility called ‘Lend’ to help the users earn interest income on their cryptocurrencies.
  4. KoineArth: KoineArth was founded in the year 2017 by Dr Praphul Chandra, a professor at Insofe institute. It’s primarily involved in AI, blockchain and mechanism design. It helps its users to analyse blockchain-enabled interactions using a data pipeline and machine learning algorithms. marketsN by KoineArth is a cloud-based blockchain and AI product that also offers a collaboration platform. It helps businesses to obtain real-time data easily.

Conclusion

These were some of the leading Indian startups in the blockchain arena that is revolutionising the future of Indian blockchain industry. Opting for a blockchain course from reputed institutions like Imarticus Learning will help to boost your job prospects easily.

Also Read: India Becomes Worlds Second Largest Fintech Hub

What is a Blockchain Course?

Blockchain technology is being used in many fields like finance, cryptocurrency transactions, online shopping payment, etc. Blockchain supports the digital transfer of information from a peer to another peer with users having access to read the information but not copy or amend it. A blockchain is made up of blocks and each block directs to the address of the previous block. This decentralized technology is providing fast results with increased security. A blockchain course will help you in understanding the concepts of blockchain and how to use it. A blockchain course via trusted sources like Imarticus Learning will make prepare you for all relevant roles available.

Skills Taught in a Blockchain Course

Some of the most prominent things that you can learn about blockchain & its applications via the blockchain course of Imarticus Learning are as follows:

  • You will be taught about the meaning of blockchain and its related concepts. The fundamentals & applications of blockchain technology will be discussed in a Blockchain Course.
  • Usage of blockchain in cryptocurrency transactions can be learned via a Blockchain Course. You can understand how prominent cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin, etc. use blockchain to provide secure services. You will grasp better with real-world blockchain scenarios.
  • You will get to know about the Hyperledger fabric in the blockchain which is a framework used to develop blockchain-based services, products, and applications.
  • The Fintech Pro-Degree & Blockchain Training offered via Imarticus Learning will also help you in understanding complex blockchain frameworks like Multi-chain blockchain.
  • You will learn about the security measures in blockchain and how asymmetric cryptography is used to make blockchain transactions secure. You will also get to know about the hash functions which are generated for each block in a blockchain network and hence increasing its security. The pair of public & private keys used for cryptography in blockchain can be understood via a course.

Why Choose Imarticus Learning Blockchain Course?

There is no restriction of any background study in the field of finance/blockchain to enrol you in Imarticus Learning courses. The Fintech Pro-Degree will consist of two batches. The first batch will focus on blockchain basic concepts and its applications while the second batch will focus on understanding cryptocurrency & financial processes using blockchain. Both the batches comprise of 60 hours of study in two months each. Imarticus learning courses are affordable and have successfully trained over 35,000 trainees. Industry experts will be there on Imarticus Learning courses to assist you and make you industry-ready.

Benefits of Blockchain

Let us explore some of the major benefits of blockchain which makes it indispensable for organizations and also a necessary skill to hone with the Blockchain course. It is a decentralized technology with no central controlling source. This increases the security as the information passes through million checkpoints and one has to falsify information at all checkpoints to alter it.

  1. The implementation of blockchain may be challenging in starting but it will save a lot of money & human resource in long run. Blockchain has helped many retail firms in cost optimization by doing financial transactions over the blockchain.
  2. You can learn blockchain technology via online courses and can increase transparency & traceability in your business.
  3. Blockchain technology once implied doesn’t require any portal charges to make transactions. This helps in creating payment portals that are secure and don’t levy any charges on its users.

Conclusion

Blockchain is quickly being adopted by many firms/companies across the globe. According to surveys by LinkedIn, blockchain is the second most required hard skill by the firms in their employees. Imarticus Learning blockchain course will make you industry ready and you will also get placement support. Imarticus Learning is collaborated with the top firms in the blockchain industry & will provide you with expert faculty members. Grab your Blockchain Course now!

How Fintech Moved Successfully from Normal to Pandemic New Normal?

Fintech was expected to earn great profits in the year 2020. Unexpectedly, due to global pandemic, a paradigm shift could be seen in the functioning of fintech all over the globe.

Although it hasn’t been an easy task for many companies to survive in these testing times, the brighter side shows that for some industries, this scenario has proven to be a bit beneficial.

Unlike other sectors or industries where daily operations used to take place manually, fintech is web-based and does not require any physical interaction. This has been the sole reason that has worked in the favour of fintech in such challenging times.

The successful shift of fintech during the new normal

There are specifically some sectors where fintech operations have accelerated. Some of the positives are discussed below:

  • Continual functioning of Banking Sector

Out of all the industries, banking has been the only one that functioned without any disruption. However tough the times were, banks functioned and transactions took place.

Banking and FinanceIt has widely been seen that people have very positively accepted fintech as their new normal. Unlike the usual times where people used to visit banks for even their balance inquiries, people nowadays have gained trust in the applications and portals under fintech.

Some companies worked without involving cash transactions and only accepted digital money. Usage of portals like PayPal gained popularity during the pandemic.

  • Ease in Regulations

This time has proven somewhat beneficial for fintech as there are many organizations which have adopted the policy of cashless transactions. Considering this, the government and the authorities may lower the regulations that are imposed on the fintech companies for their collaboration with these aspiring organizations.

By working hand in hand, directly or indirectly there is going to be a surge in the usage of fintech tools.

  • Retaining Cash

Considering the current scenario, people have nurtured the habit of keeping cash reserves with them. In such a situation, they tend to make use of fintech companies whether they are in favour of it or not.

banking and FinanceTo illustrate, earlier many amazon orders were booked with cash on delivery but people want to have their limited cash reserves with them and hence are paying online.

  • Dip in the number of lenders

Owing to coronavirus widespread, many money lending companies have restricted the lending capacity considering the current scenario of non-payment by the existing borrowers. They claim to restart lending activities with the uplifting of the coronavirus restrictions. In such a situation, fintech corporations are still operating widely in the market and people can borrow some money using fintech.

Not only the money, but fintech has also collaborated with various big and small companies for providing emergency and necessity items to the people. People, on the other hand, have accepted the involvement of fintech corporations in their day to day operations and they are satisfied by that to a great extent too.

Conclusion 

With a great demand for fintech in the present world, a stable and rewarding fintech career can be planned by gaining professional knowledge and fintech training through renowned institutions like Imarticus. One must always grab the opportunity as it comes your way.

Covid-19 Impact on Banking Training! How Imarticus Helped The Students To Get Trained and Placed?

The banking industry in the COVID-19 landscape  

The Coronavirus pandemic has brought almost all economic activities to a standstill. To protect human life from this deadly virus spreading like a wildfire, governments around the globe imposed lockdowns in their respective nations. This pandemic has defined a state of new normal for all of mankind.

Customer behaviour has also changed owing to this pandemic. Some of the positive changes that came along with the state of lockdown are the increase in online shopping, online payments, digital banking, online education, etc. These industries were already growing but the current pandemic scenario has given it a massive push.

Coronavirus outbreak has disrupted businesses in almost every industry, it also had a direct impact on the functioning of the banking and finance industry in addition to the indirect ones that came in the form of economic slowdown and reduced business activity. This economic slowdown has led to a reduction in consumer demand that has impacted small and medium businesses majorly. To stay cash flow positive and manage their operations, these businesses have to rely on financial aid provided by banks and financial institutions.

The Coronavirus pandemic has drastically impacted business across the majority of industries and has left a dent in the economies but it has also boosted the growth prospects for business in the digital landscape. People are staying inside their homes and are afraid to go out and shop, this has created a huge demand for online shopping and e-commerce companies are benefitting from this like never before. Everything you need can be ordered online using your smartphones by making payment through your digital wallet or other banking services.

Now the interesting thing to note about this growing trend is that it has also boosted the prospects for the banking and financial services industry. It has given a major push to digital banking services and people are getting more accustomed to making financial transactions online using their smartphones. This has created a demand for qualified professionals in the banking and financial services industry. This employment opportunity has also increased competition among candidates.

Wealth management course can help you provide a comprehensive understanding of the banking and finance industry. It is very beneficial for those look to excel in commercial banking related roles, it will help you obtain an edge over your competition by imparting you with relevant knowledge and skills needed in the industry. Commercial banking training has seen a surge in demand in the contemporary COVID-19 scenario as there is a huge demand for professionals in the commercial banking industry to cater to the growing needs of the customer.

This has happened because we are moving towards a cashless economy and more people are transacting using progressive services such as a digital wallet. This has reduced the dependency for cash transactions and has resulted in more number of banking transactions. The fear of the spread of Coronavirus has also added to this changing customer behaviour, to be safe from the risk of contamination, people are relying on using the digital medium to purchase everything.

 Bridging the gap with Imarticus

Banking is an essential service for businesses and individuals alike; our dependency on money is such that we can’t survive without the services of the banking sector. Even during the times of Coronavirus, we need banking services. The demand for professionals in the banking and related sector is still on the rise even when most other businesses continue to fail.

Wealth Management coursesImarticus Learning’s banking and wealth management courses have helped people to learn about this industry and obtain a thorough understanding of the functioning of this sector.

The courses are focused on providing a practical understanding of the subject so that the candidates are trained to do the job even without any additional assistance from the organisations. This has also reduced the training cost for organisations that rely on the services provided by Imarticus. Imarticus has helped over 8000 professionals to get placed with some of the most reputed organisations in the industry including Deutsche Bank, Citi Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Reliance Capital, etc. The courses are specifically created to help with your employment prospects. Wealth management course with Imarticus will definitely help you achieve your career goals.

What Impact is Covid-19 Having on Global Fintech?

The world has almost come to a standstill due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Several economies got hit, resulting in the worst economic shock in world history. However, the survival of the fittest is the norm. Digital and tech companies are preparing for a big paradigm shift in terms of their organizational structure and working models.

The business must continue, and many organizations have switched to a remote working model. Fintech is one among the worst-hit business and must exhibit a substantial resilience to cope with this change. After some minimal initial hitches, employers and employees are slowly getting comfortable with the new arrangement. As face-to-face interactions and cash transactions are witnessing a sharp decline, many fintech companies are experiencing a surge in the demand for their services.

What are the Main Challenges to Fintech?

Fintech deals with extremely confidential data, and cybersecurity is one of their biggest concerns. With most of the transactions and activities happening online, hackers would be trying to break into these networks to gain access the sensitive data. Any such incidence that blows away the customer trust could be damaging to the industry. This has led to the fintech firms scaling up their cybersecurity measures with more investments in that front.

Similarly, storage of information is another challenge. The fact that fintech employees deal with a huge amount of confidential data emphasises the need for cloud storage. Many fintech companies have strictly banned their employees from using local storage for keeping information.

These companies are relying on cloud-based storage to ensure data protection. Similarly, they have enabled VPN to ensure secure office network.

Moving to a Remote Working Plan

This could be the last thing any fintech would have ever preferred. However, the coronavirus outbreak has forced to rethink the way work has to be done. Though the situations compelled the companies to switch to the new working arrangement,

Market giants such as Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. have instructed both the employees and the companies are getting comfortable with passing time. fintech in the middle east like the UAE and Bahrain have announced their plans to move towards working from home to ensure the safety of employees while still supporting the resident’s needs.

Similarly, countries across the globe have asked the companies to make necessary arrangements for their employees to work from home.

Fintech companies are known for their fast adaptation to the changing environment. One major reason behind this is that they are driven by newest technology. They use cloud-based systems and the latest software, and all these supports remote working.

However, this unprecedented situation has proven that working from home doesn’t mean less productivity. It has been several weeks into this new arrangement and the companies have not seen any considerable dip in productivity.

On the traditional business front, on the other hand, customers are demanding for fast adaptation of technology to facilitate online business and transactions, and this has increased the demand for fintech services, Banks, for example, are actively consulting fintech companies to help them move towards technology-driven business.

Wealth management companies are also looking to move towards the online business model. Compared to 2019, there is a considerable increase in their online users and many financial advisors have started to offer their services online.

COVID-19 and the consequential lockdown have called for a quick adaptation to a new business and work model with extreme urgency. Although the global economic crisis and recession have posed fresh challenges to the fintech companies, they are adapting to the new arrangement without much problem.

However, the coming days are challenging for fintech companies because of the massive change happening in the global economic landscape. Success and survival of fintech companies largely depend upon how fast and efficiently they are coping up with the challenges, and how fast they could come up with innovative business solutions to deal with this crisis.

What is Blockchain Course?

Blockchain is a growing chain of cryptographically linked blocks or records that are resistant to modification. It records every transaction and thus, it is an open, transparent ledger of transactions between two parties. The sequential list of all the transactions is permanent, with each block linked to the previous block with a hash, timestamp, and details of the transaction.

This feature makes blockchain highly resistant to manipulation and attack. This explains why cryptocurrencies like bitcoin use blockchain to record transactions.

How Is Cryptography, Blockchain And Hyperledger Technologies Related?

Simply explained, cryptography is securing a private message to ensure its confidentiality. Only the intended person can read a cryptographically secured data. As a third party won’t be able to find the keys to decode the message, no one other than the intended people would be able to understand the encrypted message. It involves encrypting and decrypting content using various methods and encryption keys.

How to Become a Blockchain Developer?

The primary responsibility of a blockchain develops optimizes blockchain protocols, and to develop build smart contracts. To become a blockchain developer, you need to enrol in a blockchain course.

This is because you need to be adept at certain technical skills to become a blockchain developer. One needs to master certain concepts like cryptographic hash and distributed ledger etc. self-learning could be tedious, so it is always better to take up some blockchain courses to give a boost to the learning process. co

To master the blockchain development process, you should have a good grasp of data structures. Many blockchain developers explore tweaking data structures and combine them with cryptography to develop fool-proof and secure systems. Most popular data structures are Petrecia and Merkle trees. Data structure and blockchain are two inseparable concepts, and learning blockchain, beyond any doubt, is incomplete without having learned data structure.

You might have already understood the importance of cryptography in blockchain development. Cryptographic methods are used to develop digital signatures.

It is also used to develop crypto contracts or smart contracts, which is a computer contract that involves and controls cryptocurrency transactions under certain controls. Smart contracts became popular post Ethereum release. Most of the businesses

Smart Contract Development

Smart contracts caught attention post Ethereum release. Businesses across the world are now keen to integrate smart contracts into their systems to benefit from the application of business logic. Hence, developers striving to get into the blockchain field should learn about smart contract development. For this, you need to get a good grasp on languages such as Chaincode, Viper, and Solidity.

Web-Development
Another important skill to master as a blockchain developer, web-development involves the development of front and as well as back end functions including building interactive graphic interfaces. Blockchain developer should also be able to handle API and requests.

Let’s now have a closer look at the types of blockchain developers.
To understand what responsibilities do a blockchain developer handle, you need to know the various functions associated with it. Contrary to what you believe, the career possibilities of a blockchain developer are not only about building blockchains. There are multiple job layers.

Backend Developers
Common job roles of a backend developer are:

• Designing and developing Application Programming Interface (API) to integrate blockchains.

• Designing software and handling everything from testing to deployment and render technical support.

Blockchain Project Managers
Project managers are responsible for blockchain-specific, yet wider job roles. They need to handle a wide spectrum of responsibilities ranging from:

• Developing decentralized applications and maintaining them.
• Blockchain project supervision
• Advising on ICO structure
• Understanding the requirements and designing apps that could cater to their business requirements.
• Training of team members if required.

Smart-Contract Engineers
To become a smart-contract engineer, you need to know languages such as Solidity, Go and Python.

• Developing smart contracts and regular auditing to find loopholes
• Ensure security
• Conduct business process testing

Blockchain course helps you learn the basics of blockchain and cryptography. Training helps you decide which aspect of the technology you wish to focus on. There are a variety of courses emphasizing on various aspects of blockchain development.

To decide on which blockchain course to enrol, you need to decide on your career goal, what would you like to specialize in. Having clarity on your job expectations help you zero down on the best course.

The Best Online Fintech and Blockchain Courses to Take in 2020

You been searching for the best Fintech course or the best Blockchain course online? Are you unable to find an interesting course that covers the fundamental concepts and at the same time, offer interesting placement opportunities? Then breathe a sigh of relief, you are at the right place! We are going to discuss the best courses among the two – Fintech and Blockchain. Fintech and blockchain are two popular interrelated concepts that offer lucrative career opportunities. The recent incidence of COVID-19 and its impact on the employment landscape has positively impacted Fintech. The fintech companies are now more willing to consider remote working as Have an option to reach out to new talent pool located miles away from them. This adds more employment opportunities in these domains and thus, more scope to fintech and blockchain courses. Imarticus has an exciting course to offer in Fintech and Blockchain. Let’s discuss that.

PRODEGREE Professional Certification in FinTech (Created in association with Barclays Mumbai)

Designed in association with Barclays Mumbai, this125-hour-long Prodegree Fintech course takes you to a world of opportunities. This is the best Blockchain course as far as the best content and training are concerned. Industry-relevant curriculum and placement partners make this a gamechanger for every learner. The learning process is designed through relevant case studies and capstone projects along with opportunities to interact with Fintech entrepreneurs and industry leaders.

How Good a Fintech Course is This?

• You will learn job-relevant skills like blockchain, ML, robotics and advanced analytics through projects – both industry projects and in-class projects
• You will be certified by Barclays Rise Mumbai initiative. Getting endorsed by a Fintech market leader will give you a competitive edge in the job market.
• You will receive an unparalleled learning experience through live instructions in a state-of-the-art virtual learning space.
How Good a Blockchain Course is This?
This course offers detailed training in blockchain. You will receive in-class training as well as industry training that will help you build blockchain skills. Three weeks blockchain deep dive is a major highlight of this program. You will learn both theory and practical during this session. By the end of the semester, you will master the basics of blockchain technology. You will know the practical application of blockchain-based systems across industries by mastering the development of blockchain framework and implementations. You will get to learn about Ethereum smart contacts, cryptocurrencies, advance concepts and implementations.
Benefits of this Course
• A globally recognized certification with an industry-oriented curriculum with the latest trends and best practices in fintech space.
• You will receive live training from fintech experts from Rise Mumbai and Imarticus.
• You will be getting an incredible opportunity to develop a business framework and to pitch your business idea. If qualified, you will be mentored by an expert.
• Identify areas and use cases for implementation and develop a framework and business model.

Prospective Job Roles
• Cybersecurity analyst
• Compliance expert
• Design thinking specialist
• Design thinking training provider
• Process automation lead development
• Robotic process automation project manager
• Bitcoin blockchain developer
• Bitcoin mining associate
• Process automation lead development
Placement Partners
• Reliance Capital
• Religare
• Axis Bank
• Bajaj Finserve
• Bank Bazar
• Bank of Baroda
• Larzen and Toubro
• Muthoot Finance
• ICICI Bank
• HDFC Bank
• Policy Bazaar
• Edel Weiss

Conclusion
Professional Certification in FinTech is the best course if you aspire a career in blockchain or fintech. The best part is that this is designed in association with Barclays Mumbai. 125-long-hours of rigorous training from this Imarticus will help you land on your dream job. You have access to an amazing alumni network and wonderful placement programme to help you with this.

How Do You Become a Fintech Professional?

Finance has emerged as a strong field in recent times. Due to the growing needs of handling and managing finances, it has become this giant which is taking the world with a huge storm. Fintech is one such field which has emerged as one of the major drivers of this change. Fintech is a common term which is interchangeably used for Financial Technology.
Technology has touched our lives in ways one could have never imagined. It has impacted all sectors like automobiles, insurance, healthcare, etc. The finance sector has not been left untouched. Technology has brought about some very important and required changes in the field of finance. And this integration of finance with technology is referred to as Fintech.

What is Fintech?

Fintech is the application of technology in the field of finance. Technology has brought about some significant positive changes in finance and has also automated a lot of financial services eliminating the cumbersome physical transactions which are exhausting and confusing at the same time. With Fintech, the finance sector has been brought under a synchronised and well-managed system. Fintech has found its use in all companies which are looking forward to optimising their finances.

It makes use of different financial software to optimise and consolidate financial processes. It has also made the management and working of the stock market much simpler and hassle-free. It is being increasingly used to serve customers faster and better. With Fintech, managing different kinds of financial risks has also become quite easy. Fintech has now found its use in industries like education, retail, banking, food and beverages, etc. It has also been the backbone of the emerging modes of currencies like cryptocurrency. These inventions have been made possible with the help of fintech.

Due to the ongoing shift of operations from an offline mode to an online mode, Fintech has become popular. You can opt-in for a fintech course to understand the complexities of the subject in a better way. It has also found its use in the way money is being handled. It has streamlined a lot of processes and has made online payments a dream come true. With the use of this financial technology, you can easily transfer money from one account to another, make different payments online and do several other things with ease.

How to become a Fintech professional?

To become a successful fintech professional, you must know the subject matter. Fintech requires you to understand the technicalities of finance. Also, it needs you to be technology-oriented i.e. you must know the basics of information technology and understand how to put it to use. A fintech course might help your cause. Even if you know about the field, a fintech course will strengthen your expertise in the field. There is a huge demand for professionals who have in-depth knowledge of fintech and its application.
To become market-ready, you need to lay your hands on these techniques. To become an expert in this field, you must have a degree in financial management. Also, you must have a certificate in managing computer systems. An ideal fintech candidate is a blockchain expert and he knows how to work these things around. He must have sufficient knowledge about distributed and electronic ledgers as a lot of companies are demanding these skills from professionals right now.
He must also understand basic programming, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Conclusion
With proper training and guidance, anyone can become a fintech expert. Along with the technical skills, the professional must have the soft skills required to excel in the field.

What’s a Bitcoin and How Does it Work?

The 21st century witnessed one of the most revolutionary inventions in the form of blockchain technology. It’s perceived to be almost as radical as the internet technology that changed the way we live. One of the most popular uses of this ground-breaking technology is in the form of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Let’s delve deeper into the subject to understand what is Bitcoin and how does it work,

Understanding Bitcoin

What is Bitcoin? This is a frequently asked question by people who want to understand and invest in this exponentially growing asset. Bitcoin is a popular cryptocurrency that has no central backing and is used in the peer to peer Bitcoin network. In simpler terms, it can be understood as a digital currency that is not represented by a central authority and doesn’t require any intermediary to function.

This means that there would be no transaction charges or fees what so ever. Bitcoin was officially launched as open-source software in 2009. It is among the world’s largest crypto-currencies when valued using the market capitalisation.

The aim of using Bitcoin is to remove all the intermediaries that exist and adds to the financial burden of common individuals. Also, the absence of a central authority makes it more transparent and less regulated. The underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is known as the Blockchain technology. Blockchain can be simply understood as a decentralised digital ledger that records transaction which can’t be altered later or manipulated by any one individual.

Any new entry will be visible to all the peers in the network, reducing the chances of fraud altogether. The use of cryptographic hashing and decentralisation is the key highlight for blockchain technology as it helps to create a more transparent system reducing the dependence on the intermediaries and chances of corruption.

Just to give you an analogy, think of the blockchain ledger as a shared spreadsheet. Any changes made to the spreadsheet is visible to all the people who have access to the spreadsheet, the same is the case with blockchain.

How Blockchain Works

Fiat currencies are issued as a legal tender and are backed by the central government; this includes the normal currencies that exchange hands daily like the US Dollar, Euro, Yen, Rupee, etc. Unlike a fiat currency, the Bitcoin doesn’t have a physical presence rather it is mined digitally and kept on a distributed digital ledger that multiple people in the network have access to. Bitcoin has very low and almost nil transaction fees, the present online transaction methods charge a good percentage of the transaction as a fee.

Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology and facilitates instant transactions using the network. The Bitcoin network has individuals and companies that own the governing computing power, it is comprised of miners. So who are the miners? Well, miners are people who help to process transactions on the blockchain, they are compensated using rewards and transaction charges paid in Bitcoin.

They are a decentralised authority who manages the reputation of the Bitcoin network. Using the Bitcoin mining process, the cryptocurrency is released into circulation.

Mining requires discovering new blocks by solving difficult puzzles, these blocks are added to the blockchain. One Bitcoin can be divided to a maximum of 8 decimal places; this smallest unit is called a Satoshi based on the mysterious founder of this revolutionary crypto-currency. You can Bitcoin using a credit card, bank account or cash, it will be transferred to your Bitcoin wallet and you can then use it to make a purchase or sell an item using the Bitcoin as an exchange medium. Every transaction is recorded in a digitally distributed blockchain ledger to maintain accountability.

How Does Blockchain Technology Works?

What is Blockchain?

The latest phase of industrialisation is filled with ingenious inventions. Blockchain is considered a ground-breaking technology that has the power to change the world. The Blockchain technology can transform the way we do things on a very fundamental level; it is considered even a bigger breakthrough than the internet which is something.

However, the Blockchain technology is still in its nascent stages and there’s so much that we are yet to discover. So, what exactly does Blockchain mean? Blockchain can be formally defined as the distributed ledger technology that is decentralised and record digital transactions which cannot be altered after input.

The use of cryptography along with decentralisation creates more transparency and instils accountability in the system. Most of us know Blockchain from one of its major applications that is crypt-currencies. It became popular as the revolutionary record-keeping technology behind the Bitcoin. Let’s find out how does the Blockchain technology works.

How Does it work?

How does the Blockchain technology work? Well, that’s a common question from people who are not very familiar with the technicality of this technology. At the core of the Blockchain technology resides the idea of decentralisation and transparency that brings more accountability in the process.

For a basic analogy, you can think of this technology as equivalent to a spreadsheet that is shared with a few people. Now changes made by any individual can be view by all the people and they would easily recognise the person behind this new development. This brings more transparency and accountability in recording a particular transaction.

Blockchain is very different from the spreadsheet and much more advance but it works along with the same principles. The three important terminologies related to Blockchain that you must be aware of are blocks, nodes and mining. Every chain is formed by multiple blocks and each block has three respective elements; the data, nonce, hash.

New blocks are added to the chain through a process called mining. Miners create new blocks on the chain through the process of mining which helps with the new addition. Now mining is not as simple as it sounds and requires Blockchain experts. There are plenty of Blockchain online courses that you can choose from and develop your skillset.

Each block has a unique hash and nonce value and the blocks also have the hash reference from the previous blocks. This is done to maintain the block’s uniqueness and connect it with a valid block so that the information can be traced properly. Let’s talk about the third component that we call nodes.

Nodes are all about the decentralisation aspect of this revolutionary Blockchain technology. It is very important to understand that any single computer or organisation or entity cannot own the chain, it will defeat the purpose of transparency and decentralisation. Nodes can be understood as any form of electronic device that has copies of the Blockchain and helps the network to function.

The network must approve algorithmically the mining of a new block for updating and v verifying the chain. This instils transparency since every new update can be traced and verified. A unique identification number is provided to participants that help to trace their transactions. This identification number is a combination of alphabets and numbers.

Blockchain has the power to dramatically reduce the chances of corruption by ensuring transparency and accountability. This is very useful in the case of any public information as it helps to track the source of change and creates a sense of integrity through its checks and balances. Blockchain has numerous other applications in addition to crypto-currency in the field of healthcare, insurance, supply chain, etc.