Understanding Blockchain Technology: Beyond Bitcoin

In recent times, blockchain technology, which entered our lives with digital currency applications, has become one of the most intriguing and interesting technologies of the era. Blockchain is a technology that provides a digital identity and a digital control area, allowing many transactions to take place securely on a global network.
What is Blockchain?
Nearly everyone who follows cryptocurrencies questions first how this system operates. Blockchain is a record technology where data is stored on a distributed network without the need for any central authority. Introduced with the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, blockchain does not allow alterations to past data. Therefore, it works not like traditional databases but as a digital ledger where transactions are listed sequentially.
Each block contains transaction data and the encrypted hash code of the previous block. Since each block is cryptographically linked to the one before it, any alteration in one block would affect all subsequent blocks. This ensures that the data is never altered.

How Does Blockchain Work?
Blockchain is also like the internet: both have a decentralized network that does not have a single server. The blockchain typically uses a decentralized ledger (sometimes called a node) consisting of a series of independent computers that are synchronized with each other to process, verify and disseminate the transactions. This is in contrast to tracking every transaction on the ledger or the traditional trading patterns that deal with exchanges.
At each node of a decentralized blockchain, a new block is regularly compiled using the blockchain and categories are linked together in an “append-only” mode. The append-only structure is in fact an important part of the blockchain security system. There are no changes/deletions in any node of the previous blocks, but the new blocks can only be linked to the chain. The link with the “append-only” property is one of the most important security features of a blockchain.
To summarise, the computers connected to the network, the so-called miners, collect the processed data and archive it according to encryption standards and form blocks. The data from all transactions is finally converted into a hash function, creating a summary.
What’s Inside the Blocks in Blockchain?
Within the blocks you will find basic elements such as the block number, the block header, the hash of the data of the previous block, the hash of the data of the new block and a timestamp.
Each block that contains the hash of the previous block’s data increases security to a higher level. If changes are made in a block, the hash changes and therefore no longer matches the hash of the subsequent block.

Blockchain Technology Use Cases
1.Eliminating Supply Chain Inefficiencies and Reducing Costs
In the case of supply chain and trade finance, it can take several working days for transactions and documentation to be completed. This is usually due to a certain amount of manual paperwork that a human employee has to complete. To get things in order, there are many blockchain platforms that can be utilized.
2.Tracking Medications Across Supply Chains in Healthcare and Data Protection
Blockchain can (can) be used to monitor the delivery, movement and storage of prescription drugs through to delivery from suppliers. Blockchain technology prevents access to harmful drugs with fraudulent origins and easily identifies ineffective and toxic drugs.
Healthcare providers ensure the security of the data they exchange and distribute i.e. They provide information that improves the delivery of healthcare in hospitals, governments and research institutions.
3.Protecting National Identity Data
Blockchain is also used by governments for digital identity management. Benefits include digitizing national identity records, securing citizen data to reduce identity theft. And using a blockchain-based digital identity to reduce the inefficiencies of legacy digital identity management platforms, such as high costs. Estonia is a good example of the use of blockchain for digital identity.
4.Reducing the Cost of Data Breaches
Companies can reduce the costs of data breaches by using blockchain. They can also avoid lawsuits, losses, compromised customer data and downtime costs associated with data breaches.
5.Reducing Cross-Border Transactions and Remittance Costs
The prices of bank transfers and other similar facilities burdened users with high costs for cross-border transactions. As a result,transactions that used to take over 3 days to process can now be completed in just 10 minutes. Organizations such as Ripple, which is currently active in more than 40 countries on 6 continents. They want to use blockchain and cryptocurrencies to solve existing problems in the area of marketing and money transfer. Blockchain enables fast and cost-effective transactions that are virtually free of cross-border cashless intermediaries.