We’ll look at specific blockchain technology features that can be a great starting point for an enterprise. An enterprise blockchain solution can truly shine by utilizing all of these great blockchain features.
The decentralized nature provides a peer-to-peer network.
This is one of the most functional features that any enterprise blockchain platform could want for their company. Decentralization is a step forward for the future and solves many of the major problems of centralized systems. Usually, the normal structure for organizations is a client-server structure, which is already very outdated.
How does the client-server structure work?
In a client-server network, there is a centralized server for everyone. Anyone who connects to the server will have to send a request to it for more information. This is exactly how the internet works these days. For example, maybe you want to search for something using Google, to do so you will have to send a request to the Google server and then it will come back with the results you want.
This communication between the client (you) and the server is called client-server network architecture. But there are some significant problems with this structure.
Since everyone on the network depends solely on the server, if something goes wrong, everyone suffers equally. The server might be down for some reason, and everyone on the network won’t be able to access it. Most importantly, the server will be dealing with a lot of sensitive client information.
If a hacker gains access to the server, they can easily get all the important information from there. This is why typical organizations that depend on this type of network architecture have to spend a lot on cyber-attack protection schemes to stop the hacker at any cost.
Blockchain decentralization comes to the rescue
Blockchain is inherently decentralized and does not offer the typical type of client-server system. Because there is no central authority, users can now enjoy the benefits of a peer-to-peer connection.
Since there is no central server, there is no single point of failure. Especially, it becomes much more difficult to hack the system as the control remains with the clients of the network.
Thus, any business can have complete confidence in the system as it gets rid of all the negative aspects of client-server systems.
Immutability gets rid of corruption
What does immutability really mean? Since we are talking about blockchain, in this context it means that once a block is added to the ledger, no one can change it. Thus, there is zero chance that someone can tamper with the information.
Can you see the value this feature can provide to organizations? Typically, businesses have to deal not only with cyber-attacks, but also with internal corruption. Altering data and using it for their own benefit is one of the major corruption issues.
But if they use this blockchain as a ledger system, no one can change the value and use it for their own benefit. It gets rid of corruption in these big industries.
But how does the blockchain do that? To have an immutability factor, the blockchain uses a special hash function that allows it to use cryptography and encrypt the information in the block.
Hashing always results in a finite numeric value. Whatever your input is, it will always generate a random number with a fixed elongation. This is very important when you are dealing with different amounts of information.
A new block in the blockchain will always contain the hash function of the previous block.
What happens during an attack?
Let’s imagine that someone is trying to change the block’s information. When he makes any changes to a block, the hash function of that block is changed, so the hash function of the next block in the row where his function was stored is changed. This will change the data blocks and the hash, which will also change the other blocks.
Thus breaking the concept of the whole chain, which is not possible in any way. That’s why it is immutable, and no one can change the information without breaking the chain. Adding zero-knowledge proof with blockchain will make it a more trustworthy technology.
Greater transparency increases accountability
Blockchain allows users to enjoy all the benefits of transparency. When someone says blockchain is transparent, what do you really mean? In a public blockchain, any user in a ledger can see the transaction history of other nodes. Thus, you might think it’s pretty easy to know what someone is doing on the network.
This statement is not entirely true. Even though a person’s transaction history is visible, his/her identity remains hidden. This means that everyone will be able to see that person’s publicly available address instead of his/her name or other identifying information.