When we talk about blockchain, we immediately associate it with the implicit cryptocurrency technology, but especially with Bitcoin. However, this technology has many other applications in finance and other sectors.

For over 20 years now, we have been living on the Internet of Information, which is the free circulation of information around the world. Many experts argue that the next revolution in the network will be the creation of a blockchain, the Internet of Value, which allows for the sharing of value (titles, archives, patents ...) in a digital, decentralized way (without the need for a central authority) and completely reliable.
Blockchain: Digital trust

A blockchain or blockchain is primarily a record, a large digital data book that is shared among many different parts. Its essence is that once information is entered, it can never be deleted or altered, permanently remaining registered.

We could consider this as a distributed blockchain database (many databases that interact with each other), which allows transactions to be done in a affirmative, transparent and sustainable manner between two or more sides.

The blockchain creates a complete consensus among its users; its members have a copy of it. This is why Blockchain facilitates trust in all types of business relationships.

Key features of blockchain

Blockchain technology has the following advantages, essential in any economic transaction:

• Security: Nothing can be changed or deleted, only added. This means that once the transaction is complete, the system cannot be manipulated illegally.
• Transparency: It is a register or "bigger book" where different transactions are accumulated; it can only be accessed for consultation without changing these transactions. Therefore, the veracity of the information is guaranteed.
• Confidence: Decentralization and the absence of a central node, where all the information can be gathered, has the effect that the parties involved have complete confidence in this technology.
• Cost and time savings: Significantly reduces transaction and data control tasks in transactions. The blockchain avoids duplicate logging; a single record, independent of the number of participants (without Blockchain, if there are three participants, assumes that each party must record the transaction).
• Transaction in real time: Its immediacy (taking into account that there is no waiting time ...) reduces the risk of other types of transactions, where payment commitments take several days to complete (avoiding non-payment risks, creditors' contests, frauds ... during the payment process).

On the other hand, its drawbacks arise from problems with blockchain scalability. The scalability of a system is the ability to grow in size, managing the rapid increase in workload. Blockchain scalability is measured by transactions that can be processed over a given time.

Problems of scalability can cause slowness compared to other centralized systems (most payment systems). Each block that is created has a certain transaction limit; if there are many transactions within a period of time, then the wait times increase.
Another problem with this technology is the regulation: it is unknown what kind of regulation will be applied by the Central Banks (Europe and the United States) in the future to this technology applied in finance.

This is news from eWorld magazine