Many have heard of the blockchain technology, but many, yet, do not know what it means and how to operate within the space.
Blockchain technology is, also, one technology that has been touted, to be one that, will transform many industries.
I, recently, had Chimezie Chuta, Founder, BlockChain Nigeria User Group, as guest on Tech Trends show on Channels Television and he shared his thoughts on the blockchain ecosystem and how he believes Africa and Nigeria, can benefit from the technology.
CFA: What is blockchain?
Chimezie: The blockchain, generally is, a revolutionary tech and what makes it revolutionary is because of the additions that, it is bringing on top of the internet protocol layer that, already, exists.
In a nutshell, it’s a shared database, where users and participants, have to have, a consensus, before they can add a record, into a ledger, so to speak.
Those records are cryptographically, hashed, or secured, in order to make them, tamper-proof.
No record gets into the block, except it has been validated by different participants, following a certain rule.
That is, quite revolutionary because, it brings trust, beyond the participants and their individual levels, so, people are able to trust the rules, that have, already been set, in the protocol, so, it’s very easy, to trust the data and not really bother about the participants.
CFA: Some experts have said that the blockchain is not, entirely, secured and not transparent. What is your opinion?
Chimezie: Transparency is the core of blockchain technology and security, also, is core. Now, there is a difference between blockchains.
You have the open blockchains and you have the closed blockchains.
Closed blockchains is, more like, centralized blockchain infrastructure, where you have, known participants.
Such kinds of blockchain, we call them, distributed ledger technologies, but when the blockchain is open, it means that, anybody can come in to the blockchain and play by the rules of the protocol and everything that is, within that open blockchain is, 100% transparent.
Except the experts are referring to distributed ledger technologies, where you have known participants, playing in the ecosystem, I think, they got it, all wrong.
You can watch the full interview here.
