If you keep up with the technological news, you must have seen “blockchains” mentioned somewhere, mainly with crypto-currency related articles. But what are blockchains, moreover how are they useful?

Blockchains are a concept entirely different from the traditional concepts. Instead of working on a centralized database software, it works off decentralized copies of the database that every member has. Additionally when a member wants to make any sort of change in the data, all the remaining members need to approve the given action. Once all the members have agreed, then the request is carried out.

The main advantage of blockchains are the security. In a centralized data, if the main device is hacked, then the data is vulnerable to deletion and corruption. In a blockchain, hacking a device doesn’t work out. One would need to hack the devices of all the members, a near impossible task. On top of this if any change is made to the data, it can be easily traced.

While blockchains look sound super secure, their adoption in day to day use has been a question for some time now. Recent crash of bitcoin does not support the cause either.

Perhaps all good things take time to mature.