What is the base blockchain?

The first technology we adopted is blockchain. There is a comprehensive course on this blockchain, a complete course where I will cover all aspects of blockchain. Let’s start and see what I have talked about so far. The reason for breaking everything down is to ensure that we don’t get tangled up or mix things together in the middle. So we will cover it in separate modules so that you get a clear understanding of what blockchain is, what cryptocurrency is, and what smart contracts are.

First, we will discuss what blockchain is. After that, we will cover the features of blockchain technology. Once data is written on a blockchain, it cannot be erased. How is this possible? I will cover all these topics in depth. Just stay in this video.

Next, we will discuss the distributed peer-to-peer (P2P) network. How a block connects from one system to another system, how it works, we will talk about all these topics. After that, we will discuss the structure of the blockchain.

Then, in Module B, we will discuss cryptocurrency. What is Bitcoin, what is the economic policy of Bitcoin, how many Bitcoins can be created at maximum, when does Bitcoin halving occur, all these topics will be discussed. After that, we will discuss hardware-related topics such as the differences between CPU, GPU, and ASIC and how these have brought changes in Bitcoin.

Next, we will discuss the mempool, how transactions reach miners, where transactions come from, all these topics will be discussed in detail. After that, we will discuss what transactions are and how they happen, all these topics will be discussed in detail.

We will discuss wallets, what wallets are, where your Bitcoins are stored, and whether they are stored anywhere. Bitcoin has no bank, so where do Bitcoins stay? We will discuss this topic.

We will discuss smart contracts, which will bring many changes in the future. What is a smart contract, what are its applications, and how is it so powerful, we will discuss these topics. Smart contracts generally work on Ethereum, so we will first discuss what Ethereum is and then discuss smart contracts.

We will discuss what decentralized apps (dApps) are and how they differ from centralized applications. Additionally, we will discuss EVM and gas. EVM is the Ethereum Virtual Machine, and the concept of gas is completely different.

We will also discuss hard forks and soft forks. What are forks, and how do they work, we will discuss these topics in detail. Finally, we will discuss coins other than Bitcoin that you should know about. I will not give any investment advice, but I will provide information about these coins.

We will discuss why we should study blockchain and the reasons for it. It seems whenever we start a new topic or course, it should be very clear what that topic or study is and why we need to do it. If this is known or why something needs to be done, then it automatically generates some interest. That is why this second chapter is about that topic. Why should I study blockchain? I think the main reason is that at this time you must study blockchain because blockchain is a disruptive technology. Now what does disruptive technology mean? Basically, you can understand disruptive technology as a technology that completely changes a traditional method and transforms it into a new improved version. What does this mean? Let’s understand it with an example. When you were young, you saw it: a tonga (as it is called in the local language), or why don’t we use it? Because vehicles like cars and buses require much less effort or no effort at all and are much faster. These vehicles created a disruptive environment that completely removed it from our system and environment. Similarly, another disruptive technology that we use today, which I am using to teach you, is the internet. When the internet initially came, there was no social media, but then everything completely changed. How much time did it take to send a message to someone via email before, and today, through email, you can send mail to anyone from any country and deliver your information. So, how amazing it was, now it’s a common thing for people, but for that time it was a big deal. Social media, with just one click, you can let the whole world know about you and learn about the whole world. Social media did this, and it was all possible because of the internet, because the internet was a disruptive technology for that time. And today’s disruptive technology is our blockchain. Just as the internet changed the entire world of communication, blockchain will change and continue to change the entire environment of trust. What does this mean? What is the meaning of trust? The internet provided communication, but the internet failed in one aspect, and that is trust. And for trust, blockchain has been the best thing. And I will tell you this, if you go a little into history, they basically invented Bitcoin, but then it became very popular because it created an environment of trust that had completely collapsed after the financial crisis of 2008. Which lost the trust of the people of the USA in banks, in the government. What is this trust? Let’s understand this. For example, you want to have some coffee, what can you do? You can order it online or get it from somewhere. So you took a branded coffee, but is the coffee that this brand gave you genuine? This brand says I get this coffee from here, from this country, so it is so expensive. But do you really know that it was brought from here or not? Can you trust the brand? The question is, can you really trust it? Another example: NGOs. Many have heard of NGOs, where we donate money so that the NGOs can help others. But the money we donate to the NGO, is the NGO really using it or not? Are they really reaching the people who need that money? How do we know? This also puts a question mark. So, to not have this question mark, this trust issue, that the product you are taking is genuine or not, the money you are giving to the NGO is really going to be used or not, blockchain solves this problem. Now you might think, I have just mentioned one application. In the upcoming videos, you will see many more applications and how it works. But think, how big a deal it is that a product is coming to your house, and you know whether it is genuine or not. That you are not being cheated. You are giving money somewhere. That’s why there are many funds when relief funds are started, and we give money, we don’t know whether that relief fund is really being used or not. Such problems that were continuing, today they will be solved by blockchain. So if you study blockchain in this way, you will be in a much more advantageous position.

The concept of blockchain came from a research paper published by Scott Stornetta in 1991, where he discussed ways to digitally timestamp. But who was Satoshi Nakamoto? Satoshi Nakamoto was the inventor of Bitcoin. I am talking about blockchain, which is very different from Bitcoin. Bitcoin and blockchain are completely different things, so don’t get confused. So what is blockchain? Blockchain is basically a technology that is distributed, immutable, and transparent. Let’s understand the meaning of each word. When I say blockchain is a distributed immutable ledger, let’s understand it with an example.

Suppose there is a store near your house, named XYZ. You bought flour from that store, which costs 500 taka. You told the shopkeeper, “Brother, I will pay later,” and the shopkeeper recorded it in a ledger. But later, the shopkeeper tampered with that ledger and changed 500 taka to 600 taka. When you went to the store again, the shopkeeper asked you to pay 600 taka. This incident is an example from our daily lives, but it is not possible in blockchain.

In blockchain, a block does the work of a ledger book. The main difference between a block and a ledger book is that once data is recorded in a block, it cannot be changed. It is immutable. If you buy flour for 500 taka from a store and record it in a block, it cannot be changed. It works like a ledger where all transactions are recorded and are immutable.

The biggest advantage of blockchain is that it is transparent. If the shopkeeper tries to change 500 taka to 600 taka, a notification will come to your mobile. Every transaction on the blockchain is transferred to all computers that are part of the network. It’s just like you sent a ledger to all computers. Blockchain is distributed and immutable. And it is transparent because every transaction on the blockchain is secured by cryptography, which is displayed through a secret code.

I hope everything is clear here. I hope you liked this chapter. Additionally, this is an example of a decentralized system. We will also discuss the differences between centralized and decentralized systems in the future.