Types of Blockchains

 

It is inevitable that a choice must be made as to which type of blockchain is best suited for a company's supply chain blockchain solution. Because of this, it is critical to have a thorough understanding of the various blockchain structure options available. Supply chain information management is not appropriate for all types of blockchains. Public, private, consortium, and hybrid blockchains are the four main types of blockchain networks. It is important to note that each of these platforms has its own advantages, disadvantages, and ideal applications.

1. Public Blockchain

Because it is permissionless and non-restrictive, anyone with internet access can sign up as a node and participate in the public blockchain network. Access to current and previous records, as well as the complex computations needed to verify transactions and add them to the ledger, is available for this user. Because the source code is usually open, anyone can verify the transactions, find bugs, or propose changes without affecting the validity of any existing records or transactions on the network. Cryptocurrency trading, mining and exchanging are the primary functions of public blockchains.

2. Private Blockchain

This type of blockchain is called a private blockchain and is controlled by a single organisation. However, this is a much smaller version of a public blockchain network that still uses peer-to-peer connections and decentralisation. Private blockchains, on the other hand, are typically run on a small network within a company or organisation, rather than being open to anyone who wants to join and contribute computing power.

3. Consortium Blockchain

Unlike private blockchains, which are governed solely by one organisation, consortium blockchains are permissioned blockchains that are governed by a group of organisations rather than a single organisation. Essentially, because this blockchain is accessible to a specific group, it eliminates the risks that come with a private blockchain that is controlled by a single party. It's important to note that creating consortiums necessitates the cooperation of multiple organisations, which can present logistical difficulties as well as antitrust concerns.

4. Hybrid Blockchain

To perform certain transaction validations, the public blockchain is required to have some level of oversight over the control of the private blockchain, which is the case with hybrid blockchains. Hybrid blockchain transactions and records are not made public, but can be accessed through a smart contract if necessary. Even though the information is kept confidential, it can still be verified within the network. Even if a private company owns the hybrid blockchain, transactions on the network will remain unaffected.

What is Asset Management?

Asset management is the process of making sure that assets are developed, run, maintained, and sold in the most cost-effective way possible. Most of the time, this term is used in the financial world to talk about people or businesses that take care of assets for other people or businesses.

Traditional bank assets are not only risky to trade but also subject to various intermediary fees. On the MTX platform, if you want to transfer asset ownership after an asset mapping token, you can directly trade on the blockchain, which is convenient, fast, safe, and guaranteed. 

Why is it important?

1. To keep track of the company's assets. 

2. To manage assets easily from different locations. 

3. To ensure the financial statements of the business are accurate. 

4. To optimize operations, that needs planning. 

5. To identify risk and come up with a solution to avoid it.

Now that we know the importance, let’s look at the benefits:

1. Reduce complaints from customers.

2. Increase customer value.

3. Reduce loss.

4. Prevent theft.

5. Locate assets easily.

As you can see, every company needs to have an asset management system in place. It can help keep track of assets and help get them back if they are lost or stolen.

Pic credit: FTMaintenance

Reference:

Bender, P. (n.d.). 16 strategic benefits of asset management and Asset Tracking Software:

Blog: Link labs. Blog | Link Labs. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from

https://www.link-labs.com/blog/16-strategic-benefits-of-asset-management-and-asset-tracking-software

Regalado, M. (2016, May 18). Top ten reasons why asset management is important. AER Worldwide. Retrieved June 15, 2022, from https://aerworldwide.com/top-ten-reasons-why-asset-management-is-important/

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What's blockchain?

Nowadays, blockchains are extremely popular.
But, first and foremost, what is a blockchain? What are their working principles, what problems do they tackle, and how may they be applied? A blockchain is a series of blocks that carry data, as the name suggests. This technology was first described by a group of researchers in 1991, and it was designed to timestamp digital documents so that they could not be backdated or tampered with. 

However, it went mostly unnoticed until Satoshi Nakamoto altered it in 2009 to create the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. A blockchain is a decentralized ledger that everyone may access. They have an intriguing property: once data is recorded in a blockchain, changing it becomes extremely difficult. So, how does that work? 

Let's take a closer look at one of the blocks.
Each block contains some data, as well as the block's hash and the previous block's hash. The type of blockchain determines the data that is contained within a block.
The Bitcoin blockchain, for example, keeps track of the sender, receiver, and amount of coins in a transaction.

There is also a hash in a block. A hash is kind of like a fingerprint. It identifies a block and all of its contents, just like a fingerprint, and it is always unique. After a block is made, its hash is figured out. If you change something in the block, the hash will also change.

In other words, hashes are a great way to find out if a block has changed. When a block's fingerprint changes, it is no longer the same block. The hash of the block before it is the third part of each block.
This creates a chain of blocks, which is one of the things that makes a blockchain so safe.

Let's take an example.

There is a chain of three blocks, each of which has a hash and the hash of the block before it. This means that block 3 points to block 2, and block 2 points to block 1. Now, the first block is a little different. Since it's the first one, it can't point to blocks that came before it. This is called the "genesis block." Now imagine that you change the second block. The hash of the block also changes because of this.
In turn, this will make block 3 and all blocks after it invalid because they no longer contain a valid hash of the previous block. So if you change just one block, all of the blocks after it will no longer work. But hashes alone aren't enough to stop tampering.

Today's computers are very fast and can do tens of thousands of hashes per second. You could change a block and then recalculate the hashes of all the other blocks to fix your blockchain. So, blockchains have something called "proof-of-work" to make sure this doesn't happen. It's a way to slow down the process of making new blocks.

In the case of Bitcoin, it takes about 10 minutes to figure out the required proof-of-work and add a new block to the chain. With this system, it is very hard to change the blocks because if you change one block, you have to recalculate the proof-of-work for all the other blocks. So, a blockchain is safe because it uses hashing and the proof-of-work mechanism in a creative way. But there is one more way that blockchains keep themselves safe: they are spread out. Blockchains don't use a central organisation to run the chain. Instead, they use a peer-to-peer network that anyone can join. When someone joins this network, he gets a full copy of the blockchain. This can be used by the node to make sure that everything is still fine.

Now let's look at what happens when a new block is made. Everyone on the network gets that new block. Then, each node checks the block to make sure it has not been changed. Each node adds this block to its own blockchain if everything checks out. In this network, all the nodes come to an agreement. They agree on which blocks can be used and which ones can't. Other nodes in the network will not accept blocks that have been changed. So, to change a blockchain, you'd have to change all of the blocks on the chain, redo the proof-of-work for each block, and take over more than half of the peer-to-peer network. Only then will everyone else start to accept your changed block.

 Blockchains are always changing, too. A lot of people were interested when blockchain technology was developed. Soon, other people saw that the technology could be used for other things, like storing medical records, making a digital notary, or even collecting taxes. Now you know what a blockchain is, how it works on a basic level, and what problems it solves.