Find a peer-reviewed scholarly journal article discussing blockchain technology. Complete a review of the article by writing a 2-3 page overview of the article. This will be a detailed summary of the journal article, including concepts discussed and findings. Additionally, find one other source (it does not have to be a peer-reviewed journal article) that substantiates the findings in the article you are reviewing. 

 

Blockchain Technology

Introduction

            In their article (Monrat et al., 2019) they introduce Blockchain as a technology system that applies peer to peer transmission of data resources without the need of any medium. Blockchain technology was built to enforce cryptocurrency bitcoin which was first projected in 2008 and employed by Nakamoto in 2009 (Monrat et al., 2019). Since its implementation, an augmented growth has been noted in the capital market. Blockchain is simply defined as a data structure that uses a public ledger to store records or transactions in blocks. Blockchain technology operates in a distributed environment that is empowered by integrating other major technologies like electronic signatures, decentralized consensus algorithms, and cryptography. A blockchain transaction is processed in a way Blockchain that they do not require an intermediary to verify or validate them. The authors in this article discusses the features of blockchain technology which are immutability decentralization, transparency and also the fact that they ensure the integrity of the transaction as they enhance security to make sure that the records are not tampered with.

Blockchain Features

            The authors outline blockchain major characteristics which include decentralized; decentralization is created when any node in the network can access or copy a blockchain store in a file. Secondly, blockchains are immutable; in other words, they are permanent and cannot be tampered with this builds up trust in the transaction record, also blockchain is consensus-driven, each blockchain record can be validated and verified independently using consensus models that provide the validating criteria. Lastly, blockchain is transparent, they are open file which are accessible by the user and transaction can be audited this creates attribution through which resource can be tracked (Sultan et al., 2018).

            Bitcoin is one major blockchain application that has been used in diverse applications that are far beyond cryptocurrencies. Since transactions through blockchain can be processed without medium or bank it has also been used in financial transactions for example online payments, remittances and digital assets (Monrat et al., 2019). Blockchain technology has somehow taken a life of its own as it has penetrated across the organization such as healthcare, finance, government manufacturing as well as distribution industries and has also played a role in innovating a range of applications such as supply chain, remote services delivery and digital media transfer. Even though the blockchain system displays the capability to replace most technological platforms (Monrat et al., 2019), it has some limitations as well.

             One major problem with the blockchain system is the scalability which includes issues such as limitation, block size response time and high fees. The size and the frequency of blocks in bitcoin as well as the number of transactions the network can handle is limited the article explains that the average creation time of a block in bitcoin is 10 minutes and the size of the block is limited to a single megabyte that strains the throughput of the network. Other issues outlined in the article include interoperability a limitation that rises due to the absence of standard protocol companies would use to deploy and integrate blockchain systems, there is also a problem with privacy where the authors explain despite the claims that blockchain is more secure than most technology system, still, it’s possible to track the real IP address of a user. Selfish mining, energy consumption, and regulation policy are among the drawbacks related to the blockchain (Monrat et al., 2019).

            The article also explains in the blockchain architecture, in the decentralized environment a node uses private key cryptography to deploy a digital sign for a transaction to be initiated. These transactions are then stored in a pool of unconfirmed transactions and a flooding protocol also referred to as Gossip protocol broadcast the transaction into the network (Monrat et al., 2019). The necessary blockchain peers need to verify and validate the records depending on the set criteria. After verifying the transaction are transmitted into peers that use computational power called miners to mine for blocks. New blocks are created after the mining which is then verified using a consensus mechanism before inserting and stored permanently into the existing chain and the public copy of every peer’s ledger. At this stage, the first transaction is confirmed. After a compete for the transaction, every new block is linked to the previous using a cryptographic hash pointer (Monrat et al., 2019).

            For the transaction process, the step involves verifying the sender’s identity using digital signatures or public and private keys.  A sender broadcast the transaction into the blockchain network with all the necessary info for example transaction amount, address along with public key ad digital signature (Monrat et al., 2019). The private keys are used to create the digital signature. The miners validate the transaction independently depending on the present criteria and the blockchain’s Elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) makes sure that the transaction is only sent by the real possessors. The article explains examples of the transaction including bitcoin transaction whose main purpose is to decentralize the system of digital money payments between different applicants by getting rid of mediums. in bitcoin transactions, some bitcoin ownership is transferred into one other bitcoin address. It is often initiated by the client’s bitcoin wallet and later transmitted into the network The network odes only rebroadcast bitcoin transaction after and insert it into blocks after the transaction is proved valid (Monrat et al., 2019).

            In an Ethren transaction, ether is the term used for the amount being transferred and its value is known as Wei. This transaction contains fields that transfer ether and the messages that invoke smart contracts. Ethereum transaction shares the same attributes as bitcoin, for example, the transaction process and block hash as well (Monrat et al., 2019).   Moreover it applies other fields like fees limit, SC state etc. For an ether transfer to be successful, the amount, as well as the target address, have to be specified. The transaction is verified by checking the time tamp, nonce combination as well as the accessibility of enough execution fees (Monrat et al., 2019). 

            Lastly, the article also explains the consensus procedures that are used in blockchain they include Proof of Work (POW) whose basic concept is identifying and determining the node that will be used to obtain the mandate to append a new block into the existing chain by displaying proof, there is also Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) here each network node delegates the transaction validation to another node using the voting process. Thirdly, the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT).  BFT Byzantine Fault Tolerance is reaching a consensus where two nodes can safely communicate through a decentralized network despite ineffective or malicious nodes, in other words, they are replication algorithms that can tolerate the faults of Byzantine. The article concludes by explaining the future scope of the blockchain and detail that blockchains have an immense potential benefit t all industries that choose to deploy it in terms of big data asset protection as well as a smart contract.

Development Of Block Chain Technology

            Significantly an article by (Geroni, 2021) adds that blockchain even after a decade since its introduction it seems new due to its increasing popularity and the rising growth of the implementation of its application in different areas (Geroni, 2021). The modelling of the decentralized digital ledger system has benefited a lot of organizations in transactions that involve nonce or data. The transaction between participants the records can be stored and accessed easily by parties involved in the technology and with credibility, security and immutability (Geroni, 2021). In his article, he discusses the insight that regards the potential prospects that are related to blockchain systems Some of the future trends of blockchains system include:

            Financial Sector leading in Blockchain Application: To adopt blockchain technology, finance industries will not require the radical upheaval of traditional processes. Financial organizations are rapidly accepting to utilize blockchain systems in their financial operation. Recent studies indicate that decentralized ledgers together with blockchain systems have cost benefited the financial service providers (Geroni, 2021). Additionally, it has been predicted that by leveraging blockchain systems, the banking industry would develop its value up to $ billion in 2022, this means that blockchain technology is the tomorrow of finance as well baking industries (Geroni, 2021). 

            New Governance Models: Governance models allow large and diverse groupings for effective decision making, as well as payments. These models will surely play a future role in blockchain by making sure that info from different sources is standardized.

Blockchain connection to IOT: According to (Panarello et al., 2018). The internet of things is the interconnections of digital devices used for data collection to make the right decisions. However, these systems are insufficient in terms of security making them vulnerable to security and privacy risks. Blockchain systems, being among the most secure technology systems can aid in dealing with the security problems in the IoT. Blockchain features such as immutability and security encryption of data are a solution to the one architectural drawback of the IoT Panarello et al., 2018).

Conclusion

            Conclusively, this article describes Blockchain as the fundamental technology of several digital cryptocurrencies. It is also defined as a stream of blocks that store records and transactions using digital signatures in a distributed network. The article also outlines the features of blockchain technology which are immutability decentralization, transparency and also the fact that they ensure the integrity of the transaction as they enhance security to make sure that the records are not tampered with. Also, it discusses that rather than cryptocurrency e.g., bitcoin blockchains have also been applied on other applications such in health care government institutions as well as financial institutions. Moreover, it gives a brief description of blockchain architecture and offers a few contrasting consensus mechanisms as well as the future opportunities of blockchain technology.

Outline

Topic: Bock chain technology

1. Introduction
2. Thesis: The authors in this article discusses the features of blockchain technology which are immutability decentralization, transparency and also the fact that they ensure the integrity of the transaction as they enhance security to make sure that the records are not tampered with.
3. Block chain features
4. Development of block chain technology
5. Conclusion
6. References