Episode 27 - Soumya Basu on Blockchain Technology

Blockchain is a kind of tamper resistant digital ledger. The ledger stores data in groupings called "blocks."

What data gets stored in the blocks depends on what the blockchain is being used for (whether it's to transfer digital currency, or to store and distribute other transaction information like real estate or medical records, and so on). Also stored in the blocks is an encrypted digital fingerprint, or hash, that identifies the block and what data is inside it. Each newly generated block also contains the previously generated block's digital fingerprint such that the blocks can be sequentially linked or "chained" together, hence the term "blockchain."

Tampering with the data inside any block within the chain is therefore difficult, in part because such tampering would constitute an alteration of the block's digital fingerprint, thereby risking the unlinking of the block and the breaking of the chain.

One major benefit of blockchain is that the generation, or "mining" of such blocks and their distribution is decentralized. So it would be unlikely that any one entity could control the blockchain network, given that the network is supposed to be comprised of many individual users, or "peers."

Blockchain technology gained more visibility due to Bitcoin, a blockchain cryptocurrency originally developed by a mysterious figure who went by the name "Satoshi Nakamoto." Attention to Bitcoin reached its height in 2017 and 2018 as its value in dollars grew rapidly and then crashed. Other cryptocurrencies have also seen ups and downs such as Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency and blockchain network after Bitcoin.

Blockchain is a tool; like any tool it could be used for public benefit or for harm. But if we want to cultivate prosocial uses for blockchain, more people will need to understand what it is and how it works.

That's why we talked to Soumya Basu. Soumya is a Computer Science PhD student, who researches blockchain at Cornell University. Soumya is also the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of bloXroute, a distribution network meant effectively to increase blockchains' number of transactions per second.