The primary factors differentiating the Blockchain Technology with that of the traditional databases

Opening remarks

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency which used the Distributed Ledger Technology. The Blockchain Technology is like a hot selling cake due to its transparent and secure features. This widespread adoption is due to the fact that more and more organizations are in a need for a full proof transparent database. Blockchain Technology is basically nothing but a distributed database, operating and stored on different nodes of the network throughout the world. Let us examine the factors which differentiate between the Blockchain and the Centralized database systems.

Traditional databases

The traditional database which is primarily employed by the World Wide Web, it can be clearly understood that it uses a client-server model where all the database is stored in the centralized server and the clients throughout the world request for that data. The data stored on a centralized server cannot be manipulated by the client and is under the control of a single authority of the owner only, hence updations or improvisations suggested from the client side is not reflected on the database. The centralized nature of the traditional databases shoves full responsibility on its owners for its tampering, losses, or misuse. Any updation that is done in the centralized server is reflected on its clients over the world.

Blockchain database

The Blockchain Technology or the Distributed Ledger Technology is observed to be applied readily by the cryptocurrency domain but it is not limited to it. The Blockchain Technology finds its application in many other domains too. Contrary to the Centralised database systems, in the Blockchain Technology, the data is stored in a distributed fashion among the participants of the network. It is this distributed nature of the database which makes the technology so powerful. As the data is distributed among all the nodes of the network, there is no room for data tampering, also the intuitive application of cryptography in the network adds on to the security. In this case, the client itself has the complete authority to make all the updations in the database which results in higher accuracy. The only drawback of the decentralized database system is that one can find no help desk, to turn to, in case of data forfeits or losses, as the authority is shared among everyone equally.

Also, the immutable nature of the Blockchain Technology adds on to a number of characteristics of the resulting database. As the data is immutable, once any data is stored on a blockchain it remains there forever. Any particular transaction on the Blockchain can be traced by using this attribute. The prime part to be noted here is that there is absolutely no centralized judiciary or any third party mediator for the creation and administration of the database.

Access time issues

Safely securing all the database on a blockchain network is achieved only through its distributed nature and Cryptography. In recent days it has been observed that the access time of the data in a centralized database is way faster than the access time of a data in a blockchain based database, which means that for a secured database, some speed needs to be sacrificed, according to the law of conservation of energy. Blockchain Technology has absolutely no advantage over the Centralized database management systems if there is no scope for secrecy and transparency.

Signing off

When deeply thought in simple lights, one must be very clear about their specific requirements and their willingness to sacrifice an attribute for another. If one needs no privacy for the data and cannot compromise on the speed of the data access then centralized data management systems are the preferred one. On the other side of the coin if confidentiality is the key obligation then the blockchain-based solutions are best suited for such business models.

In a nutshell, the respective type of database systems, carry with themselves their own suite of pros and cons, and its applications purely depend on the requirements of the time. Making objective decisions by not getting swayed by the hype or by not getting defeaned by the noise is invariably challenging due to peer pressures.