Introduction
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrencies are just one use case of this new technology. Cryptography plays a vital role in blockchain as it provides security to the network. There are 3 types of cryptography that can be used in blockchain: Public key cryptography Digital signatures and hash functions
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology. It’s a database that is shared across multiple computers, making it decentralized and transparent. The blockchain “chain” consists of blocks that contain information about transactions on the network. These blocks are linked together in order via cryptography to form an immutable chain of data, which means it cannot be altered or tampered with once it has been saved to the ledger.
Cryptography ensures security
Cryptography is the science of writing and solving codes. It’s used to ensure the security of systems, data, and communications. When applied to blockchain technology, cryptography ensures that transactions are secure and cannot be altered by unauthorized parties.
Cryptography is also used to create a secure chain of blocks: each block contains information about previous transactions in order for nodes on the network to verify them. If you want more information on how this works with Bitcoin transactions specifically check out our article here!
Cryptographic methods can be applied at every stage of a blockchain transaction or contract–from creating an initial private key through signing off on each step along the way until reaching its final destination (and vice versa). Each step requires different types of cryptography which we’ll go over below:
There are 3 types of cryptography in blockchain
There are three types of cryptography in blockchain:
- Public key cryptography, which is used to create digital signatures and hash functions
- Digital signatures and hash functions, which allow you to prove that you have the right private key associated with a public key without revealing any information about your private key (the signature can be verified using only public information)
- Zero knowledge proofs, which enable the sender and receiver of a transaction to verify its validity without revealing any additional information beyond what is required for verification
Public key cryptography
Public key cryptography is a type of cryptography where the encryption key is made public. The public key can be shared with anyone who wants to send you an encrypted message, while the private key must be kept secret by its owner.
The basic principle behind public key cryptography is that it’s easy to multiply prime numbers together but very difficult to factorise large composite numbers into their prime factors (e.g., 5 x 7 = 35). As such, if we want two people (Alice & Bob) who don’t trust each other but do want to communicate securely over an insecure channel like email or text messaging then we could use this technique:
Digital signatures and hash functions
Digital signatures are used to verify the identity of the sender, and can also be used to verify the integrity and authenticity of data.
In order to understand how digital signatures work in blockchain, we’ll first need to take a look at what they’re made up of:
- A private key is like a password which only belongs to you. It’s stored on your device or computer, so no one else has access to it except for you! This makes sure that nobody can use your private key unless they have physical access to your device (or if someone gets hold of it somehow). That’s why people say “don’t upload pictures with faces” because those photos could easily be traced back using facial recognition technology without permission from those involved – but if someone else has accesses their own personal information through this method then they might end up exposing themselves unintentionally!
Cryptography is the cornerstone of blockchain technology.
Cryptography is the cornerstone of blockchain technology. It’s used to ensure security and protect data, which allows for a fully decentralized system with no central authority. Cryptography ensures that transactions are valid, provides proof of ownership and prevents tampering with data stored on a blockchain.
Conclusion
We hope that this article has given you a better understanding of how cryptography works in blockchain. We know it can be a bit overwhelming, but as long as you keep these three things in mind:
