Blockchain 101

10. Objective – Database or Blockchain

Objective Let's talk about it. Is it a database or a blockchain? When it comes to understanding the difference between a blockchain and a database, there are, of course, going to be some significant differences. Generally, a database is going to be a legacy architecture. Typically, it'll be SQL or NoSQL. It could be new SQL. Generally, databases are going to be centralized,whereas the blockchain will be more distributed. Traditional databases are going to use a client-server network architecture. And we know in the blockchain world we typically use what's called a peer-to-peer protocol. Now, database processing is somewhat quicker. There's no question about it. It's just not what they were intended for. They were designed for what? For transparency, for basically ensuring immutability, forensuring that it is not centralized. Again, there are numerous compelling reasons to favour blockchain over a database. Traditional databases are going to use client-server network architectures, generally two, to control the database, which is going to be centralized. In other words, you're going to have a database administrator generally or a few. At least in the world of permissionless blockchains, there is really going to be a central authority now in the world of permissionless blockchains. Of course, when we get into the world of hyperledger fabric or corta, things are really very similar when it comes to management. Contrary to what's written now on the exam, the main thing you really understand is that the traditional databases are going to use client-server network architectures. Now if we have a centralised database,it's controlled by whom, a central authority. Now, what can happen in a centralised database? Well, that database is controlled by, of course, an administrator, and that administrator or administrators can choose to delete or update information, and it may or may not be something that the company may be aware of. In contrast, because everything on the blockchain is immutable, it cannot be deleted. Generally, databases support what's called "Cr Ud is going to be much easier to create, read, update, and delete than a blockchain. Now, databases generally maintain what's called "disintermediation," basically. Again, they're really there to provide a way to control information, to manage information. They are centralized, they have better performance, and they're also pretty agile in the sense that, of course, you can maintain privacy as well, a little more strictly than, for example, in an ethereum blockchain. Now, blockchains allow for two functions. Now the first thing is going to be to validate a transaction and write a new transaction. Those are the two main functions. Now, when it comes to properties of the blockchain, again, we've talked about this several times already, and we'll talk a lot more about these properties throughout the course as well. But basically, trustlessness is when you're going to rely on technology to handle security. There's no centralization saying you go ahead and make this transaction from user A to user B. At least in the permissionless world, we know that a blockchain is distributed and that a blockchain is what's going to be maintained on every node in the permissionless world. Once again, things can be handled very differently in the world of hyperledger, for example. And again, we'll talk more about hyperledger when we get to that section on immutable. In other words, once it's written,it can't be edited or deleted. Also, a blockchain needs to be timestamped. This is true pretty much whether it's permissionless or permissioned. When we talk about database properties, we have asset and base. I just want to talk about acid. Basically, in this case, basically when we talk about properties, the first is going to be what's called automicity. What does this mean? Basically, we need to make sure that the transaction is valid before it can be written to the database. It has to be consistent. right? Now following up on what I just said,with consistency, we need to have what consistency? So, for example, if that transaction is missing a response or just didn't get approved by an approver, whatever the situation is, or for example, there just wasn't enough time to write the transaction or the latency of the network caused issues, whatever. Right. Many different things cause issues. We just have to realise that we need that transaction to be consistent. Isolation. We need to make sure that, again, the properties that we're going to be using ensure that the transactions can occur currently with no inconsistency in the database state. What does this mean? Well, basically, if we're using a high-end database,we're probably going to have multiple transactions trying to write to the database at the same time. Well, how do we handle that? Again, if for some reason we can't get a lock read or write on a table space, for example, then that transaction may or may not actually be written to the database. Right. So these are just some things to think about when we take the exam. The main thing I want you to really get is to understand how a database and a blockchain are different when it comes to, for example, properties like client-server, how transactions are handled, et cetera. Durability Now we need to understand what durability is. Basically, this is saying what? That the transaction, once completed, is going to be written to disk. In other words, the transaction is considered committed. Another way to look at it in the database world is that once it's written to the database, it's generally referred to as a committed transaction. Now, what happens if the transaction isn't committed? It's generally going to be rolled back, right? And therefore, that's going to violate consistency and also automatically as well. So we have to make sure of that and also of isolation. So basically, when it comes to any of the properties, they are all really intertwined. So let's go on to the next module.

11. Commom Use Cases for public blockchains

Let's talk about the use cases for public blockchains. Now we know what a public blockchain is and, generally speaking, a public blockchain is going to be open to whoever wants to use it. There's no permissioning, there's no MSP involved, there's no controls over access or transparency generally. So, with that said, the use cases are generally going to be where you may have an early adopter project going on. You just want to test it out, see where it's going. You should also consider that your vendor may be sponsoring this and simply wants to show you how our smart contract works or how you could integrate blockchain into, say, a legacy application, whatever that is. But there are many different use cases. Generally, the most common use cases are going to be in the financial sector, which could be for audit trails. Now generally speaking again, when it comes to blockchain and financial data, it's going to probably be more of a permission blockchain than anything. However, there are blockchains out there that will extend, for example with Quorum to the Ethereum blockchain, and provide a trail that can be transparent. For example, it is very common in logistics as well. government programs, real estate titles, transfers of assets, supply chains, tokenization, digital identity compliance, and markets. These are some of the more common reasons for using a blockchain generally. We see a lot of use cases for both permission and permissionless in the financial sector. For example, when it comes to the financial sector,depending on the blockchain use, whether it's Quarter or Ethereum, the use cases may be very different. For example, if you're looking for transparency, then you know, probably go hosted on Ethereum. On the other hand, if you're looking for privacy, then you're going to have to go hosted on quarter or hyperledger, for example. These are just some of the other industries that are going to be looking at blockchain technology or, for example, are already using blockchain. And here's a practise question as well. Let's move on.

12. Common Use Cases for permissionless blockchains

Let's talk about common use cases for private and permissioned blockchains. We just talked about the public or permissionless blockchain,so let's talk about the private and permission. Now, one of the things to consider is that, again, we know that blockchains were originally designed to be permissionless. When Satoshi came up with Bitcoin in 2008 and it was released in 2009, we knew that the blockchain was really meant to be a cryptocurrency platform, open to everyone that wanted to use it, and then over time came ethereum, and then we moved on to hyperledger after that. But with that said, the blockchain was really meant to be permissionless. And so, therefore, we have some architectural differences to really consider. Basically, we saw this chart, I believe earlier, and just if you don't have some of this committed memory, I'd recommend that you understand, for example,access to ledger if it's public or permissionless. Generally, the ledger is going to be open, read or written in. If it's private as permissioned, read or write. So if you have a situation where you need to have permission and you don't want the ledger to be open to the public, then you have to use a private or permissioned blockchain. There's just no way around that. If you want to manage identities and know who's accessing your resources, do you go with public or private? Well, you want to go public, right? No, of course not. If you want to manage identities,what do you have to do? You have to control your membership. That is where you go with a private or permissioned blockchain. When it comes to security and trust, a lot of it is going to be trusted or trusted free if it's permissionless. Basically, your trust in the peer-to-peer network to work. From a technology perspective,there are no intermediaries. When we come over to a private blockchain, this is where we want to realise that the network is more controlled. Now, there are pros and cons. I'm going to go ahead and read every one of these. I'm going to let you determine what you want to focus on or memorise before you take the exam. Of course, you will get a few questions. How do you choose a public or private blockchain? What I really want you to focus on is to understand the pros and cons, and if you know that, you're going to do just fine. Now, what about considerations of permission or permissionless blockchain? We need to look at a lot of different variables when we decide to architect a blockchain. For example, what about our governance requirements? Do we have strict requirements about permissioning? Do we worry about who's looking at our data on the blockchain or do we not? If we do, we need to have stricter governance. There's no question about that. Also, the industry vertical tends to go one way or another in a lot of cases. And what I mean is, if it's logistics, you may see a lot more permissionless blockchains orextensions to the permissionless blockchains in logistics. But in the financial sector, you don't really see a whole lot of that. Also, smart contract functionality is not supported by ripple, for example. So if you need smart contract functionality, then you don't want to go with Ripple, you want to go with Hyperledger or Quora depending on what you need. And if you're in the financial sector, you're probably not going to be using Ethereum or Quorum, at least because of the fact that you need to have areas around governance or compliance. Now, a lot of financial industries, for example,at least financial companies in the financial industry, Do understand, however, that Quorum can provide some benefits, such as transitioning from a private blockchain to establishing privacy. So you do see that specifically using the financial sector, in some cases, quorum is not really widely used. It's still really a niche blockchain in my opinion. cryptocurrency requirements. Do you need it or not? consensus algorithm. Now, if we're going to have minors, we're going to really be changing the way we do business, like a proof of steak or Poet or DPOs or whatever consensus we use. costing model. Now this is a big deal. For example, do you have a budget or do you not? Do you want it to be hosted locally, or do you not? Do you want it hosted in the cloud or not? A lot of this is going to be dependent on your budget and your costing model that you're using. In the world of costing models, sometimes you may see that referred to as a business model. They're really a little different. When I talk about the cost model, it's really capexor Apex is really what I'm getting at. Integration, that's another big deal too. Right now, a business model is going to describe the rationale of how an organisation creates, delivers, and captures value in an economic, social, cultural, or political context. This is from Investopedia, for example. Now why are we talking about this? Well, because again, it depends on your use case. Now, blockchain is again a newer technology. When we talk about things like cloud versus blockchain, or even, in some cases, AI, there isn't a lot of knowledge out there from a comparative standpoint. So, blockchain is still really just getting started. When we talk about business models, this is what I'm trying to get at: a business-to-business model, a business-to-consumer model, and so on and so on. Now, blockchains are again going to typically cater to one of these business models. Now on the exam, I'm going to recommend that you understand, for example, what business to business is. This is a business model that is going to cater to one business after another. Again, these are very straightforward. There's nothing hard about it. It's just that if you haven't seen it before,you may get caught off guard if you're not sure of the difference between business to consumer or, for example, consumer to business, and so on and so forth. So if you don't know these, go ahead and just double check them online. For time purposes, I'm not going to read every one of these and give you a dissertation on it. But if you don't know what these mean, just make sure you understand because on the exam you'll see a question or possibly two that's going to reference business models and should you have a blockchain or where do you think blockchain will actually take hold down the road? To be honest, I'm seeing a lot of activity in the government-to-citizen space, as well as in another. It's certainly business to business. Now, blockchain technology is disrupting financial services, government services, healthcare, real estate, and many other industries as well. Now, the financial sector and the logistics sector, those are probably going to be the main areas that are really where the most disruption is going on. However, areas like healthcare. Real estate is definitely seeing a lot of good use cases and then other industries such as manufacturing, for example. And this might be considered part of logistics, for example. A big deal when it comes to importing and exporting Being able to document for compliance purposes where something came from From like a source to a table, or basically point A to point B, is it organic or is it not? Right now, blockchain technology is evolving. We know that. One of the things to consider is the effect that it has on the business model. And again, does it really affect the business model from a technical perspective, a business perspective, or a legal perspective? Generally, blockchains are going to attend to each of these in one way or another. For example, do we need to go with a proof of work or a proof of state consensus? Do we need to have a membership service provider to meet a specific requirement? For example, business. Does it save the company money? Does it allow the company to go to market quicker? When it comes to legal terms, that usually refers to a compliance requirement being met. Does it document, for example, from a legal perspective, that if company A sends something to company B, is company A liable for what they give company A, for example? Again, that's part of the legal basics that you want to consider. Now the use of blockchain technologies is really affecting how services are delivered. One of the things that we're seeing major disruption is, of course, the financial sector, and it's definitely removing a lot of intermediaries. All the major banks have announced blockchain projects at different skill levels, different maturity levels, et cetera. But I always like to say that when you start seeing the winners all join in and do the same thing, it generally means that it's not playtime. They're really taking it seriously. So again, when you hear that blockchain isn't going anywhere, I wouldn't really consider that because, if you think about it, you don't have 100 of the world's largest banks invested in blockchain in one way or another. Okay, maybe one or two will, but not pretty much every major bank. They're doing it because they see potential in it for cost savings, for disruption, for whatever the reason is. And some of them may just be doing it because other banks are doing it. It could be just for a competitive reason. Verticals Again, these are just the major verticals. For example, this is like a business-to-consumer use case. For example, when we consider business to consumer,basically to get it this perspective, if you want to go online and order something from Amazon, you're the consumer and Amazon's business. So for example, Amazon is going to document that transaction or those transactions that you make. That's the BTC use case. Now again, it all comes down to the vertical financial sector, logistics, charity funding,agricultural tracking, precious metals, et cetera. There are a lot of great use cases for B to C use case.Here's a very prominent example. It's basically called the trust chain initiative. Now I'd like you to go ahead and Google that if you haven't read about it. It's a really interesting use case that's already in action. It's not even really past the POC, it's past demo mode. They're actually using it. The goal is to provide digital verification of howjewelry comes from point A to point B to point C and then to the consumer. So basically, source to consumer really was tracking. Now the collaboration goal for the jewellery industry's trust chain is that it's going to bring together the community and help provide some kind of transparency around the ethical sourcing of the supply chain, basically. Now again, the benefits of the trust chain are really going to revolve around how it provides value to the consumer. For example, if you order a diamond ring tomorrow for your fiancee and you want a custom ring and you want to get a certain type of diamond, you go ahead and do that. They order that and you have to get the rock ordered. Maybe for example, you don't have in stock what you want and you want to track where that diamond came from and they go get it from Namibia or whatever country they may get it from, right? And you can track your jewellery purchasebasically your order from online, from the distributor, from the manufacturer, etc. And etc, etc, etc. jewellery store. And here's another practise question. Go ahead, move on.

13. Blockchain Use Case – Dubai

Let's go ahead and talk about the use case, specifically around Dubai. Now, Dubai is the city state, essentially the United Arab Emirates, and essentially it's an interesting little country if you've been to it. And I can tell you they definitely look at things a little bit differently than a lot of other countries I've been to. But when it comes to Dubai and blockchain,Dubai is leading the charge when it comes to governments investing in promoting blockchains. They're like the cheerleader.They're the ones that are basically standing there in a corner yelling about blockchain. There's no question that they're well ahead of pretty much any other organisation out there, from at least a government perspective. They're making large investments, they're making large resourcecommitments, and they're incentivizing a lot of their vendors and partners as well down the road,I assume, hopefully citizens as well. Dubai, of course, is not the only government investing in blockchain; there's no question about it. However, they're really the most visible and heavily invested. Now they have what's called the Blockchain Challenge. It's a smart Dubai initiative. And if you go to the website, the link for that is in the Resources card. You can take a look at the website description more in detail if you're interested. It definitely makes an interesting use case to discuss, especially with your government customers. Dubai aims to be a pioneer in the adoption of emerging technologies such as blockchain, which it recognises has a major potential to transform the city's services. Dubai is also investing in the Smart Dubai Office, which is called the SEO, and also the Launch Blockchain Challenge. And essentially, it's an interesting set up that they have. And as you can see, they're looking at and investing in the blockchain. There are several different approaches over here on the Smart Dubai web page. This page here goes through the DubaiBlockchain strategy, and it's an interesting read. And they also have a video as well. But in a nutshell, what they've done is describe their strategy, how the collaboration should work, and also go through what's called the three pillars. They have what are called "strategic pillars," and there are three of them. The first pillar is focused on government efficiency,basically like transferring land or visa applications. The second pillar is around industry creation. Because the blockchain is so revolutionary, they want to bring in additional companies to go to Dubai and help create an industry on the blockchain. The third pillar is focused on international leadership. They want to be the leader when it comes to using the blockchain platform to help and basically enhance, I should say, a lot of different aspects for international travelers, for example, being able to go through security quicker if you're pre-approved with a passport, for example. And again, you know, using what's called a global trust network with partners in Europe, North America, and Asia. And the little videos are there if you want to watch them as well. And then if you go over to the next resource, this is an article by Forbes that is pretty interesting, and they go through some additional items on the Dubai Blockchain Initiative, like, for example, howblockchain and real estate could be affected, for example,how real estate could change, for example. One of the things we're talking about as well is the Dubai Land Department and what they could do with blockchain technology. So just think of one organisation such as Dubai and what they're doing and what they're looking at doing with blockchain over here at the Smart Dubai web page. This page here goes through the DubaiBlockchain strategy, and it's an interesting read. And they also have a video as well. But in a nutshell, what they've done is describe their strategy, how the collaboration should work, and also go through what's called the three pillars. They have what's called strategic pillars, and there are three of them. The first pillar is focused on government efficiency,basically like transferring land or visa applications. The second pillar is around industry creation. Because the blockchain is so revolutionary, they want to bring in additional companies to go to Dubai and help create an industry on the blockchain. The third pillar is focused on international leadership. They want to be the leader when it comes to using the blockchain platform to help and basically enhance, I should say, a lot of different aspects for international travelers, for example, and, you know,being able to go through security quicker if you're pre-approved with a passport, for example. And again, using what's called a global trust network with partners in Europe, North America and Asia, and the little videos there if you want to watch them as well. And then if you go over to the next resource, this is an article by Forbes that is pretty interesting, and they go through some additional items on the Dubai Blockchain Initiative, like, for example, howblockchain and real estate could be affected, for example,how real estate could change, for example. One of the things that we're talking about as well is the Dubai Land Department and what they could do with blockchain technology. Just a thought on one organization such as Dubai and what they're doing and what they're looking at doing with the blockchain.

ExamSnap's Blockchain CBSA Practice Test Questions and Exam Dumps, study guide, and video training course are complicated in premium bundle. The Exam Updated are monitored by Industry Leading IT Trainers with over 15 years of experience, Blockchain CBSA Exam Dumps and Practice Test Questions cover all the Exam Objectives to make sure you pass your exam easily.