The use of cryptography is commonplace in Blockchain technology. It is used as a means to ensure that transactions are done safely while securing all information. Cryptography is the method of disguising and revealing (otherwise known as encrypting and decrypting) information using numbers and mathematics. Check out this link to get a consultation on blockchain encryption.
This means that the information can only be viewed by the intended recipients and nobody else. The method involves taking unencrypted data and encrypting it using a mathematical algorithm. The use of encryption in Blockchain primarily serves two purposes:
Ensuring that the past records cannot be tampered with.
The type of cryptography used in the blockchain is ‘Public-Key Cryptography’, also known as Asymmetric Cryptography. Public-Key Cryptography uses separate keys for encryption or decryption (a public key and a private key) rather than using a single key.
In the process, it uses a combination of a user’s public key and private key to encrypt the information, whereas it uses the recipients private key and sender’s public key to decrypt it. It is impossible to work out what is the private key based on the public key. Therefore, a user can send their public key to anyone without worrying that people will gain access to their private key.
Blockchain technology majorly uses encryption for more secure and incorruptible data in the following ways:
Digital Signatures
In Blockchain technology, Public-Key cryptography produces a digital signature, securing the integrity of the data that is being shown, by combining a user’s private key with the data that they wish to sign, through a mathematical algorithm.
Blockchains use signatures for signing transactions. Signatures are used to prove that a certain user is the owner of the inputs corresponding to a certain hash.
