Ever Wonder How You Can Easily and Quickly Build on The Blockchain? Metis is For You!

Contributed by Metis Ambassador Collins Munyendo

What is blockchain?

Chances are high you have heard about blockchain technology and how it is going to change the world. You have probably also heard about cryptocurrencies and how they are going to revolutionize the ways we transact in ways never seen before. But what exactly is blockchain technology? Are there any benefits of using blockchain at all? Where and how can this technology even be applied? And how can you even get started using it?

Blockchain can seem complicated, and while it is, it has a very simple concept at its core. Think about an account you have with a bank. Every time you go to the bank and use the ATM to withdraw some funds from your account, the bank provides you the money and updates your account balance in a central server that stores this information. This server is known as a database. Simply, a blockchain is a type of database that is used to store financial transactions, with some blockchains, such as the Ethereum blockchain able to store more than just financial information. However, a blockchain significantly differs from a typical database like that of the bank in a number of ways.

Before we explore how a blockchain differs from a normal database, let’s take a step back and look at the issues that plague normal databases like those used by banks. With the ever-increasing cyber threats today, imagine if a hacker…