Hands-On Smart Contract Development with Hyperledger Fabric V2

Chapter 1. Fundamental Concepts of Blockchain

It’s important to understand that blockchain is not a simple concept for most to grasp without a solid understanding of its origin, core components and architecture, as well as the debates surrounding blockchain. Blockchain has many slightly varying definitions that elicit some very dogmatic opinions, and this confuses many when first beginning their blockchain journey. This confusion happens because blockchain is not a tangible thing that can be touched or seen; instead, it is a concept born out of algorithms, technology, and fresh ideas for the exchange of economic value.

In this chapter, we’ll explore the fundamental concepts of blockchain by first starting with a brief history of its origin. This background information will help you understand why blockchain has no single standardized and universally accepted definition.

Following our discussion on blockchain’s origin, we will look briefly at several core components. Then we’ll delve into its architecture, followed by supporting technology and concepts.

In our look at the core components, we begin with the decentralized network. Then we cover cryptography. You can think of cryptography as the secret sauce of blockchain because it is what makes blockchain work. Without cryptography, there would be no use for blockchain. Next, we discuss ledger implementation. The ledger represents the storage or database in blockchain. It maintains the state created as a result of the last committed ...