There are several types of blockchain, each with its unique capabilities and characteristics that adapt to different needs such as: public, private, and hybrid or federated.
LBlockchain technology has evolved a lot since its inception. This evolution has caught the attention of many players worldwide.
In its beginnings, the main stakeholders were individuals with the ability to see the transformation and revolution that would mean. For them, it was a public technology and available to everyone and, most importantly, open both to improve it and to actively participate in it.
It took some time until the companies and governments They will start to be interested in the blockchain to use it in their own projects.
However, the interests of companies and governments are different from those of open communities. This vision gave rise to the birth of blockchain projects different from anything known: private blockchains and hybrid or federated blockchains.
Public blockchain
This was the first type of blockchain to exist, and it refers to blockchains that anyone can freely access and join. An example of this type of blockchain are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Monero o Zcash. This type of blockchain keeps your data, software and development open to the public, so that anyone can review, audit, develop or improve it.
To achieve this, public blockchains have security measures that ensure that no malicious actor can easily tamper with its operation. That is where the action comes into play. Byzantine fault tolerance in programming, consensus protocols robust, protections DDoS or against 51% attacks o double-spending.
In a nutshell, any measure that helps improve network security is implemented in the same. The goal of all this is to keep the network running and preserve its decentralization.
Characteristics of public blockchains
Among the characteristics of this type of network we can mention:
- Public blockchains allow anyone to be part of it. Whether as a user, miner or administrator of a node, people can access the network and be part of it without any restriction
- The operation of the network is completely transparent and open. Blockchain data from its inception is available to everyone without restrictions. Anyone can review or audit the operation of the network and its software
- There are no centralized entities. Public networks are completely decentralized and there is no central authority to regulate their operation.
- The economic maintenance of the blockchain depends on the system integrated in it. Generally, this economic system depends on mining and the collection of commissions for each transaction carried out within the network.
Bitcoin 101 Course
Medium levelIn Bit101Me Academy's Bitcoin 2 Course you can continue your crypto education and learn what Bitcoin is, where it comes from and how to obtain it.
Private or licensed blockchain
With the evolution of blockchain technology and its expansion, many companies began to take an interest in it. This led to the development of private blockchain solutions or permitted.
This type of blockchain generally has the same elements as a public blockchain, but unlike these, the permissioned blockchains depend on a central unit that controls all actions within it.
This central unit is the one that manages user access, in addition to controlling functions and permissions within the blockchain. Generally, they are proprietary software development options, although there are also some free software.
One of the most important private blockchain projects in the cryptographic world is Hyperledger. This project, started by the Linux Foundation and various companies in the technology sector, is the largest example of private blockchain. We can also mention the case of Rope de R3 o Quorum de JPMorgan.
Features of private blockchain
Among the characteristics of this type of network we can mention:
- Access to the network is restricted to items that they can only be authorized by the central control unit.
- El access to the transaction book or any other means of information generated by the blockchain is private.
- The economic maintenance of the blockchain It generally depends on the company that supports the project.. Often, private blockchains do not have cryptocurrencies or mining actions.
Hybrid or federated blockchain
This type of blockchain is a merger between public and private blockchains. It's an attempt to get the best of both worlds.
In these blockchains, participation in the network is private. That is to say, access to network resources is controlled by one or more entities. However, the ledger is publicly accessible. This means that anyone can explore block by block everything that happens on the blockchain.
For example, these types of blockchain networks are very useful for governments or business organizations that want to store or share data securely. A perfect use case is happening in the healthcare sector, where blockchain is beginning to be used to store the data of its drug production lines. The stored data can be reviewed by the competent authority in order to control the quality, both at the level of the same company and of the government. The objective of the application of this blockchain model is to maintain a high level of transparency and trust.
Features of hybrid or federated blockchain
Among the characteristics of this type of network we can mention:
- El network access they are restricted to items that can only be authorized by the rest of the control units.
- El access to the transaction book or any other means of information generated by the blockchain is public.
- There is no mining or cryptocurrencies. The consensus of the network is given by other means that ensure that the data is correct.
- Es partially decentralized which leads to a better level of ssecurity and transparency.