Recently, people’s interest in block-chain security technology is growing. People believe that it could be the key to solving many problems that occur during trading transactions. Block-chain is a technology that prevents hacking that can occur when dealing with virtual currency. Existing financial companies keep transaction records on a centralized server. But the block-chain sends transaction records to all users participating in the transaction and compares them to block data counterfeiting. This gives users two benefits.

First, it allows for smoother information sharing. Participants share all information so they can get the information without having to go through specific procedures. Second, the technology prevents falsification. All participants monitor the falsification of data content so manipulation is impossible. The way to check falsification is by comparing it with recorded ledgers. If any falsification is found, it is then checked with the surrounding ledger items and corrected according to the majority rule. These advantages can be used to prevent counterfeiting because block-chains are shared and constant ledger checking is conducted. Block-chain is applied to Bitcoin which is a typical online virtual currency. Bitcoin records transaction details transparently on a ledger that anyone can read. Multiple computers verify this record every 10 minutes to prevent hacking. This useful block-chain has been introduced in many industries.

On May 14 of this year, the Santiago Stock Exchange in Chile signed a technology partnership with IBM to introduce block-chain technology in their trading system. The purpose is to prevent fraudulent transactions. The reason why fraud occurs in secure transactions is because the transaction process is so complicated. In the case of complex transactions, hackers can falsify the contents of secure transactions. However, with the introduction of the block-chain, fraud can be prevented. Therefore, it is almost impossible to cheat with the system. By utilizing block-chain, the Santiago Bank is expected to reap benefits such as transaction simplification, reducing errors and saving time.

Another benefit of block-chain is that it can detect manipulated electronic documents. Last year, the Estonian government introduced a KSI (Keyless Signature Infrastructure) which protects electronic documents by creating a unique KSI in the electronic document and adding a unique hash value of the document and recording it in the block-chain. Thus, it is possible to determine whether a document has been manipulated by comparing the value of the block-chain and the document. Also, in 2015, Provenance developed a service that enables users to learn about the origin and expiration status of food by using the Internet. There are many stores that cheat on their groceries’ status and background, so they use this system to prevent this problem. The product receives a unique ID and when we input an ID, we can inquire about the history of the particular food. This information is recorded by block-chain and users can feel safe when buying food. Also, the introduction of block-chain will help to speed up food tracking.

In these ways and more, block-chain can be used in many industries to prevent manipulation fraud. However, there are problems in that transactions with block-chain are difficult to cancel and there is no central organization to take responsibility when problems occur. The current block-chain is still in its growth stage. Therefore, when a complete block-chain is developed that can maintain the strengths and eliminate the flaws, it will be used in a lot of fields. The age of virtual money is coming and the technology will continue to grow. In Korea, the ‘Korea Block-chain Industrial Association’ was officially launched. It will help block-chain industries to contribute to national innovation and enhance competition. They plan to create an environment for the development of block-chain and promote mutual cooperation among related industry members. In this way, the industries using block-chain will develop in many countries and it will become mainstream in the future.

Blockchain is applied to bitcoin which is typical online virtual currency

Choi Ga-yun  rkxnsl@naver.com

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