In this Bitcoin Era, the Blockchain network has been working relentlessly to provide us solutions in every necessary practice starting very promisingly in the Finance Industry and gradually moving to healthcare, investments, real estate, transport, accounting, etc. When the discussion on Blockchain and its unique features is on, the term ‘Immutability’ comes very naturally. Of all the factors, immutability is a said feature of Bitcoins Digital with which it provides the users the assurance of security. The technology is indeed very promisingly capable of confirming the immutability but to what extent that can work most definitely and flawlessly makes it a matter up for discussion.
What is Blockchain?
Blockchain is an advanced system where the network is dispersed and works with many nodes. These nodes of Blockchain are differently designed from another for the system to be unique and untraceable in every account. The Exchanges taking place in a blockchain do not need to be monitored and held with the help of a third party which makes the system more independent and safer for the users.
What is Blockchain Immutability?
Blockchain works with this specialized feature which confirms that any data which has been lodged in the system cannot be changed or deleted. The history of any data is preserved in the system, and this also helps to avoid the act of duplication. The global log of transactions in a blockchain is irreversible, and this has achieved certain heights of trust from the users along with validation. The key here is to make everything secure with encryption that strongly holds all the ropes together firmly.
How can immutability be achieved?
As much as it seems to be easy, the Blockchain is not a very simple technology. The network is composed of the concept of encryption, and that is the most basic thing about a blockchain. The immutability is another coat of security in the blockchain network, and it is here again achieved by cryptography. These codes can be done very easily by programming and mathematical calculations to make them work faultlessly. The best way to technically confirm it is to generate a string of 64 characters and keep on doing that, which will fix a certain length.
Advantages of immutability
The network, from time to time, needs to go through all the details, and for the audit to go smoothly, the immutability helps it to acquire one set of unaltered information. The data integrity confirms that the system is validated and helps to recalculate the hashes with ease. Also, it mitigates the chances of any fault occurring.
Mutability in Public Chains
Even when it is very strongly suggested that immutability is one of the truest features in a blockchain, for certain blockchain vulnerabilities, this has been compromised many times. When certain breaches took place in Bitcoin and then followed by Ethereum in 2016, the network did not have many options but to update. Even if the law is law, it has to go through these changes for the system to be made unalterable by the perpetrators again. But one thing that one has to bear in mind is that the updates are not done if not necessary and are never unauthorized.
Reediting the Private Chains
Here also, the data sometimes needs to be altered. The private network chain is much safer than the public chain, where any random person can enter. But the private network often puts one or two pieces of misinformation which can be misleading for the other participants, and thus comes the need for the update. Although violating immutability is not much of a preferred choice by one, one still needs to be careful about the authenticity of data.
What is the truth?
When most people look for an answer associating a yes or no when it questions the integrity of the blockchain immutability, it can be said that it does not exist to that point very well now. The program on a Blockchain is highly immutable for the system to active order within, and it does not allow any alteration simply because of any tiny need. But it is to keep in mind that being inflexible about one choice can eventually bring the system to ruins, and here, bending once or twice to make the system safer for the users is quite a valid choice.
In this Bitcoin Era, as much as it is needed for a system to work with its integral laws, the immutability of Blockchain has shown us that once or twice, breaking the law is important for the greater good.
