Caratteristiche, evoluzione ed applicazioni della tecnologia blockchain

The introduction of the blockchain technology in 2008 offers an alternative to traditional schemes. The distributed ledger technology (DLT) combined with an innovative way of storing data in blocks, give an answer to the many challenges posed by digital cash, electronic payments, online anonymity, and security. The purpose of this work is to elaborate on the implications of the blockchain technology by understanding its architecture, evolution in time and applications. While it is still a new technology, the enthusiasm behind it resulted in a fast-paced environment that brought remarkable advancements on its way to mainstream adoption. The first chapter will present some core concepts of cryptography and how they are applied to digital cash, while presenting the main issue solved by the blockchain technology: the double-spending problem. Many projects came up with centralized solutions to tackle this problem but none of them really took off. Since David Chaum was the first to propose a cryptographic payment solution, his project, DigiCash, is deemed as the most important attempt to preserve privacy in electronic online payments. The second chapter will dive into the main features of first, second and third generations of blockchains, explaining their technological advancements and their functions. The idea of a decentralized peer-to-peer electronic payment method evolves into a multi-faceted platform as more advanced scripting and layers are added to different blockchain protocols. Technological improvements are needed to tackle limitations inherent to any permissionless blockchain: decentralization and scalability, consensus, trustless and security. First generation blockchains, like Bitcoin, are mainly viewed as decentralized peer-to-peer electronic payment systems. Second generation blockchains, like Ethereum, introduce smart contracts and decentralized applications. Third generation blockchains, like Polkadot, aim at connecting all isolated blockchains to achieve instantaneous interoperability between different programming languages. The last chapter will take a look at the two most developed applications of the blockchain technology, analyzing their advantages and disadvantages. While new business models are created, and existing ones are challenged, there are still many questions to be answered. In a sea of uncertainty one aspect is unquestionable: blockchains are here to stay and it is only a matter of time until mainstream adoption is achieved.