RecordsKeeper - When Blockchain meets Databases

As time moves forward we keep hearing about Blockchain and how most companies start to rely on it more and more. The questions that should arise are: Which one is better? Which one suits you? What are the differences?

In order to answer that, the first step we should do is to study them independently; see how they are structured and the reasons for which they were created.

Databases

The architecture normal databases work on is client-network. The client, also known as the user can freely modify the contents of the said database which are stored on a centralized server. However this is only possible if that user receives permission to do so, a permission that is normally given when said client authenticates and his or her credentials are the keys to access the contents within the database. However, there may be cases where the system that has the role to verify the credentials is faulted and in that scenario, database contents may be at risk.

Blockchain

Blockchain's architecture consists of several decentralized nodes, being a database in the form of a digital ledger. Each node holds the role of administering the database and only when all nodes are in consense a database operation will take place. This way the level of security is raised to be much higher than the one of a traditional database.

Now that have a brief idea about the two, let’s compare them based on different subjects and after it, draw a conclusion.

Immutability

We are familiar that a traditional database can do the following operations: Create, Read, Update, Delete, or also known as C.R.U.D. operations. However, Blockchain can rely on the first two operations from the C.R.U.D. concept, those being Create and Read. The user can read the data he stores but he cannot alter it, that information being there forever. He can, however, add new data in the form of a new block which gets linked to the blockchain.

This way, as opposed to a traditional database, blockchain is immutable and thus being far more secure.

Decentralized Control

Trust is an important factor when we are discussing data security. If you are in a controlled organization where the users trust each other then a traditional database will work just fine. However, if you don't trust the other users, then a blockchain is the way to go because blockchain operations are verified by the other nodes of the blockchain.

Each node has a complete history of all the transactions and on top of that, custom rules can be created for each transaction that handles particular outcomes.

Blockchain or Database?

There is no "right" answer to this question since there are multiple factors that can influence the decision. If you want something for personal use and something that you can control then you should go with databases but if you want something more public and something where data should be highly available then blockchain would be better. In the end, it all depends on you.

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Author: Blek322