Blockchain Technologies and Applications

Lecture #1

By
Engr. Aamir Baloch
Consultation Hours: 11:00AM to 2:00 PM
Contact via WhatsApp
 Why am I teaching this Course?
• This is one of the new and emerging
technologies
• Interest developed during
postgraduate studies.
• One of the demanding technologies of current
era

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 What about You?
• Why are you in BE (Computer Engineering)?
• This will help us in facilitation of your dreams

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 Run Down
• Course Details
• Marks Distribution
• Background of Blockchain
• Megatrends
• Various Definitions of Blockchain
• Elements of blockchain
• Examples
• Practice Assignment
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 BCT Course Outline
• Tracing Blockchain’s Origin.
• Grasping Blockchain Fundamentals
• Why It’s Called “Blockchain
• What Makes a Blockchain Suitable for
Business
• Ten Steps to Your First Blockchain applications
• Determining the Goal of Your Blockchain
Network
 Assessment Mechanism
Sessional Marks:20
Midterm Test : 20
Final Term Examination: 60
Teaching and Learning Facilitation
• Blockchain fundamentals by Dr. Ravindhar
Vadapalli
• Books pdf will be uploaded on Available
platform
• Additional books/Handouts will be keep on
updated
• Weblinks will be used
• Coursera
• HEC digital library
 Background of blockchain
• 4IR/ Industrial 4.0 (fourth industrial
revolution)
• The fourth industrial revolution, a term coined
by Klaus Schwab, founder and executive
chairman of the World Economic Forum,
describes a world where individuals move
between digital domains and offline reality
with the use of connected technology to
enable and manage their lives.
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 Continued…
• The first industrial revolution changed our
lives and economy from an agrarian and
handicraft economy to one dominated by
industry and machine manufacturing.
• Oil and electricity facilitated mass production
in the second industrial revolution
• In the third industrial revolution, information
technology was used to automate production.
 First industrial revolution:
• The first industrial revolution started in 1760
with the invention of the steam engine. The
steam engine allowed the transition from
farming and feudal society to the new
manufacturing process. This transition
included the use of coal as the main energy
while trains were the main means of
transportation.

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 Second industrial revolution
• The second industrial revolution began in
1900 with the invention of the internal
combustion engine. This led to an era of rapid
industrialization using oil and electricity to
power mass production.

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 Third industrial revolution
• The third industrial revolution started in 1960
and was characterized with the
implementation of electronics and
information technology to automate
production.

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 Fourth industrial revolution
• The fourth industrial revolution now involves
computer generated product design and three
dimensional (3D) printing, which can create
solids object by building up successive layers
of materials.

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Simple comparison of industrial revolution
 Megatrends
We have the following megatrends in revolution
of industry:
• Physical
• Digital
• Biological

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 Physical
• Physical trends are the easiest to see because
they are tangible
• Autonomous vehicles: Trucks, cars, drones,
aircrafts, boats etc

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 Digital
• Some of these trends are a bridge between
physical and digital:
• IoT (Internet of things) a relationship between
things like products, services, places etc and
people.
• Blockchain new approaches for engagement
and collaboration, blockchain creates trust
without a central part.

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 Biological
• Progress has been achieved in reducing costs.
• Genome: visualization tool
• Synthetic biology: is a multidisciplinary field of
science that focuses on living systems and
organisms , and it applies engineering
principles to develop new biological parts,
devices , and systems.

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 Various Definitions of Blockchain
• Blockchain is a system in which a record of
transactions, especially those made in a
cryptocurrency, is maintained across
computers that are linked in p2p network.
• Cryptocurrency is a digital currency , which is
alternative form of payment created using
encryption algorithms.
 Continued…
• Blockchain ≠ Bitcoin
• Blockchain is the technology behind the
bitcoin.
• Bitcoin is the digital token and blockchain is
the ledger that keeps the record who own the
digital tokens (Bitcoin).
• You can’t have bitcoin without blockchain , but
you can have blockchain without bitcoin.

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 Continued…
• A blockchain has the technical, business and
legal definitions:
• Technically: The blockchain is a back-end-
database that maintains a disturbed ledger
that can be inspected openly.
• Business-wise: The blockchain is an exchange
network for moving transactions, value,
assets.

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 Continued…
• Legally: The blockchains validates transactions,
replacing previous trusted entities.
• A blockchain is a type of diary or spreadsheet
which contains information about
transactions.
• Blockchain is link between business and
technology.

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 Elements of blockchain
• Hash
• Miners
• Ledger(Block/Blockchain)
• Proof of work
• Network consensus
• Difficulty level
• Double spending problem
 Example-1:
Earlier Ms word: Two students A & B using ms word
to make their project report, their contribution is
mention in specific word file, each update their report
one after the other. This is not a simultaneous nature.
This was time taking.
Solution: Google docs: A & B can contribute
simultaneously the report, but here is also a problem
the problem is centralized behavior, different nodes
connected via single point. Here we can face the
single point failure.
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 Continued…
• Final solution is blockchain: It becomes fault
tolerant. Here a central network is established
between A & B, the local copy of their report
is available with them, A mention the
contribution in its local copy in the report it
appears to B and vice versa, here each nodes
can see the update openly.

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 Example-2
• Blockchain helps to solve the problem of
money transfer.
• For example: James lives in Germany wants to
send money to Adam lives in USA the
conventional way is that a third trusted party
only is bank to facilitate this transfer so James
contacts his bank to send money Adam the
bank identifies Adam’s details that he is the
receiver of money. The money gets transferred
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 Continued…
From James account to Adam’s. For providing
the service the bank charges fee, and takes 2-5
days depending several on factors.
• Blockchain on the other hand does three
things:
i) No third party is needed
ii) The transfer takes almost on longer time
iii) Its is cheaper
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