Blockchain technology is emerging as a technological innovation in all industry sectors in recent years. The transactions and data stored on the blockchain network are immutable and secured with the adoption of Hash code to store data. The hash function ensures network security. The cryptographic hash function plays a crucial role in the blockchain ecosystem.
Distributed ledger technology, including blockchain, uses hash functions to ensure the data. Exploring the concept of hashing is necessary to better understand how Bitcoin works. Let us start with the idea, other related terminologies, and hash types.
What does hash in blockchain mean?
Hash in blockchain is a cryptography process for converting any data form into a unique text string. Irrespective of the type, scale, length, and size of the data, we can create a hash for any data piece of data. The output is a fixed-length string.With blockchain adopted for cryptocurrencies, it used a predetermined hashing algorithm for transactions of the same varying length. The length of input does not affect the process. Output is called a Hash.
For example, Bitcoin uses the Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA 256). SHA 256 always gives out a fixed length with a 256-bits size (32 bytes). This process ensures easy tracing or recalling of the transactions. Hash size depends on the function decided. Simply put, a YouTube video of 50 megabytes and a text message of 10 kilobytes would have the same length of 256-bits. The difference would be in the hash pattern.
Characteristics
To secure any cryptographic function, developers use specific properties or characteristics in the hashing function. Cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin have unique hashing functions, differentiating them from other cryptocurrencies. Let us discuss these features.
1. Quick Computation: Quick computation for every input data plays a crucial role in blockchain technology. In simple words, hashing for any length must take the same time. For example, single word dog and entire novel should take the same duration for hashing function.
2. Deterministic: A specific or fixed output is necessary for a hash function. This process must create the same length or size irrespective of the number of transactions and input data length. Otherwise, different transactions would have other effects, making tracking transactions impossible.
3. Different hashes for every transaction:
Hashing process creates different hashes for every input. For example, the hash for the words mirror and mirror1 would be different. These hashes would have similar patterns but differ at the end.
4. Pre-image resistance: One of the crucial characteristics of hashing is pre-image resistance. This characteristic makes it virtually impossible to determine the original input data from its hash. The only possible way of finding out the input data from the final hash is by generating all the hash combinations. But, it is not practically possible.
Types
Many hash algorithms, like Tiger, RipeMD, XXhash, etc., are used. The popular hash functions for file integrity are SHA-1, SHA-2, CRC32, MD5, etc. Let us discuss these hashes.
SHA-2: The National Security Agency developed SHA-2. This family of hashes contains six functions with digests, i.e., hash values 224,256, 384, or 512 bits. We term these hashes SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, SHA-224, SHA-512/256.
MD5: This hash function encodes a string of information into 128-bit fingerprints to verify data integrity. But, there is the possibility of hash collision vulnerability.
Bcrypt: The dominant feature of Bcrypt is the password hashing function. As the computation speed is slower, it is susceptible to search attacks.
Uses In Blockchain Tech
Blockchain addresses use hashing. For example, Bitcoin addresses use RIPEMD160 and SHA2-256.Cryptographic signatures use hashing to determine the validity of transactions. A hash of transactions helps keep track of transactions on the blockchain. It is easier to search transaction hash in a blockchain explorer.
In crypto mining, it plays a crucial role in forming consensus on the mechanism. It determines the speed of the mining process. It plays a pivotal role in deciding its difficulty level.A hash of data helps store a large volume of data on the blockchain. This data is time-stamped and valuable for future reference. The data need less storage space, thus economical.
Final Thoughts: The cryptographic hash is crucial and integral to the blockchain system. It enhances the security capability of the processed transaction because of the immutability feature. Thus, it is beneficial in mobile/light wallets and deals with scalability issues.
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