writing contest: Beam

The history of the Internet has been marked by different milestones, which include the first email message, the first spam email, the appearance of web pages, the birth of search engines, P2P networks, social networks, blogs , the memes ... and we can talk about a new milestone: blockchain technology.

Blockchain or chain of blocks, without going into major technicalities, is like "The fat book of Petete" but participatory; that is, it is a large encrypted and distributed database in which public annotations are made and in which everyone can participate. In blockchain, we are all notaries and we give faith of an operation.

The blockchain applications are endless. The best known is the annotation of virtual currency movements (with the bitcoin at the top). But apart from the applications in the financial sector, there are multiple variables of use. Let's give some examples:

Reliability in new types of contracts such as smart contracts or self-executing contracts (computer programs that execute a payment when a condition is met). Currently, only very important contracts are brought before a notary or registered in public registers. With blockchain, the entire network acts as a public notary, allowing the accreditation and non-manipulation of these transactions, with the economic, logistical and resource savings that this implies.

Distributed storage in the cloud. In this case, the concept is very similar to P2P networks. Your information is encrypted, broken into pieces and distributed throughout the network. Electronic voting, guaranteeing the anonymity of the vote and the impossibility of its manipulation by any intermediary. Audit of sectors or strategic information in a way that is not manipulated.

Privacy & Security

But can blockchain guarantee certain aspects such as privacy and security? How does it relate to these two parameters that are often the Achilles heel of many of the new technologies?

The blockchain databases are particularly interesting, because they give the option for the parties to carry out transactions without revealing their identity directly. That is, companies may be legally authorized to use and process such data without being subject to specific data protection restrictions.

However, this is not always the case, because although it is true that in blockchain there are no names, telephone numbers, addresses, the entrances and exits of data of the transaction are captured, being able to find out the IP address -which is considered as a personal data-; and with this last, find out the connection to the specific Internet or owner of the connection.

What is Beam?

Beam is a truly anonymous store-of-value coin.

with its protocol called mimblewimble ensures the security of the user making their transactions can not be tracked

Based on the tracking cookies, the transaction can be linked to the user's activities through the Internet and based on the well-known techniques of purse addresses of some users endangering their privacy.

beam is the solution to this dilemma, giving users confidence to invest and carry out their transferences without fear