We have many advantages and disadvantages of adopting the use of blockchain in our everyday life, these are the things that either make or mar the use of the blockchain and as the question of this section demands, I will be writing about them.
Advantages of Blockchain
Decentralization:There is no way I can write about the advantages of blockchain without listing this. Blockchain is decentralized which gives full control to any user over her accounts or wallets on the blockchain which means they can make decisions anytime they wish without waiting for approval from a central body. Also, the inactive of some nodes don't stop the blockchain network from working, others will keep working.
Immutability: Blockchain is immutable that is it's impossible to edit data stored on the blockchain and this prevents corruption in an organization. If my workplace adopts blockchain, it means all the money I have made in the laboratory and recorded on the blockchain cannot be edited by any top officials in the hospital. Blockchain adoption helps to maintain trust in an organization.
Security: Blockchain uses cryptography for securing information stored on it with the use of private keys, these keys are used to add digital signatures to transactions and only those in possession of the keys can have access to the information. This helps to secure the information or assets from our daily activities.
Transparency: Blockchain is transparent as information about a transaction is visible which will prevent the upper arms of a government from involving in any bad practice without being visible to everyone else. Only certain information can be hidden as agreed on by the management of an organization through encryption.
Disadvantages of Blockchain
Scalability: Scalability is a big problem for some blockchain networks, there are limits of transactions that can be processed per second on these networks and if transactions exceed that, it leads to delay which can be further lead to congestion. The problem is faced on most blockchain networks and some are forced to work on it by bringing in different solutions.
Cross-communication: Many blockchain networks cannot share information with other blockchains and this is a big disadvantage which means you have to belong in the network before you can communicate certain information to another node. In the traditional banking system, I can send money from a bank to another bank that works on another different server without any problem. Only a few blockchains have this interoperability functionality.
Irreversibility: Though it's good that data on the blockchain is irreversible to prevent corruption but it's also a disadvantage should in case there was a mistake. So if there was a mistake in the information stored, it would remain like that without any chance of correcting it and the only solution could be duplication with information update and that's another transaction entirely. Irreversibility is a disturbing disadvantage of blockchain.