Blockchain and Its Testing: Explained in Seven Minutes
Blockchain has brought profound changes to the business. This technology has disrupted how enterprises are managed, how they create value, and even how they perform basic functions like marketing and accounting.
Nowadays, blockchain technology is everywhere, from healthcare to banking and retail. Big companies, as well as nonprofit entities, use blockchain to improve existing processes and enable new business models. But what is it really? How can you take advantage of it? What do you need to know about blockchain apps and their testing? Let’s get started! We have a lot to cover.
What Is a Blockchain?
As the name suggests, it is a system that consists of a chain of blocks and contains information. To be more precise, a blockchain is a distributed ledger used to document transactions (or blocks) across many computers (referred to as nodes).
You could visualize it as an encrypted, verified, and shared Google Document. Each entry in it is highly dependent on the logic of relations of its predecessors and equally approved by everyone in the network.
Key Characteristics of Blockchain
Blockchain has an interesting feature. Once some data has been recorded inside a blockchain, it becomes really difficult to change it. That’s because of the blockchain’s components that consist of data, hash, and hash of the previous block. It makes the data stored in it really secure.
Let’s outline the main and unique characteristics of a blockchain. Let’s suppose you need to transfer a certain amount of money using a banking system. In the real world, it can take hours or even days due to time spent on checking the payment and validating it. That’s what differs blockchain: the digital technology makes it easier and saves your time.
So, blockchain is:
- Decentralization driven. The transactions across networks don’t need to adhere to any specific central authority.
- Consensus protocol based. To make a transaction, all relevant parties should be in agreement.
- Immutable. Once the transaction is recorded in a blockchain, you can never change or tamper with it
- Transparent. The history of every transaction is recorded and accessible for any contributing party to audit.
Five Types of Blockchain Projects with Examples
Blockchain’s worth goes beyond cryptocurrency. As you may have already understood, it allows businesses or computers to exchange value in digital environments without having an intermediary like a bank or a third-party platform between them.
That’s how a car insurance blockchain, for instance, could store policy details or contract rules and automatically process third-party claims. It would improve efficiency and reduce fraud. Another example could be a hospital blockchain that captures medical records and shares them on-demand with authorized providers. With the expanding popularity of blockchain technology, there are new ways to use it for business transformation.
Based on their degree of centralization, we have pointed out five types of blockchain projects ruling the economy in 2022.
1. “Fear of Missing Out” Blockchain Solution
As depicted from the name, these types of projects are brought into life just to ensure that companies don’t remain behind in the market. They haven’t looked into whether investing in blockchain app development is beneficial for them. Rather, they have just taken this step to show that they are innovative and work with the latest technology trends.
As you might have suspected, these kinds of initiatives are mostly used as a marketing tool, adding not so much value to the organization. It just increases the chances of a target audience giving a second look at your business products or services.
2. Opportunistic Solutions
It’s the second category in which blockchain projects fall. In this case, we’re talking about blockchain solutions that can address any record-keeping issue. Even when they are not functioning for an extended time, they bring value to the firm.
When looking into the real-life blockchain project examples of Opportunistic blockchain ideas, we’ll highlight the blockchain solution developed by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation. More specifically, their way to regulate records from credit-default swaps.
3. Trojan Horse Projects
These projects are appealing, sponsored by well-known brands, and address a widespread issue in a certain industry. However, they need users to submit critical information and relinquish some control for the primary blockchain owner to benefit from market concentration.
A potential example of a trojan horse blockchain project idea is a food-tracking blockchain system. Unlike the traditional centralized, blockchain ones take less time and effort to determine when the food items were adulterated.
4. Evolutionary Blockchain Projects
These kinds of projects evolve throughout time. UEFA is an example of blockchain software/applications of this type. They work with two Swiss leaders in blockchain technology companies, SecuTix and TIXnGO, to create an evolutionary blockchain platform that drives a more equitable and safer market for the sales of football tickets.
In this case, the tickets are tokenized to maintain a real-time record of their purchase and link it to ownership information. When compared to trojan horse blockchain ideas, the business currencies of this type can trade at a comparatively low-risk level for the participants.
5. Blockchain-Native Solutions
Last but not least, blockchain native solutions are also among the type of projects blockchain leaders in business consider in 2022. As a rule, there are the startups projects or extended teams of existing businesses. Their goal is to progress toward tokenization or decentralized governance over time.
When discussing blockchain-native project types, we want to point out two main industries: education and sports. The best example of that is Woolf University, the one founded by a group of scholars from Cambridge and Oxford and known as the “decentralized Airbnb for degree courses”.
Bearing in mind blockchain’s reach as well as its characteristics and inherent risks, it’s vital to thoroughly test any blockchain solution or application before it’s released.
What Is Blockchain Testing?
Blockchain testing is a way to evaluate the functional components of a blockchain ecosystem and ensure that they are functioning as expected.
Blockchain applications don’t exist exclusively in the domain of digital currency platforms. They need to integrate with other systems that provide access to real-world data. Since it’s complex to exploit a blockchain, its testing becomes even more complex.
Types of Testing for Blockchain
Fortunately, a blockchain application is still software. And despite some niche-specific particularities, there is a lot in common with other apps when it comes to blockchain testing. At least, the types of testing required make a quite familiar list. To name a few:
- Functional testing checks the components, systems, and their functionality, like the addition of a block in the blockchain, block size, chain size, etc.
- API testing verifies APIs for correct behavior and the interaction of applications in and out of the blockchain system.
- Integration testing checks if the different components work properly with each other since there are multiple components involved in the blockchain application.
- Performance testing examines one of the most important criteria of blockchain — speed. It checks for network latency based on block size, network size, or transaction size.
- Security testing helps to detect whether a blockchain system can protect the data and handle malicious attacks.
What to Test Specifically in a Blockchain?
In blockchain testing, we work with components on different levels (blocks, mining, transactions, wallets, etc). So, the priority, focus, and testing tools may vary based on a specific solution. In particular, there are two types of blockchain testing we’d like to highlight.
- Smart Contracts testing
Simply explained, a smart contract is a set of rules or conditions on which a transaction is executed on the blockchain. Once deployed, a contract works on its own. The testing involves making sure that the parties involved in transactions are adhering to the rules. Basically, it is detailed functional testing of the business logic and process. - Peer/Node testing
The strength of the blockchain lies in consensus across all nodes on the order in which the transactions are added to the network. All the diverse nodes present on the network QA engineer should test independently to ensure their smooth functioning.
Wrapping Up
Blockchain technology is one of the most revolutionary innovations that has been spreading recently. So, while the adoption of blockchain grows, the need to deliver high-quality products cannot be met without investing in blockchain testing expertise.