Importance of Testing in Blockchain Technologies

Blockchain technology has been the buzzword ever since Satoshi Nakamoto implemented it as a core component in Bitcoin. With the success of Bitcoin, everyone is looking to implement Blockchain technology in almost everything. According to a survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, 10% of the global GDP may be stored using blockchain-based technology by the year 2027. Blockchain technology can be used almost everywhere, from digital transactions & storing documents to making decentralized data transfer.

Let’s try to understand Blockchain technology, its benefits, and what needs to be tested in a blockchain.

What is Blockchain Technology?

Blockchain is essentially a distributed ledger that stores transactions and assets across a peer-to-peer network. A blockchain can be described as an open infrastructure that can store many types of assets. Blockchain technology allows a group of selected participants to share data. Blockchain cloud services enable transactional data from various sources to be collected, shared, and integrated quickly. Data is broken down into blocks and linked together using unique identifiers, such as cryptographic hashes. Blockchain ensures data integrity through a single source truth. This eliminates data duplication and increases security.

A blockchain system prevents fraud and data tampering. Data can’t be altered or changed without permission from a quorum, whereas blockchain ledgers can be shared but cannot be altered. Anyone attempting to alter data will be alerted by all parties and will be able to identify the person responsible.

How does Blockchain technology work?

A blockchain is a historical record of transactions. Each block is linked to the preceding block in a sequence. This is permanent and immutable across a peer–to–peer network. Each transaction is assigned a unique identifier by cryptographic trust and assurance technology.

Blockchain is built on trust, accountability, transparency, and security. As such, various types of organizations and trading partners can access and share data. Participants keep an encrypted record of each transaction in a highly scalable, decentralized, and resilient recording system that cannot be retracted. Blockchain is not dependent on intermediaries or overhead. Blockchain is a single source of truth that can be decentralized. This reduces the cost of trusting business transactions among parties who may not have complete trust in each other. Most enterprises use a permissioned Blockchain where participants are granted the right to join the network, and each participant keeps an encrypted record of all transactions. This technology is available to any company or business group that requires a shareable, secure record of transactions. This technology is more secure and available because there is no central location for everything.

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Role of testing in Blockchain technologies

The entire process of Blockchain must be tested from a technological perspective. Any discrepancies in one block or the supply chain could potentially disrupt the entire system. A block added to a blockchain is permanent. Any modifications to a block within the chain will render the associated blocks invalid or unacceptable. The owner of the block can make significant changes to the chain by updating one or more blocks. This will have an impact on the chain and require a simultaneous update. This change cannot be saved or made later, making it more complicated and difficult to test.  One more important feature of Blockchain technology is that it is difficult to exploit a blockchain, making testing blockchain all the more complicated.

It can be difficult to test applications built with blockchain technology because not all blockchain technologies have been made open-source. A private blockchain is used by some banks to provide privacy and security, and it can also be combined with cloud computing and blockchain.

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Nowadays, BFSI and Automotive sectors are leveraging blockchain technologies because of the secure and encrypted structure that the technology offers. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that these processes run smoothly, which demands the need for proper outsourced QA testing in blockchain technologies. Blockchain is built on trust. As such, blockchain testing is vital to ensure that the components of the blockchain are working properly and all the applications are interacting with it in a trusted manner. Functional, API, node, performance, and other special tests are some of the core tests that should all be performed.

Final Thoughts

The emergence of Blockchain technologies is just the beginning. This technology has a lot more to grow, develop and evolve in the coming years, but indeed, it is here to stay. If you’re looking for a software testing outsourcing company for all your testing needs, then TFT is the right partner for you. We have a diverse team of excellent QA engineers who will take care of all your offshore software testing requirements and help in the faster release of your software products.

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