Bitcoin works through the blockchain, which is a decentralized public ledger, keeping a record of all transactions in a permanent and secure way, making it easy to audit in the future.

In addition, given its distributed nature, the blockchain is very resilient against downtime.

All these features make blockchain technology appealing for a wide variety of applications across many industries, although the most famous application is for cryptocurrency.

Blockchain technology has four basic features that make it very attractive:

1. Secure

This is possibly the most appealing aspect of any system associated with the exchange of currencies.

No single person or participant can affect data stored on the blockchain, making historical data tamper-proof.

In addition, this technology is constantly being improved to ensure that once data has been input into the system, it cannot be altered.

2. Authenticated

Each transaction made on the blockchain needs to be associated with an identity. This makes transactions transparent, given that specific types of authentication are required, based on the transaction being requested.

3. Shared Data

With data being stored across the blockchain network, the problem that traditional databases face, such as the server being overloaded or downtime, does not affect a blockchain.

There are several copies of the data, stored throughout the network, with each participant having access to the entire ledger.

This also protects the system against disruption and attack.

4. Auditable

As mentioned above, with each transaction being associated with an identity, the audit trail is transparent.

The complete history of a blockchain is saved across multiple nodes, such that it can be viewed easily by an auditor.

In short, blockchain technology provides a safe way to transact cryptocurrency, while maintaining all records of transactions.