Blockchain vs Big data – Differences, Similarities, and Benefits

Are you searching for Blockchain vs Big data? Do you want to know about all the differences, similarities, benefits, job responsibilities, and skills required between blockchain and big data? In this article, you get detailed information about blockchain technology and big data. 

Technology is altering the world and if we take a good look at how our lives have altered as a result of the growth of each technology. Both blockchain and big data analytics are smart technologies that use the information to solve problems with quantity and quality. Blockchain technology allows for the recording of data or information on a distributed network and is a database. In this article, we will discuss blockchain vs big data like their differences, similarities, responsibilities, benefits, etc. 

Big Data Analytics refers to the application of methodologies to large, unstructured, and semi-structured data sources to obtain valuable insights. These two technologies working together would have opened up a wide range of previously impossible applications. You might be able to relate to a cryptocurrency exchange between users X and Y, a sale of an NFT between users A and B, and other comparable exchanges on a market for digital goods or neurofibrillary tangles. 

What is Blockchain technology?

Blockchain is a system for storing data in a manner that makes system modifications, hacking, and scamming difficult or impossible. It is a network of computer systems that designs and allocates a ledger of trades across the entire network. Each block on the chain comprises a set of transactions, and each participant’s ledger acquires a note of each new transaction that takes place on the blockchain. Multiple users maintain the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) that represents a decentralized database.

What is Big Data?

Big data refers to more diversified information that arrives at a faster rate and in higher volumes. It specifically arrives from new data origins and is just a term for larger, more difficult data collections. These data sets are simply too big for standard data processing software to handle. We can use these massive amounts of information to address previously challenging business issues. 

Differences: Blockchain vs Big Data

	Blockchain	Big data
	It utilizes the decentralized storage unit for data.	It utilizes the centralized storage unit for data.
	Blockchain doesn’t have a data administrator.	To manage the stored data, it uses the data administrator or data admin.
	Updated data doesn’t need permission. Users also have an updated copy of the data and that doesn’t affect the original copy of the data and as blockchain is tempting to update data.	To update data it needs the permission of the data administrator.
	It retains the present data as well as the past data that was saved in the past.	It retains the important data up-to-date at a certain moment.
	It is an ideal transaction, but especially with large collections of data, it gets slowed down when used as a database.	Centralized databases have been in use for a long time and have a good performance record, but they slow down for certain functionalities.

Similarities: Blockchain vs Big data 

1. These both technologies deal with the data to give actionable insight. 
2. They both are important and valuable to manage the data. 
3. Data ledger can relate to real estate, energy trading, and other domains.
4. Blockchain technology and big data, for instance, make it simpler to prevent fraud because it enables financial institutions to monitor every transaction in real-time.
5. This fact leads to numerous advancements in blockchain and big data analytics. 

How can Blockchain technology help Big data?

1. Data Sharing 

Data scientists and analysts use reports, analyses, and studies. This data stays on the blockchain and provides simultaneous access to more users. Additionally, data scientists can make money off the results of data analysis that they derive and share on a blockchain. 

2. Traceability

A distributed ledger’s transparency makes it possible to track data from its source to its destination. For instance, the data tracked for any order-related inconsistencies throughout the sequence of activities on Amazon, from order placement to tracking until delivery. Blockchain is already used by industry giants like Amazon, Walmart, Microsoft, Oracle, and Huawei for the supply chain management.

3. Data Accuracy and Integrity 

The majority of data obtained from outside sources is duplicate. Data mistakes can cause lost revenue, online attacks, and compliance issues. The accuracy of data records in larger volumes, such as terabytes and zettabytes, ensures by combining blockchain technology and data analytics.

4. Data Forecasting

Blockchain gathers structured data from user accounts and devices, among other sources. Data scientists can use this data to forecast customer and business outcomes. The predicted data can be useful for market research, business investments, and industrial production. The information also aids in identifying patterns and trends in each industry.

5. Real-time Data Analysis

Blockchain technology provides the most accurate real-time data analysis. A smart contract is a part of every cryptocurrency transaction. The sender, recipient, and transaction timestamps are all stored in the smart contract. This can aid in identifying fraudulent and suspicious transactions. Using blockchain technology, banks can analyze data in real time and see a significant improvement in their ability to make decisions.

Benefits: Blockchain vs Big data

	Blockchain	Big data
	Decentralization	Enhanced productivity
	Security	Improves decision making
	Flexibility	Better customer services
	Transparent	Saves time and cost

Job responsibilities: Blockchain vs Big data

There are some important job responsibilities given that are necessary to be fulfilled by the Blockchain developer and Big data engineer.

Blockchain developer

• For network security patterns, consensus procedures, and blockchain they design protocols. 
• They design the network topology as well as the routing. 
• To prevent cybercrime establish security measures by using encryption to safeguard systems from hackers and other online threats. 
• The development of the blockchain network security system introduces new technologies and educates the other members of the team about blockchain technology. 
• They also design the interactive front end for Dapps and also includes the back end development for blockchain. 
• Development of blockchain systems, designing, testing, and constructing features of blockchain applications by using a variety of code languages.

Big data engineer 

• They design the architecture of the big data platform.
• They maintain and manage the bid data pipeline. 
• They customize and manage the integration tools, warehouses, databases, and analytical systems. 
• Structure and manage important big data and set up data-access tools for the data scientist.
• They also optimize the performance because dealing with big data, performance is the major factor. 
• Database optimization techniques, Efficient data ingestion, Deploying ML models, Implementing ELT processes, and Stream processing are the important job responsibilities of a Big data engineer. 

Skills required: Blockchain vs Big data

There are some important skills mentioned that are very important to becoming a blockchain developer and big data engineer. 

Blockchain developer

• They need programming skills and full knowledge of the programming languages like C++, Python, PHP, React and Node JS, etc. 
• They must have a strong foundation in cryptography because it is very important for providing a secure blockchain ecosystem and environment. 
• They must have a knowledge of website development like how to design, create, secure and optimize any website. 
• They need the knowledge of smart contracts and they enforce the business logic. A smart contract allows two parties to transact services and goods directly. 

Big data engineer

• They need programming knowledge like Java, Python, C++, etc. 
• They must know what SQL and database to do their work with Big data. 
• Data warehousing and ETL understanding. 
• Apache Spark, Hadoop, Data mining and modeling, etc. 
• Knowledge of operating systems for Linux, Unix, Solaris, Windows, etc.
• IBM Datastage, Pentaho, Talend, Informatica, etc. 

Also, Read

Blockchain Development vs Data Science – Similarities & Responsibilities

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed blockchain vs big data, including their differences, similarities, job responsibilities, skills required, etc. which is very important for you to know about these concepts. Blockchain and big data both are important fields of the Information Technology sector. This article describes all the important information related to blockchain and big data. We hope that this is helpful for you and that you enjoy reading this article.

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