I'm currently studying for a final and trying to wrap my head around the nature of blockchains. For instance, if various healthcare systems adopt blockchain for managing patient data, will all of this eventually be organized into one unified "healthcare blockchain"? Additionally, when different online services record a timestamp for a photograph on "the blockchain," is that timestamp dependent on their specific blockchain, or can these systems communicate with each other?
3 Answers
It really depends on how they're set up! Companies can definitely share a blockchain if they choose, but many operate on their own separate blockchains that don’t communicate with each other. So you can think of it like delivery companies: some businesses use different ones, and that’s totally normal. Just remember, when people say "the blockchain," it’s a little misleading since there are tons of them out there!
Good question! If multiple healthcare systems use blockchain, they might not all connect to the same one. And just to clarify, it’s important to consider if these systems are even using blockchain instead of traditional databases. This is something you'd want to get more insight about straight from those system designers.
Honestly, putting patient data on blockchain sounds like a terrible idea. Beyond the efficiency issues, it raises major privacy concerns.
Most blockchains operate independently, but there are ways to create what's called "cross-chain bridges." These can be pretty complex and usually involve trust in some external system. If you’re exploring this, you might find this resource useful: https://chain.link/education-hub/cross-chain-bridge. Regarding healthcare data on-chain, I’d sarcastically say, "storing sensitive data on a public ledger is a fantastic idea!" Just keep in mind that if the data stored on-chain is only a hash, you'll need to manage access to the original data elsewhere.
Thanks a lot! Following up on my second example, are those services likely to run their own blockchains? What happens if one goes out of business? Can users even access that blockchain?
Thank you so much!