I'm building a voting Dapp using ethereum blockchain but I have a doubt. The best thing about blockchain is that it's decentralized, transparent and secure i.e. no middleman or centralized server controls it. But if it's on ethereum, isn't it controlled by ethereum? If someone hacks it or tampers it, we go back to recentralise it, isn't it?
1 Answer
Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain. It's not controlled by anyone and it's run by client nodes. Anyone is free to run their own node which participates in upkeeping the blockchain and nobody can be banned from connecting their node. There is no company called Ethereum.
So you can't hack Ethereum per se. In theory you can hack the protocols which are used to communicate various things around the blockchain or the actual Ethereum implementation but so far nobody has found a way to do it - at least not in any way which would be detrimental for the network as a whole.
There have been attempts to disrupt the network and one attempt even managed to hard fork the network - The DAO hack in 2016 ( https://medium.com/swlh/the-story-of-the-dao-its-history-and-consequences-71e6a8a551ee ). But even if the network/blockchain is sometimes disrupted it never turns into a centralized blockchain.
answered Jan 16, 2020 at 14:10
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Okay, so as you told that any one can add a node, then who gives this permission to connect to the network? There may be something that's handling Ethereum as it cannot run on it's own... P.S- Thanks for the DAO hack link!– minsugaCommented Jan 20, 2020 at 15:07
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As I said, nobody can be banned. So nobody controls who can join their node. Anyone can do it. And yes, Ethereum is designed to run on its own with no admins. It's truly decentralized. Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 21:22