Key Difference: The widely searched topic Blockchain and Crytocurrency are quiet confusing due to the usage of their terms. As per blockchain.wtf, instead of being introduced by a formal definition, the term blockchain developed from 'chain of blocks'. While, Cryptocurrency is a sort-of portmanteau of 'cryptographic currency'.

But the major difference between the two concepts is the way how distributed ledger technology is used. When Bitcoin was the only Blockchain, there was not much of distinction between the two terms and were used interchangeably. Blockchain and Crytocurrency go hand in hand as the later is the side-invention of the former as a solution to prevent double-spending and eliminating third-party in payments by Satoshi Nakamoto. Crypto is often necessary to transact on a blockchain, but without a blockchain, there would not be any means for these transactions to be recorded permanently and forbidding any alteration and transferring securely. The difference came after the creation of other virtual currencies due to maturity of technology and blooming of variety of blockchains, the uses quickly diverged from the pure money aspect and instead experimented with ideas.

Blockchain:

Blockchain, originally a chain of blocks with a growing list of records (blocks) are designed to be interlinked and locked as a chain. It is a digital transaction ledger technology, which maintains all the transactions ever made by an individual and are publicly available for all. Blockchain was first conceptualized by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, which was originally published as two separate words Block and Chain in his original paper. But the word Blockchain eventually became popularized as a single word by 2016. Blockchain is a decentralized, distributed and public digital ledger, used for recording transactions across multiple computers, which forbids retroactively altering the records without the alteration of all the subsequent blocks and the consensus of the network. So, therefore, by design a blockchain is a resistant to modification of the data. It was invented to serve as the public ledger containing transactions of the cryptocurrency bitcoin. All blocks are linked using cryptography, with each block containing a cryptographic hash of the previous block.As per Arjun Kharpal on cnbc.com, advocates of this technology says that the using blockchain makes bitcoin transaction secure and safer than the current systems, because of the following points:

• Blockchain is decentralized meaning, it is not controlled by a single authority or by one central authority.

• It is managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively, adhering to a protocol for inter-node communication and validating new blocks.

• It is an open-distributed ledger, that records transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent manner.

• Once recorded, the data cannot be altered or deleted.

Working of Blockchain:

The 'Miners' are the network of people who maintain the blockchain network and are sometimes also called 'Nodes'. These are the people running the purpose-built computers that compete to solve complex mathematical issues for the transaction to take place. Each transaction originates from a wallet of an individual and it also has a private key. This private key becomes the signature, authenticating the transaction as a proof for the individual as well as the wallet. All the individuals are grouped together in a group known as Blocks and are organized using stringent cryptographic rules. After the wallet and the owner are validated, the transaction is added in the validated block, which is then added to the previous block creating a chain of blocks known as Blockchain.

Blockchain Attraction: 

Many firms are using blockchain as an technology by adapting to what works best with their business. Ability to have a shared ledger of activity makes transaction more efficient, involvement of intermediary parties are less and with a reduced processing costs, the firms are attracted to use the blockchain technology to its best advantage.

Tamper-proof:

Blockchains are tampered proof with each block on the chain has a cryptographic reference to the previous block with each hash being unique needing to solve mathematical problems and puzzle called 'nonce'. A nonce is combination of other data like transaction size, digital fingerprint is called 'Hash' making it encrypted and secure. To tamper the data in the blockchain, a person needs to re-mind all the cryptographic data of each previous block, which are over half a billion puzzles with each hash having certain cryptographic conditions.

Other Blockchains:

Number of firms have created many other blockchain platforms to help other firms interested in the technology built processes, though bitcoin blockchain is not created for companies to build app and processes on. Ethereum, Ripple, Hyperledger, IBM, R3, are some few names that have developed such platforms, wherein Ethereum is one of the essential blockchain platform that specializes in smart contracts and has a digital coin linked to it known as Ether and is the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by value.

Various services using Blockchain

• Banking:

Banking industry sees lot of adavantage by using blockchain technology as it reduces costs and make processes efficient. Banks often call this technology as DLT or Distributed Ledger Technology and distinguishing it from bitcoin blockchain. Many major banks have begun experimenting the technology . Different financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Bank of America have expressed great interest in blockchain by joining a coalition to implement the same in banking practices. Visa, Citi, NASDAQ and others have agreed to become clients for blockchain related technology and services.

• Tracking

The technology can also be used to track ownership of assets like property or can track a product across the supplychain like for example, Diamond producer, De Beers, recently announced that the firm has trialed the technology to trace the stones from the time they were mined to delivering them to a jeweller.