GoChain — A Simple Blockchain in Go

GoChain is a simple Blockchain. It uses Proof-of-Work to mine blocks, stores data in a JSON file, and includes an interactive CLI to visualize how blockchains work at a fundamental level.

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Features

• Custom Blockchain structure with chaining of blocks
• Proof-of-Work mining (adjustable difficulty)
• Tamper detection with hash integrity validation
• Persistent storage via blockchain.json
• Interactive CLI for adding/viewing/tampering blocks
• Built-in testing for detecting tampering or corruption

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Technical Concepts

1. Block Structure

• Each block contains:

• Index: Position in chain

• Timestamp: Creation time

• Data: Payload (e.g., transaction)

• PrevHash: Hash of previous block

• Hash: Current block hash

• Nonce: PoW nonce used to mine this block

2. Proof-of-Work

A simple PoW algorithm ensures each block’s hash starts with a fixed number of 0s based on difficulty. Mining finds a nonce that satisfies this.

3. Tampering Detection

Modifying any part of a block (like Data) changes its hash. The blockchain validator recalculates and compares all hashes to ensure integrity.