1.1 Introduction
Charity is a critical part of a democratic society. It is well known that numerous situations occur in this world that result in catastrophic loss. The archaic system had a number of flaws, including a lack of transparency, donor distrust, and corruption. Charity donation platform based on bitcoin, which realized a safe, fast, and convenient transaction mode, mainly the platform can be applied for solving the problems when there was no network after the disaster so that the donation could be completed by mobile GSM network (Jayasinghe et al., 2017). Blockchain as an underlying technology of Bitcoin system provides a new solution for the charity system in terms of technology. The development of a charity donation service system can solve the trust crisis. It can establish an efficient connection between charitable organizations and beneficiaries can respond quickly and form a more open and transparent trust mechanism, and can solve the unprecedented problems brought about by the massive demand for donation in the new epidemic.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
A blockchain is a series of blocks; each block consists of a block header and a block body. The block header contains metadata and the transaction data is encapsulated in the block body. The hash value, timestamp (Timestamp), random number (Nonce), and Merkle Root of the previous block is contained in the header (Shao et al., 2018). The block body stores multiple transactions from the previous block in the form of a Merkle Tree. The leaf node of the Merkle Tree stores the hash value of the transaction information, and the non-leaf node stores the combined hash value of all the leaf nodes below it.
The blockchain system is built on a P2P network, does not require a centralized organization as a credit endorsement. After the transaction, every node competes for accounting rights through a consensus mechanism. The node that wins the competition will package all transactions that occurred within a certain pberiod of time. The block will be broadcast to the whole network and all nodes will verify the block. After most nodes have authenticated successfully, the block will be added to the chain. From the beginning of the transaction to the end, each transaction is open and transparent, and there is no way to deceive each other between nodes.
Blockchains are an immutable set of records that are cryptographically linked together for audit (Zheng et al., 2017). It is similar to an accounting ledger. The previous records in accounting ledger cannot be changed, and new records need to be verified by a trusted party. The only difference between these two is that new block (set of records) checked by a decentralized structure of nodes that have a copy of the ledger. There is no centralized party to verify the records. Bitcoin is a decentralized electronic currency that represents a significant shift in the global financial system. Its system is peer-to-peer and encrypted in nature, and it is not controlled by any government or bank.
Satoshi Nakamoto proposed Bitcoin in 2008, and the Bitcoin ecosystem has grown fast since then. It's also the most successful of hundreds of attempts to utilize cryptography to produce virtual money. Hundreds of imitators have followed in Bitcoin's footsteps, yet it remains the most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Bitcoin was a game changer in the global financial sector since it was the first successful project to use Blockchain technology. As a result, this research shows how Machine Learning may be used to solve Bitcoin issues.
1.3 Statement of Problem
Investigation revealed that the development of a charity donation service system can solve the trust crisis. It can establish an efficient connection between charitable organizations and beneficiaries can respond quickly and form a more open and transparent trust mechanism, and can solve the unprecedented problems brought about by the massive demand for donation in the new epidemic. The charity organizations in Nigeria lack transparency and the supervision to them is difficult to achieve, which has a negative impact on the willingness of the people to donate.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement a Charitable Organization using Blockchain Technology. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:
- Reduce money laundering among charitable organization officials.
- Increase the charity / giving among less privileged people.
- Eliminate paperwork and save time of staff in processing deposited charity funds.
- Eliminate duplicate charity fund data entry and errors in time and entries.
1.5 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to charity organizations and researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Design and Implementation of a Charitable Organization using Blockchain Technology.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
1.8 Definition of Terms
Blockchain: A blockchain is a distributed database that uses cryptographically signed transactions and is shared among the nodes of a computer network.
Registration: This means to keep records received from the management for reference purposes.
Management: It is the co-ordination of all the resources of an Organization through the process of planning, Organization, directing and controlling.
