What is SHA-256?

SHA-256 is a member of the SHA-2 cryptographic hash function family that was designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) and later made famous for being a foundational aspect of the Bitcoin blockchain network. SHA-256 is a Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) that secures data by utilizing a cryptographic mathematical operation to generate a unique 256-bit, 64-character random sequence of letters and numbers (called a hash) out of an input. These functions are generally designed to serve as a one-way function that is virtually impossible to reverse once a piece of underlying data has been amended into its hash value.