What Is a Blockchain?
A blockchain is best thought of as a distributed computer, where multiple nodes work together to store and update data in a trustless, append-only manner. This structure offers a strong notion of digital ownership, public verifiability, and resistance to censorship—all without relying on a single authority.
Blockchain technology can be broken down into three core pillars:
Cryptography
Public/Private Keys: Prove ownership of digital assets or identities.
Hashing: Creates unique “fingerprints” for data and transactions, ensuring integrity and immutability.
Distributed Ledger
A shared database replicated on many computers around the world.
Organized as blocks in an “append-only” chain, where each block references the hash of the previous block.
Consensus Protocol
Ensures that all nodes agree on which blocks (and transactions) are added to the chain.
Often involves selecting a leader (e.g., a validator) to propose blocks and voting on the result.
By combining these elements, blockchains remove the need for a central authority to manage data or ownership. They enable trust-minimized systems for payments, decentralized finance (DeFi), asset ownership, and data management—capabilities that are difficult to replicate with traditional databases.
Discover Blockchain in Depth To make blockchain technology easier to understand, we’ve organized the content into focused sections. Each one tackles a core aspect of how blockchains work, offering a clear and accessible path to deeper knowledge.
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