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—offering digital ownership, public verifiability, and censorship resistance without central authority.
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.
Involves selecting a leader (a validator) to propose blocks and voting mechanisms.
This combination enables trust-minimized systems for payments, DeFi, asset ownership, and data management—capabilities difficult to replicate with traditional databases.
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