Crypto glossary
Blockchain
A blockchain is a shared digital ledger, copied across many computers, that records transactions in linked blocks that are very hard to alter.
A blockchain is a database that stores records in batches called blocks. Each block contains a list of transactions plus a cryptographic hash of the previous block, which chains them together in order. Changing an old entry would change its hash and break every link after it, so tampering is easy to detect.
Instead of one company holding the master copy, thousands of independent nodes keep their own copy and agree on new blocks through a consensus mechanism such as proof of work or proof of stake. That is what lets Bitcoin and Ethereum run without a central operator.
Public blockchains are open to anyone and fully transparent, which makes them auditable but also means every transaction is visible. Their main trade-offs are limited throughput, fees that rise with demand and the fact that confirmed transactions generally cannot be reversed.
Example
When you send 0.01 BTC to a friend, the transaction waits until a miner includes it in a block; once that block is added to the chain, every Bitcoin node records the payment in its copy of the ledger.
Related terms
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