Crypto glossary
Consortium blockchain
A consortium blockchain is a permissioned network governed jointly by a group of organisations, such as banks or trade partners, rather than by one company.
A consortium blockchain sits between a fully public chain and a private one run by a single firm. Several organisations agree on rules, each runs one or more validating nodes, and decisions about upgrades or new members are taken collectively, often through a legal agreement as well as on-chain governance.
The model suits industries where competitors need a neutral shared record without handing control to any one of them: bank settlement networks, energy trading, insurance claims or supply chains with many suppliers. Because no single member can alter the ledger alone, the consortium gains some of the auditability of a public blockchain while keeping data restricted.
Consortia are only as decentralised as their membership. If a few large members leave, the network can stall, and several high-profile industry consortia launched around 2017 to 2019 were later shut down or scaled back when funding and enthusiasm faded. Governance disputes can be harder to settle than the technology itself.
Example
Ten grain traders set up a consortium blockchain where each runs a node and shipments are recorded once, so letters of credit can be checked without exchanging dozens of paper documents.