The Blockchain, Explained
F
or fun I've been collecting explanations of the
blockchain I’ve found in some of the posts I’ve
been reading. It’s not easy to ‘splain this well.
if you like any of the attempts below, highlight the
source in large grey letters at the top. The
definition with the most highlights wins.
You can also submit your own definition by
emailing me at evan.hansen@medium.com. This
can either be your own original attempt, or a copy
& paste from another source — if the latier please
include the link.
Ill add them to the list, and recirculate this from
time to time. The goal will be to come up with a
short, accurate, non-trivial definition with real
explanatory power. I'll plug this in to future
writings on blockchain whenever appropriate.
Let's play!
LetsTalkPayments.comThe Blockchain network consists of nodes, i.e.
distributed servers. All the nodes can accept and
process the transaction. The nodes on the
network share information about the candidate
transaction. ...Consensus is an iterative process,
in which nodes communicate and updaie uniil
majority of the peers agree on the transaction
processed and therefore it is powerful. The
transaction which does not pass one round of
consensus will be sent for the second round
consensus for approval. The nodes of the network
recognize a ledger instance as validated when a
supermajority of the peers have signed and
broadcast an identical validation. If the network
fails to achieve supermajority agreement on
validations, this implies that transaction volume
was too high or network latency too great for the
consensus process to produce consistent
proposals.
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The blockchain creates bitcoins, allaws
transactions to happen, and creates a public
record of all transactions, shared across hundreds
of computers. Transactions can’t be reversed and
are much faster than the current system.
Financial Times
The blockchain works by sequentially ordering
blocks of transactions into a chain. Transactions
between bitcoin users are gathered as blocks and
broadcast to a network of computers. Those
gathering the blocks are known as “miners”, and
compete to verify them by unscrambling standard
cryptographic puzzles derived from their contents.
The “winner” publishes the result to other
computers and receives a monetary incentive. A
new block is added to the blockchain roughly
every 10 minutes, containing the transactions of
the last 10 minutes. Other computers then verify
the work.Bloomberg BNA
The term “blockchain” refers to a decentralized
digital ledger that combines powerful
cryptography algorithms with a system of
decentralized computing power that redundantly
verifies transactions, which are ultimately
recorded on a public digital ledger available to the
world.Financial Times (part deux)
Transactions between bitcoin users are broadcast
to a network of computers. The latter, known as
“miners”, gather together blocks of transactions
and compete to verify them and receive monetary
incentives in return for being ‘first’. The blocks are
secured by cryptography and other computers
can verify the work. The “cost” of running the
network is borne by the anonymous owners of
servers. The open source code means it can be
widely distributed, making it highly decentralised
and difficult to change.
Blockchain CEO Peter Smith, on
Wired UK
“Really at its core, Bitcoin is just an open access
database that anyone can write to.”
MIT Technology Review
[The blockchain is] the publicly accessible and
cryptographically verified record of every single
Bitcoin transaction that has ever occurred.
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blockchain by a network of “miners” all over the
world who exchange their computing power for a
chance to solve complex cryptographic puzzles
and earn money — freshly minted bitcoins.
Investopedia
A blockchain is a public ledger of all Bitcoin
transactions that have ever been executed. It is
constantly growing as ‘completed’ blocks are
added to it with a new set of recordings. The
blocks are added to the blockchain in a linear,
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acnronological order. cach noae (computer
connected to the Bitcoin network using a client
that performs the task of validating and relaying
transactions) gets a copy of the blockchain, which
gets downloaded automatically upon joining the
Bitcoin network. The blockchain has complete
information about the addresses and their
balances right from the genesis block to the most
recently completed block.
BBVA Research
Blockchain is a peer-to-peer public ledger
maintained by a distributed network of computers
that requires no central authority or third party
intermediaries. It consists of three key
components: a transaction, a transaction record
and a system that verifies and stores the
transaction. The blocks are generated through
open-source software and record the information
about when and in what sequence the transaction
took place. This “block” chronologically stores
information of all the transactions that have taken
place in the chain, thus the name blockchain. In
other words, blockchain is a database ofimmutable time-stamped information of every
transaction that is replicated on servers across
the globe. This technology is the foundation of
bitcoin, a crypto currency.
The Guardian
A blockchain is a public record of all transactions
that have ever taken place in a currency, the most
well known example is its use in Bitcoin.
American Banker
The revolutionary part of the blockchain process
is how miners manage to keep these blocks
accurate and tamper-proof. The easiest way for a
layperson to understand this security is not in
mathematical terms, but in economic terms. When
miners attach a block to the Bitcoin network, they
don‘ just place that block neatly to the adjacent
block. They glue the block to the prior block by
“burning” energy. Yep, you heard that right. Miners
are able to defend the Bitcoin network by burning
oyelectricity and creating a Ccryptograpnic glue out
of the process. The total amount of electrical
energy burned by all the blockchain’s miners in a
ten-minute period is the “glue” that affixes the
newest block to the prior block. The economic
cost of burning energy is “proof” that miners have
attested to the contents of the block.
The Role of Simplicity (Effortlessness) As A Prerequisite For The Ex - Perience of Pure Consciousness - The Non-Dual State of Oneness: "Turiya", "Samadhi" in Meditation.