blockchain

Phonetic: /ˈblɑkˌtʃeɪn/

Part of Speech: noun

Category: To be determined

A model used for structuring data in a database. Unlike other types of database structures, a blockchain inherently includes a record of the order and chronology of the data stored.

Definition source: Education DAO - mapachurro

Sample sentence

N/A

Additional definitions

A decentralized, digitized ledger that records transaction information about a cryptocurrency in a chronological order.

Source

Extended definition

What is commonly referred to as a 'blockchain' might be more precisely called 'a public blockchain network', or a 'distributed ledger network'. While they get called 'blockchains' or 'chains', this is essentially a sort of metonymic usage. A public blockchain network consists, usually, of several different parts: 1. The blockchain or ledger itself. Think of this as the 'hard drive' of the network. 2. The consensus mechanism, and the consensus layer; this keeps all the copies of the ledger in sync, and adds new transactions or entries to it. 3. An execution layer: depending on the network in question, this layer or environment may vary from a very few functions built into the same software as the consensus client, to a very complex, Turing-complete, full-on Virtual Machine environment requiring those who run it to consider hardware requirements. There are, additionally, 'downstream' aspects of any one of these blockchain networks, including wallets, private-public key derivation logic, which programming languages can be used in interacting with it, etc. etc.

This word came from... the ether

Date first recorded: 2025-01-31

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