Blockchain Technology - General Definitions

Blockchain is a term that has taken on a very wide-ranging definition that usually encompasses multiple areas of decentralized technology.

When speaking specifically, a blockchain is a sequential list of records kept by multiple participants that includes data about every record that came before it. One very popular usage of blockchains is as a ledger for transactions of value. This is because blockchains are resistant to modification by bad actors, as changing the data in one record would require changing the data in ALL records.

Within the larger crypto community, the terms 'blockchain' and 'blockchain network' usually refers to all of the technology associated with a particular set of records. Below are a few examples of different blockchains.

• Ethereum

• Bitcoin

• Solana

• Tezos

Each blockchain has its own methods for accomplishing the task of facilitating a transaction, with varying architecture, features, and levels of security. Blockchains can be public, allowing open participation by anyone with an internet connection, or private, allowing only a few participants to access it.

One way to think about a blockchain network is as an impossibly long line of digital deposit boxes filled with digital assets, serviced by androids running the entire line of deposit boxes. Blockchain addresses, such as those used by blockchain wallets, are the address of each particular digital deposit box.

Transactions involve moving a digital asset, often cryptocurrency, from one address to at least one other address.