As a distributed ledger technology (DLT)Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) refers to the technological infrastructure and protocols that allows simultaneous access, validation, and record updating in an... Read More, a blockchainA digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by... is a digital ledgerA digital ledger is an online record of transactions. The digital ledger tracks financial or other data. Read More that can create an immutable recordAn immutable record is a digital record that cannot be changed or deleted. Immutable records are used in blockchain technology... Read More of transactions. A blockchain typically stores data linearly and chronologically across multiple computers. This structure allows for increased security and immutability since it would be difficult for a person or entity to tamper with the data. For example, the Bitcoin blockchainThe Bitcoin blockchain is a shared public ledger that records all bitcoin transactions. It is constantly growing as "completed" blocks... Read More is a decentralizedDecentralization, an aspect of blockchain technology, facilitates power or authority distribution among individuals, groups, or institutions. A decentralized structure allows... Read More, public ledger that contains transactional information. Users can verify that transactions have occurred simply by looking at the publicly available data on the BitcoinBitcoin is a cryptocurrency. It is a decentralized digital currency that is based on cryptography. As such, it can operate without the... Read More blockchain networkA blockchain network is a decentralized system that allows for peer-to-peer transactions. The main components of a blockchain network are... Read More. Adding new transactions to the chainA chain is a linear sequence of data blocks. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block and... Read More employ a hashA “hash” is a fixed-length alphanumeric code that is used to represent words, messages and data of any length. Crypto... Read More function, timestamp and digital signatureA digital signature is a cryptographic mechanism designed to provide proof of authority and authenticity in electronic form. In blockchain... Read More, linking the transactions together and makes it difficult to modify data. As a result, blockchainsA blockchain is a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network. Read More ensure the accuracy and integrity of the chain.
