The blockchain is like another layer to the internet that enables secure, trusted records and transactions between people who may not otherwise trust each other.
The trust is in the technology, computer code, in mathematics, rather than people and centralized institutions.
In this respect, people sometimes talk about the blockchain as a trust machine in its capacity to enable a network where trust is created by design.
It is built into the system automatically because the blockchain creates a trusted database.
It can function as a record of value storage.
In exchange, these records of value and transactions may be called ledgers.
Since ancient times, ledgers have formed the backbone of our economies and record contracts and payments for the buying and selling of goods or the exchange of assets like property.
These ledgers started out as records in stone, clay tablets and papyrus, and later paper as they evolved into the ledger books supporting modern accounting.
These ledgers enabled the formation of currencies, trade lending, and the evolution of banking.
However, over the last couple of decades, these records have moved into the digital realm.
Whole rooms of people working to maintain accounts have been replaced by digital computers, making the complex global economic system we live in today possible.
This record-keeping system is once again being revolutionized as these ledgers are shifting to a global network of computers, which are cryptographically secured, fast and decentralized.
We call these distributed ledgers or distributed ledger technology (DLT).
A distributed ledger can be described as a ledger of any transaction, or records supported by a decentralized network from across different locations and people, eliminating the need for a centralized authority.
All the information on it is securely and accurately stored using cryptography and can be accessed using keys and cryptographic signatures.
Any changes or additions made to the ledger are reflected and copied to all participants in a matter of seconds or minutes.
The participant at each node of the network can access the recordings shared across that network and can own an identical copy of it.
At the same time, these networks are constantly under examination and a full audit trail of the information history can be traced back to the moment when a piece of information was created, and every participant in the network can get simultaneous access to a common view of the information.
These ledgers can be used for the recording, tracking, monitoring and transacting of all forms of assets, all asset registries, inventories and exchanges, including every area of economics, finance and money; physical assets such as cars and houses; and intangible assets such as boats, ideas, health data, reputation and anything else.
In this case, the blockchain can serve as a public record repository for whole societies, including the registration of all documents, events, identities and assets.
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Learn everything you need to know about the blockchain here:
• Blockchain Introduction:
• Blockchain Overview:
• How Blockchain Works:
• Blockchain Evolution:
• The Decentralized Web:
• Distributed Organizations:
• Distributed Ledgers:
• Smart Contracts:
• Distributed Applications:
• The Internet of Value:
• Token Economies:
• Decentralized Autonomous Organizations:
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