Blockchain

Blockchain technology is most simply defined as a decentralized, distributed ledger that records the provenance of a digital asset. A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain. Each block in the chain contains a number of transactions, and every time a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, a record of that transaction is added to every participant’s ledger. The decentralised database managed by multiple participants is known as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).

________The Properties of Distributed Ledger Technology________

Programmable: A blockchain is programmable (i.e. Smart Contracts)

Secure: All records are encrypted

Anonymous: The identity of participants is either anonymous or pseudonymous.

Unanimous: All network participants agree to the validity of each of the records.

Distributed: All network participants have a copy of the ledger for complete transparency.

Immutable: Any validated records are irreversible and cannot be changed

Time-stamped: A transaction timestamp is recorded on a block.

Due to DLT it means if one block was changed it would be apparent it was tampered with and if one wants to hack or corrupt a blockchain system, they would have to hack every block in the chain. As more blocks are added to the chain, it significantly adds to the security of the ledger and if one block goes down another can be add to take it’s place.

Source: Euromoney