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Blockchain

Security And Privacy

A blockchain is a distributed ledger made of a growing list of records, called blocks, that are securely linked together through cryptographic hashes. Each block carries a cryptographic hash of the block before it, a timestamp and transaction data, so the blocks form a chain in which each new block links to the ones that came before it. Because altering any recorded block would also require altering every subsequent block and obtaining network consensus to accept the change, blockchain transactions are resistant to retroactive alteration. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Origin Year
2008 1
Core Concern
Distributed ledger of cryptographically linked blocks resistant to retroactive alteration 1
Blockchain
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Associated With

Source Blockchain (Wikipedia)
Cryptography, Fields

Blockchain records are secured and linked via cryptographic hashes.

Source Blockchain (Wikipedia)

Blockchains are managed as a peer-to-peer distributed ledger across a computer network.

Source Blockchain (Wikipedia)
Source Blockchain (Wikipedia)

Includes

Source Wikipedia: Proof of authority
Source Satoshi Nakamoto (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Blockchain (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section, para 1
    A blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of records (blocks) that are securely linked together via cryptographic hashes.
  • Lead section
    A blockchain was created by a person (or group of people) using the name (or pseudonym) Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 to serve as the public distributed ledger for bitcoin cryptocurrency transactions, based on previous work by Stuart Haber, W.
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Wikipedia: Proof of authority
Includes: Proof of Authority, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Proof of Authority, Lead sentence
Proof of authority (PoA) is a category of consensus protocols used with blockchains based on reputation and identity as a stake that delivers comparatively fast and efficient transactions (compared to proof-of-work and proof-of-stake).
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Satoshi Nakamoto (Wikipedia)
Includes: Satoshi Nakamoto, Lead
Quote, Includes: Satoshi Nakamoto, Lead
As part of the implementation, Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database.
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