A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that records transactions in blocks, each cryptographically linked to the one before it by including a hash of the prior block, so that altering any past entry would require rewriting every block after it across every copy of the ledger. The pseudonymous creator or creators writing as Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the concept in a 2008 white paper describing Bitcoin, and the Bitcoin network that launched in January 2009 was the first working implementation, using the blockchain to let strangers agree on a shared transaction history without a central authority. The technique was later generalized well beyond currency, most notably by the Ethereum platform launched in 2015, which added programmable smart contracts to the same block-linking structure, and blockchain-based systems are now used for applications ranging from payments to supply-chain tracking to digital identity.
Facts
Patent or First-Use Date SignificanceWithin bitcoin it was the first digital currency to solve the double-spending problem without a trusted authority or central server. 2 FAQs
What problem was the blockchain designed to solve for digital money?
It stops double-spending in a peer-to-peer currency without a trusted intermediary such as a bank.
Digital currencies needed a way to stop the same coin from being spent twice, known as double-spending, without relying on a trusted intermediary such as a bank. The blockchain answered this by acting as a public ledger that securely records every transaction, so participants could make peer-to-peer payments while the shared record prevented double-spending.
Connections
In the Other Atlases
Invented
Also in Computing Atlas: which this subject invented.
Sources
1. Bitcoin Wiki: Genesis block
2. Wikipedia: Blockchain
Lead section, paragraph 3, sentence 1
using the name (or pseudonym) Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008
Lead section, paragraph 3, sentence 2
made it the first digital currency to solve the double-spending problem without the need for a trusted authority or central server
Lead section
A blockchain was created by a person (or group of people) using the name (or pseudonym) Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008
In Group: System and Data Management Software, Lead
A blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of records (blocks) that are securely linked together via cryptographic hashes.
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