Many people are asking exactly a Blockchain is and how it works. Let me explain this as part of my technical to laymen's terms series.
What is a Blockchain?
A blockchain is a new technology set which was first introduced as the unpinning technology for Bitcoin. It is actually nothing else than a distributed database or ledger.
Let's first explain what Centralised mean.
If we look at a bank or any other company for that matter, have what we call a central database. If you go to a store to purchase an item, the back end system for the shop or bank always write to the same database. This database is in a central place and all the shops connects to this database, either through the internet or a specific connection which links them to this database. This was important in the old days, as it is was very difficult to sync the various databases in the various shops before the centralised concept came in.
How does the Bitcoin blockchain work?
A lot of digital transactions around the world and all these transactions is then grouped or blocked together. These transactions are then cryptographically encoded in a protected block for the last 10 minutes worth of transactions. Should you want to understand more about the terms, referred to, please read my post about Crypto and Blockchain words explained in laymen's terms. The last block are then send to everybody who is participating in the network. The participants re called miners. They are then in a race to solve a cryptographic puzzle, and the first miner to solve the puzzle, get a reward called the block reward. In order to ensure that the miner did actually solve the puzzle correctly, all the other miners then checks if answer was correct. As soon as more than a specified percentage confirm that it is correct, a new signed block is formed, time-stamped and added to the chain* in a chronological order.
The process then starts again and is repeated over and over.
I hope this explanation answered somebody's questions. Please feel free to ask should you have a specific technical question which you would like explained in laymen's terms.
Some of my other in Laymen's Terms Post.
ICO's or token sales in Laymen's terms
Crypto Wallets in Laymen's terms
Smart Contracts in Laymen's terms
Artificial Intelligence in Laymen's terms
Blockchain and Digital Signatures - In Laymen's Terms
Trustless - What does it mean in laymen's terms?
Cyber Attacks explained in laymen's terms
Machine Learning - In laymen's terms
Internet of things and what it is in laymen's terms
Big data - What is it really about - In laymen’s terms
Some Technical Words explained in laymen's terms
Happy Steeming!
Thank you for this post! The cleanest explanation I've seen yet on the subject. Now I know.
Thank you very much. This is a great compliment :)
Great explanation overall but WHO create the cryptographic puzzle to solve?
I agree with you.
thank for share, upvoted
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Blockchain is a technology that hold a collection of data and make this data available in public anytime. Furthermore, this data can't be altered. My simple explaination.
Thanks for a great comment :) You pointed out an important point that I should've added to my explanation. The data in a blockchain cannot be altered
upvoted 100% VP and resteemed, great job!
thank you very much @blockchainttmft
Nice job, I used a different approach to simplify it further, what do you think? Does it warrant a part 2?
Thanks for the comment. I will read your article in a bit :)
Wow, In my travels over the web, never have I seen a complex technical subject broken down this succinctly. I will explore other articles of yours. Thanks for simplifying this. Now I can explain to my grand-ma the whole concept of blockchain.
Thank you for a great comment. I am pleased that I gave somebody value with my explanation.
great post!...loved it...
upvoted and followed
Thanks
I had not idea, but now i know. Thanks for a great post.
"A blockchain is a new technology set which was first introduced as the unpinning technology for Bitcoin. It is actually nothing else than a distributed database or ledger."
Thanks a lot
great post ,, i like it.
I upvote you and reblog your post.. please upvote and reblog my post to. Follow me @blackbone. Together can be success... trims
Thanks
What would you guys say is the best cryptocurrency to invest in, would bitcoin still be a viable option, long and short term?
its a useful explanation.. thanks..
Thank you
nice poste please follow me and upvotes thnx
Great works, I wish you success
Thanks very much
Excellent breakdown! well done.
Thank you @sophtcodr
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Wow
hopefully many who ngevoted you .. follow me maybe we can be friends well
Thank you very much :)
This post has received a 0.63 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @upboat.
Thanks @drotto
Wow !
Reapply informative it makes me more clear .
It will helpful for all newbies .
👍👍👍 thank you so much for your great effort my friend @jacor !
Thank you very much @akkha
You are welcome my friend !
Excellent explanation!
Thanks for sharing! @jacor
It is a great pleasure :)
simple and comprehensive. Weldon.
thanks
Thank you very much
You simplified the complex explanation in such a way that I was easily able to understand it, and I hope even others understood it. This post deserves an upvote. Followed you man.
Thank you for a great comment and compliment @kashish.azad. I thoroughly enjoy sharing my learnings.
Thank you @Jacor for this wonderful piece, quite enlightening.
Thanks a lot @victorajide
Really good and easily understandable breakdown of the basics of decentralization! Upvoted and resteemed, this is some really great info @jacor :)
Thank you very much @dexter-k
So is Steem distributed or rather decentralized in your opinion?
This is a great question. I might be wrong but in my opinion Steem is distributed due to the fact that it has witnesses supporting and maintaining the blockchain. Before I go further I want to ask around a bit just to confirm my thoughts. What is your opinion?
I do think it is decentralized. The nodes are represented by the winesses who are actually mining the blockchain. I could elaborate more, but I saw a Steemwhale who is still active but does not post anymore writing an article about Steemit being quasi-decentralized. He also provided some nice images in his posts, hehe
https://steemit.com/steem/@steemed/steem-png-01-consensus
Very interesting information. Thanks for sharing with us. I follow you. Follow me.
Thank you very much @mballesteros
Very helpful to us who are green in crypto world
Great article! It has helped me understand the bitcoin and the blockchain much better. Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain.
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nice post....I am a new steemians, maybe i should study first with you, regards know me
I followed and upvoted.Would you like to follow and upvote me. https://steemit.com/@cuteaniamals please follow me
Thank you very much :)
blockchain is really great to change people life
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Thank you very much :)
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Hi Jacor! Nice informative post. This will be very helpful specially to those who don't know what bitcoin is. Aside from blockchain, at least they'll have an Idea about a very complicated thing like digital money, cryptocurrency etc.
Happy posting everyone!!! Hope you can visit me too @tiffanyrej =D
Thank you very much :)
great post ....I am a new steemians, maybe i should study first with you, regards know me
I followed and upvoted.Would you like to follow and upvote me.
https://steemit.com/@steemitall please follow me
Thank you very much :)
Thanks for the info.. Such a Detailed post about blockchain. Everyone should atleast read this blog.
Thank you very much :) @manishsingh9
I like this technology
hopefully many who ngevoted you .. follow me maybe we can be friends well
Very clear! :)
Thank you very much :) Hope to see you soon :)
I may tell you more about that on Tuesday (for 2018). It may be Africa, but I don't know whether it will be South Africa yet.
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The link for smart contract looks wrong, it links to wallet :)
Not sure what you mean.
the link in the bottom of the post that say 'Smart Contracts in Laymen's terms' actually links to 'Crypto Wallets in Laymen's terms' :)
Thank you for this post! I just came across your blog and I appreciate all the articles for the laymen. Following.
Thank you very much @ztetrahedron369
This is very useful to me a newbie on board. Thanks @jacor - upvoted and followed.
Great thanks. I am always pleased when somebody finds value in my posts. Good luck on Steemit :)
Great explanation, and IMO a very needed post . I think a lot of people go to great lengths to explain how their cryptocurrency works, but in contrast there is relatively little explanation of what a blockchain is.
Good post for beginners in blockchain/cryptocurrency field.
I like your post, I'm waiting for your next experiment
That's not correct, and it's a bit misleading.
Blocks are broadcast to all nodes, not just miners.
Hmmm, that's good to know @pfunk, was wondering why you marked this. I guess I need to be more careful about what I read and believe here. Still a noob when it comes to actual crypto currencies :(
Nice posting
I am a new steemians, maybe i should study first with you, regards know me
https://steemit.com/@technologykf please follow me
I followed and upvoted.Would you like to follow and upvote me.
Thanks a lot