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blockchain

database technology
Written and fact-checked byThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
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blockchain, database technology that relies on a ledger that is distributed throughout a computer network and whose records are known as blocks. Blockchain was devised by the anonymous programmer or group of programmers Satoshi Nakamoto as part of the architecture for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin in 2009.

Learn more about blockchain technology.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Bitcoin relies on public-key cryptography, in which users have a public key that is available for everyone to see and a private key known only to their computers. In a Bitcoin transaction, users receiving Bitcoins send their public keys to users transferring the Bitcoins. Users transferring the coins sign with their private keys, and the transaction is then transmitted over the Bitcoin network. So that no Bitcoin can be spent more than once at the same time, the time and amount of each transaction is recorded in a ledger file that exists at each node of the network. The identities of the users remain relatively anonymous, but everyone can see that certain Bitcoins were transferred.

Transactions are put together in groups called blocks. The blocks are organized in a chronological sequence called the blockchain. Blocks are added to the chain using a mathematical process that makes it extremely difficult for an individual user to alter the blockchain.

(Read Mark Cuban’s Britannica essay on NFTs.)

The blockchain technology that underpins Bitcoin has attracted considerable attention, even from skeptics of Bitcoin, as a basis for allowing trustworthy record-keeping and commerce without a central authority. Blockchain technology is also critical to NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by J.E. Luebering.