Blockchain 101

What Is a Blockchain?

A blockchain is a special type of database shared across many computers. Instead of one company controlling the data (like a bank controls your account balance), thousands of computers around the world each keep an identical copy. When someone makes a transaction, every computer updates its copy at the same time. This makes the data extremely difficult to tamper with — you would need to hack thousands of computers simultaneously.

Think of it like a shared Google Doc that everyone can read but nobody can secretly edit. Every change is recorded permanently, and everyone can see the full history. The key difference is that no single person or company owns the document — it belongs to everyone on the network.

Blocks, Chains, and Transactions

Transactions are grouped together into "blocks" — like pages in a book. Each block is linked to the previous one using a special code called a "hash," creating a chain of blocks (hence "blockchain"). This linking means if someone tried to change a past transaction, every block after it would break, making fraud immediately detectable.