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MIT Explainer: What is a blockchain?

Blockchain – Where it came from, what it does, and how you make one by MIT Technology Review Editors. April 23, 2018.

  • “What is it? A public, permanent, append-only distributed ledger.
  • What’s that? A mathematical structure for storing data in a way that is nearly impossible to fake. It can be used for all kinds of valuable data.
  • Where did it come from? “I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.” These are the words of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, in a message sent to a cryptography-focused mailing list in October 2008. Included was a link to a nine-page white paper describing a technology that some are now convinced will disrupt the financial system…”

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