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Blockchain

By CoinGecko | Updated on Mar 03, 2020
A digital ledger where data is recorded in a chronological order. In Bitcoin's case, it is a decentralized, public ledger which contains transactional information. Users can verify that transactions have occured simply by looking at the data that is publicized on the Bitcoin network. In a blockchain, the next piece of information that will be added is always linked to a previous, already confirmed information of the blockchain through the use of a hash which describes the past content. With the hash, every block of information in a blockchain becomes referenced with one another, and cannot be easily swapped out, thereby qualifying as an immutable ledger.

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Related Terms

Unspent Transaction Output
(abbv. "UTXO") Coins that are unspent in the wallet. UTXO virtually represents the cryptocurrency one own in the wallet.
Node
Within the blockchain network, the nodes are computers that connect to the network and have an updated copy of the blockchain
Masternodes
Computers that are responsible for processing blockchain transactions and receive a reward when a block is mined.
Transaction Fee
A payment to the network for performing a transaction to be recorded on the blockchain.
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