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I think it works like this. Suppose there were a ledger with transactions. First, you start by giving everybody a copy. So everybody knows who owns what, and the history. Then people start buying and selling things.
When somebody makes a transaction, first they record it to their ledger. That is, they add a new "block" to their "chain" of transactions. Then, they share their ledger and the other ledgers will start to add the new block to to their own ledger. So the change proliferates to all the other ledgers. Eventually everybody has the same information. So there is no fraud. Now, somebody can and will try to fake things by falsifying their ledger. So we have a situation where everybody has the same ledger, then it splits. Most of the people will have the true fraud-free chain, and only a few will have the fraudulent split.
As the blocks proliferate in the network, naturally conflicts will arise. That is, when a new block is added to a good chain, it will then need to be added to the bad chain, and this causes a conflict because the bad chain has a different history from the good chain (blockchain histories cannot be altered, only new blocks added, the histories are protected via cryptographic methods). Similarly, when the bad blockchain ads a new block, and asks other blockchains to add it, too, there is a conflict.
So these conflicts get recorded as separate branches of the blockchain. Because a majority of the blocks are good, they tend to proliferate more and grow faster than the ones that are bad. So to find the true blockchain, one searches the network for the longest chain, and as this is adopted it gets even more dominant and longer and the bad chain gets left behind.
At least I think it is how it works, or something like that.
If a bad actor somehow manages to gain control over a majority of the ledgers, though, this can be a problem. But it is difficult.
When somebody makes a transaction, first they record it to their ledger. That is, they add a new "block" to their "chain" of transactions. Then, they share their ledger and the other ledgers will start to add the new block to to their own ledger. So the change proliferates to all the other ledgers. Eventually everybody has the same information. So there is no fraud. Now, somebody can and will try to fake things by falsifying their ledger. So we have a situation where everybody has the same ledger, then it splits. Most of the people will have the true fraud-free chain, and only a few will have the fraudulent split.
As the blocks proliferate in the network, naturally conflicts will arise. That is, when a new block is added to a good chain, it will then need to be added to the bad chain, and this causes a conflict because the bad chain has a different history from the good chain (blockchain histories cannot be altered, only new blocks added, the histories are protected via cryptographic methods). Similarly, when the bad blockchain ads a new block, and asks other blockchains to add it, too, there is a conflict.
So these conflicts get recorded as separate branches of the blockchain. Because a majority of the blocks are good, they tend to proliferate more and grow faster than the ones that are bad. So to find the true blockchain, one searches the network for the longest chain, and as this is adopted it gets even more dominant and longer and the bad chain gets left behind.
At least I think it is how it works, or something like that.
If a bad actor somehow manages to gain control over a majority of the ledgers, though, this can be a problem. But it is difficult.
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Poppies · 61-69, F
@JoyfulSilence I am not sure your answer is better than any of these others, but you get a BA for effort! I still don't really know what this is all about, but I haven't followed your links yet, either. Thank you.
joe438 · 61-69, M
Sure. So you start with a bunch of kind of random numbers, but ones that are based on a specific algorithm that computes them and is hard to fake. Then you make another bunch, based on the same algorithm that includes the result of the previous one (hence the 'chain') but has the same hard to fake attributes. You repeat over and over again until you have a whole chain of these blocks.
You then convince people that they're as good as money and charge through the nose for the ownership of them. They can then be used as currency with people who want them and will swap them for goods and services.
You then convince people that they're as good as money and charge through the nose for the ownership of them. They can then be used as currency with people who want them and will swap them for goods and services.
joe438 · 61-69, M
@Poppies I'm certainly no expert in that regard, but I've never heard of any use except as currency. In that use I'm not a fan since I think currency should be exchanging something for something. Blockchain is just the result of time and electricity used to calculate numbers. No one mined gold, the numbers have no use by themselves. At least our money was once based on gold - in theory you could buy a loaf of bread in exchange for gold. Now? You whip out your calculator, do some math and make money? It seems weird.
Zonuss · 41-45, M
🙂