📝 The ‘Understanding The World of Crypto Series’ - What Is Blockchain? 24 Definitions To Help You Better Understand

Blockchain, a term that has not even been around for a decade, but already has created so much confusion about what it is exactly. Within the crypto space, everyone seems to have their own definition or description about what blockchain is.

I thought it would be an interesting exercise to collect a bunch of definitions of blockchain and based on that define blockchain for myself. This way I could get a better understanding of other people's interpretation of a blockchain.

Definitions of 'Blockchain'

Here is an overview of different definitions I found. This overview is of course always incomplete, so please share other definitions that you found or like in the comments :-)

• Goodwin Gaw - “Blockchain is a new way for someone to sell something to another person or to a lot of people, bypassing all the middlemen.” Source
• Alasdair Allan - “Blockchain is a mechanism for reaching consensus regarding the state of a shared database between multiple parties who just don’t trust each other.” Source
• Don Tapscott - “The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.” in Blockchain Revolution
• Andreas Antonopoulos - “A decentralized replicated database that stores transactions on the public ledger.” Source
• Jamie Skella - “Blockchain is a shared record book.” Source
• Collin Thompson - “Blockchain is a tamper-proof distributed public ledger that manages transactions.” Source
• Wikipedia - “A blockchain, originally block chain, is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography.” Source
• Investopedia - “A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions.“ Source
• Kryptomoney - “Blockchain technology is a shared, immutable global public ledger for recording the history of transactions. It fosters a new generation of transactional applications that establish trust, accountability,guarantee and transparency.” Source
• ZDNet - “Blockchain is an algorithm and distributed data structure for managing electronic cash without a central administrator among people who know nothing about one another.” Source
• Decryptionary - “Blockchain is technology for creating permanent, secure digital recordings that don’t rely on any single person or group.” Source
• BitcoinWiki - “A block chain is a transaction database shared by all nodes participating in a system based on the Bitcoin protocol.” Source
• PWC - “Blockchain is a decentralized ledger of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network.” Source

And of course, since we have a very knowledgeable and inspiring community here on Steemit, I’ve also dug around here and found these from some fellow Steemians in posts or comments:

• @mickyscofield - “Blockchain is a continuously growing list of records of past transactions, linked and secured using cryptography in a cryptocurrency network.” Source
• @stephenkendal - “Transparent shared distributed digital ledger whose value is consensus driven.” Source
• @crok - “Transparent permanent unalterable verifiable record of quantifiable information of related transactions.” Source
• @myblockchainblog - “A computer protocol that allows a network of computers to share and maintain a digital information ledger.” Source
• @astral - “An autoregulated p2p payment system validated by thousands of servers.” Source
• @krnel - “The blockchain is a record of data, such as transactions between people, that can't be tampered with or changed, because the data is distributed in many areas unlike current companies that store data in one place.” Source
• @krnel - “The blockchain consists of a decentralized distributed database of blocks of data.” Source
• @liotap - “Blockchain is a mechanism that validates transactions without intermediaries.”
  Source
• @liotap - “Blockchain as a back-end database that maintains a distributed public ledger (everyone can see).” Source
• @mitchmahoney - “a digital ledger where transactions made in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are recorded chronologically for the public to see.” Source

Reading all these definitions and writing about it makes me aware of the fact how different, but at the same time similar, they are. There is not one ‘right’ definition and its accuracy and clarity depend on context, frame of reference and audience.

Personally, I would like the definition to have the right balance between technical accuracy and mainstream understandability. It should be a definition that I can use at a birthday party. After all, it is important that as many people as possible are able to understand what it is, that thing that will forever change their lives ;-)

Based on the above, I now started using the following definition:

“A blockchain is an immutable decentralized digital ledger that follows a set of predefined rules to record transactions of practically anything of value in a secure manner.”

I like a challenge, so I will definitely try to finetune it, but for now I am satisfied :-)

This list serves as a source of inspiration in the search of your personal definition of blockchain. Which one is your favourite? Or do you have another one that you like which in not in this list? Let me and others know in the comments!

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Other parts of the Understanding The World of Crypto Series:

• How Tokens, Coins and Blockchain Protocols Relate To Each Other

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, trader or developer. I am just a blockchain & cryptocurrencies enthusiast. Make sure you do your own research, draw your own conclusions and do not invest any money that you cannot afford to lose.