ntroduce yourself

Hi
Im owlcountry
WWhat’s the difference between a blockchain a a normal database? Very loosely, a blockchain system is a package which contains a normal database plus some software that adds new rows, validates that new rows conform to pre-agreed rules, and listens and broadcasts new rows to its peers across a network, ensuring that all peers have the same data in their databases.

PART 2 – INTRODUCING BITCOIN’S BLOCKCHAIN
The Bitcoin Blockchain ecosystem
As a primer on bitcoin, it may help to review A gentle introduction to bitcoin.

The Bitcoin Blockchain ecosystem is actually quite a complex system due to its dual aims: that anyone should be able to write to The Bitcoin Blockchain; and that there shouldn’t be any centralised power or control. Relax these, and you don’t need many of the convoluted mechanisms of Bitcoin.

That said, let’s start with The Bitcoin Blockchain ecosystem, and then try to tease out the blockchain bit from the bitcoin bit.

Replicated databases. The Bitcoin Blockchain ecosystem acts like a network of replicated databases, each containing the same list of past bitcoin transactions. Important members of the network are called validators or nodes which pass around transaction data (payments) and block data (additions to the ledger). Each validator independently checks the payment and block data being passed around. There are rules in place to make the network operate as intended.

Bitcoin’s complexity comes from its ideology. The aim of bitcoin was to be decentralised, i.e. not have a point of control, and to be relatively anonymous. This has influenced how bitcoin has developed. Not all blockchain ecosystems need to have the same mechanisms, especially if participants can be identified and trusted to behave.hy does steemit not allow caps in tags