To hash-link transactions in a chain (line) was the simplest way to do "proof-of-history" which is why Bitcoin (2008) and Ethereum (2014) used that, and also previous work around that. BitLattice (2018) is the next generation there, and stores the state in a multi-dimensional lattice instead, a metric structure, so it's a "post-blockchain" system, in the literal sense.

That transactions are stored in a lattice, also allows BitLattice to satisfy another criteria for a successor to blockchain technology like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the inventor Hibryda says that the lattice as a metric structure makes it possible to do "proof-of-structure", mathematically proving the integrity of "chunks" of the state, that in turn makes it possible to "shard" BitLattice, a concept that Vitalik Buterin has said that an "Ethereum 2.0" would be built on.

BitLattice is currently in internal test net phase, with a public test net after that.

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Cryptography as the protagonist of blockchain technology, Holochain, and BitLattice

BitLattice as Ethereum 2.0, and how sharding required a new state topology

Bitcoin (2009) => Ethereum (2014) => BitLattice (2018), the Nakamoto consensus, smart contracts, sharding/lattice