What is a 'Blockchain'

First of all it's a Technology !
A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions. Constantly growing as ‘completed’ blocks (the most recent transactions) are recorded and added to it in chronological order, it allows market participants to keep track of digital currency transactions without central recordkeeping. Each node (a computer connected to the network) gets a copy of the blockchain, which is downloaded automatically.

Here’s a breakdown of what that means.

IMMUTABLE

– data written to a blockchain can never be changed, so readers can be sure it was never altered.

PUBLIC

– data on a blockchain is visible to everyone, which makes it perfect for storing public records like bitcoin transactions, land titles, and asset tags.

DISTRIBUTED

– unlike a centralized ledger that is kept by a trusted institution, blockchain runs on an entire network of computers, meaning there is no single system that can fail or be compromised.

LEDGER

– blockchain is suited to storing small transaction records, not large files.

Taken together, these characteristics allow two parties to trust one another based on the strength of the blockchain network without the need for a third party institution like a bank or government.