CIS FINAL: Module 8b

Decentralization

The transfer of authority from one large group to individuals

Miners

ensures transactions are valid to the bitcoin blockchain correctly using a global netowork of computers

Digital Ledger

A bookkeeping list of assets (money, property, ideas...), identified ownership, and transactions that record the transfer of ownership among participants

cryptocurrency

A digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds.

blockchain

A type of distributed ledger, consisting of blocks of data that maintain a permanent and tamper-proof record of transactional data

Immutability

The ability for a blockchain ledger to remain a permanent, indelible, and unalterable history of transactions

Hash

a function that converts an input of letters and numbers into an encrypted output of a fixed length

Proof-of-work

a requirement to define an expensive computer calculation, also called mining, that needs to be performed in order to create a new group of trustless transactions (blocks) on the distributed ledger or blockchain

Bitcoin

a type of digital currency in which a record of transactions is maintained and new units of currency are generated by the computational solution of mathematical problems, and which operates independently of a central bank.

blocks

data structures containing a hash, previous hash, and data

Double-spend

problem where a single unit of currency is transferred to two recipients at the same time

Distributed Computing

processes and manages algorithms across many machines in a computing environment