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