Consensus Mechanism

Blockchain

A distributed, immutable digital ledger that records transactions across a network of computers without a central authority.

Distributed Ledger Technology

A digital system for recording, sharing, and synchronising data across multiple sites without a central administrator.

Proof of Work

A consensus mechanism requiring computational effort to validate transactions and create new blocks, used by Bitcoin.

Proof of Stake

A consensus mechanism where validators are selected based on the amount of cryptocurrency they hold and stake.

Delegated Proof of Stake

A consensus mechanism where token holders vote for delegates who validate transactions on their behalf.

Byzantine Fault Tolerance

The ability of a distributed system to reach consensus despite some nodes acting maliciously or failing.

Merkle Tree

A hash-based data structure that efficiently verifies the integrity and consistency of large sets of data.

Hash Function

A mathematical function that converts input data of any size into a fixed-size output, used extensively in blockchain security.

Cryptographic Hash

A one-way function producing a fixed-length output that is computationally infeasible to reverse or find collisions for.

Public Key Cryptography

An encryption system using mathematically linked key pairs — a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption.

Digital Signature

A cryptographic mechanism that verifies the authenticity and integrity of digital messages or documents.

Decentralised Application

An application that runs on a decentralised peer-to-peer network rather than a single centralised server.

A blockchain network where participation is restricted to authorised entities, common in enterprise applications.

A collection of funds locked in a smart contract that provides liquidity for decentralised trading and lending.

An uncollateralised loan in DeFi that must be borrowed and repaid within a single blockchain transaction.

The maximum profit that can be extracted from block production by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions, a fundamental economic phenomenon in blockchain networks.

A non-transferable digital token permanently associated with an individual's blockchain address, used to represent credentials, affiliations, and reputation in a verifiable manner.

A technical specification defining the interface and behaviour of tokens on a blockchain, such as ERC-20 for fungible tokens and ERC-721 for non-fungible tokens.

InterPlanetary File System — a peer-to-peer distributed file system for storing and sharing data in a decentralised manner.

A technical standard for non-fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, ensuring each token is unique.