Delegated Proof of Stake

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.

Consensus Mechanism

The method by which a distributed network agrees on the current state of the ledger and validates transactions.

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.

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 digital asset on a blockchain that represents ownership of a regulated financial instrument such as equity, debt, or revenue share, subject to securities laws.

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

A technical standard for implementing fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.

A computer connected to a blockchain network that maintains a copy of the ledger and participates in consensus.

A backward-compatible upgrade to a blockchain protocol where old nodes still recognise new blocks as valid.

The process of using computational power to validate transactions and add new blocks to a proof-of-work blockchain.

A divergence in a blockchain's protocol or chain, creating two separate paths — can be hard (incompatible) or soft (backward-compatible).

A blockchain node that only downloads block headers and relies on full nodes for complete transaction verification.