Best known as the engine behind Bitcoin, blockchain is emerging as a trustless, tamper-proof system with the potential to ...

Understanding what blockchain is and how it works may feel like learning a new language. But it doesn't have to be. Find out ...

Blockchain technology operates as a chain of blocks built on each other in an immutable sequence. Miners compete to solve mathematical or algorithmic problems to make each block.

Peter Gratton, M.A.P.P., Ph.D., is a New Orleans-based editor and professor with over 20 years of experience in investing, risk management, and public policy. Peter began covering markets at ...

There are different consensus mechanisms used to verify transactions and add new blocks to a blockchain. In cryptocurrency, the most common methods are proof-of-work and proof-of-stake.

However, a block's Merkle tree does not occupy a large amount of storage on a blockchain. For example, Bitcoin block 854,473 had 2,530 transactions, and each transaction's hash is 64 bytes.

Another popular block-minting architecture is known as proof of stake.Here, transactions are validated and baked into data blocks by existing holders of the blockchain’s digital tokens.

Nodes are the backbone of a blockchain network. Learn about this critical part of every cryptocurrency, including what a node is and how it works.

Blockchain technology stores data in blocks and link them together to form a chain. The blocks have a specific capacity and, when filled, are closed and linked to the previous block.