Blockchain, the technology used by the digital currency, is said to be causing a revolution around the world. Visionary thinkers, investors, and technologists are all talking about its immense potential and how it might trigger a real change in all kinds of ways.
Blockchain is what structures the digital currency and various other crypto currencies that came afterward.
Even though blockchain is making headlines every day, the technology in itself and how it works is still obscure.
In this article, we have assembled a glossary of key concepts that can help us understand blockchain in a better way.
1. Blockchain
Underlying public permissionless distributed ledger technology that records all transactions conducted on the Golden coin network. Golden coins are used to move assets and value across the blockchain.
2. Cryptocurrency
A type of currency that uses cryptography instead of a central bank to provide security and verify transactions.
3. Cryptography:
In the context of digital currency, cryptography is the use of mathematics to secure information. Cryptography is used to create and secure wallets, sign transactions, and verify the blockchain.
4. Miner:
A computer or group of computers that add new transactions to blocks and verify blocks created by other miners. Miners collect transaction fees and are rewarded with new Golden coins for their services.
5. Decentralized:
Without a central authority or controlling party. Golden coin is a decentralized network of no company, government, or individual is in control of it.
6. Distributed:
A distributed network is designed so that there is no central server or entity that others must connect to. Instead, network participants connect directly to each other. Golden coin is a distributed network.
7. Encryption:
The use of cryptography to encode a message such that only the intended recipient(s) can decode it. Golden coin uses encryption to protect wallets from unauthorized access.
8. Smart Contract:
Computer protocols that facilitate, verify or enforce the execution of a contract. At a fundamental level, smart contracts are analogous to a series of if-then statements applied to the details of a trade.
9. Peer to Peer:
A type of network where participants communicate directly with each other rather than through a centralized server. The Goldencoin network is peer to peer.
10. Private Key:
A string of letters and numbers that can be used to spend golden coins associated with a specific Goldencoin address.
11. Proof of Work:
A piece of data that requires a significant amount of computation to generate but requires a minimal amount of computation to be verified as being correct. Golden coin uses proof of work to generate new blocks.
12. Protocol:
The official rules that dictate how participants on a network must communicate. Golden coin’s protocol specifies how each node connects with the others, how many golden coins will exist at any point in time, and defines other aspects of the network.
13. Public Key:
A string of letters and numbers that is derived from a private key. A public key allows one to receive bitcoins.
14. Fiat currency :
Any money declared by a government to be to be valid for meeting a financial obligation, like USD or EUR
15. QR Code:
A digital representation of digital coins public or private key that is easy to scan by digital cameras. QR codes are similar to barcodes found on physical products in that they are a machine-friendly way to embody a piece of data.
16. Wallet:
Software that stores private keys and monitors the block chain (sometimes as a client of a server that does the processing) to allow users to spend and receive virtual coins.
Is there a blockchain term not specified here that you’d like us to explain for you? Let us know by commenting below!
