Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by sirclueless 3113 days ago
I think a lot of people would disagree with you. There are obviously many methods besides proof-of-work to achieve consensus, but a blockchain cannot properly be called a "blockchain" unless there is some consensus protocol. Not every DAG of digital hashes is a blockchain.

Under your definition, every CBC mode stream cipher could be called a blockchain, which just makes the term meaningless. It was coined for a specific purpose: to describe how Bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies operate at a technical level, especially how they guarantee integrity and prevent double-spending.

1 comments

In git the consensus protocol is "whatever the maintainer thinks is the correct HEAD" or "what the maintainers can agree on to be 'master'". There are many ways you can achieve consensus.