Distributed Ledger Systems Explained

DISTRIBUTED LEDGER SYSTEMS EXPLAINED

RAZI SALIH

DISTRIBUTED LEDGER SYSTEMS EXPLAINED

BY RAZI SALIH

A distributed ledger is the system that underpins blockchain technology.

Ledger systems in various formats have been in use since ancient times.

The difference between a traditional ledger system and a distributed ledger system is that distributed ledgers are updated independently by each node or participant in the network.

No Centralised Authority Distributed ledger systems are decentralised, as in there is no requirement for a single authority to verify any of the updates or transactions that take place on the system. Rather than a central

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authority, verification and security comes from consensus by each network node. Every transaction that takes place on the network is processed by every node and the ledger is updated once consensus has been reached.

Early Digital Ledgers Digital ledgers existed several decades before decentralised distributed ledger systems.

These early systems, however, imitated paper accounting systems and often required manual data entry. Breakthroughs in digital security, such as cryptography and complex algorithms, allowed for the creation of secure, distributed ledger systems and blockchain.

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