Definition
A blockchain is a linear collection of data elements called block, where all blocks are linked to form a chain and secured using cryptography, and newly generated blocks are continuously chained to the blockchain in an untrusted environment. To date, there is still lack of formal definitions on the blockchain that can be accepted by both the academia and industry.
Historical Background
The Blockchain technique is derived from the Bitcoin which is first proposed by Nakamoto in 2008. The primary objective of Bitcoin is to propose a secure payment system without a trusted party such that online payments can be sent directly from one user to others without going through a financial institution. This is achieved by a distributed ledger which accounts for the ownership of coins. The key challenge is to resist double spending attacks, where an adversary could issue two transactions in parallel so as...
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Zhang, Y. (2020). Blockchain. In: Shen, X.(., Lin, X., Zhang, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Wireless Networks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78262-1_171
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78262-1_171
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