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Discussion on: Explain Blockchain and bitcoins Like I'm Five

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Reinhart Previano K. • Edited

Let's say that you would like to make a sum of four unique numbers from 1 to 5 (because 5 year olds might not do well in multiplications). When you sum 1 + 2 + 3 + 4, the result would be 10. But, if you change one of those numbers to 5, the sum of the numbers wouldn't be the same as before.

The concept behind Blockchain is related to something that people called "data integrity", which means every input that is entered to Blockchain depends on previous inputs. For example, in order to get 10 from 1 + 2 + 3 we need to add 4 to those sums.

(considering that 5 year olds might not be able to distinguish between data, information, and knowledge; as well as verification)

Why is Blockchain needed? Blockchain is used to secure (which is, to ensure that something is safe) something that we called "digital transactions/contracts". If you exchange money for your (favourite) foods, you are actually doing a transaction with the person who sells them.

(I doubt that many five-years ever owns money, but perhaps fifth-graders do)

Finally, we call it digital since this one is instead done through computers.