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Proof of work is merely one form of consensus algorithms. There are many forms of consensus algorithms. > Git also uses merkle trees Blockchains are not a co

by stale2002 7y ago

Proof of work is merely one form of consensus algorithms. There are many forms of consensus algorithms. > Git also uses merkle trees Blockchains are not a complicated concept. They are merely a merkle tree combined with a consensus algorithm. That's it. People try to make these concepts way more complicated than they actually are. A lot of this crypto stuff is actually quite simple.

olalonde 7y ago
It was the only one at the time. Since then a few alternatives have been proposed but none that rival PoW, at least in terms of security. > Blockchains are not a complicated concept. They are merely a merkle tree combined with a consensus algorithm. That's it. I wouldn't say so, the block chain is a chain, not a tree. Actually, the use of merkle trees to represent transaction data is an implementation detail. Bitcoin would have worked fine without them (though "lightweight" clients would have suffered a bit). I second that it's a simple concept though.