How Bitcoin works: the blockchain explained
What is a blockchain? Why nobody can quietly change an old Bitcoin payment
Bitcoin's ledger has thousands of copies and no boss, and still every node ends up with the same list. The first part of the answer is a chain, and it also stops anyone from quietly changing an old payment.
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1
Here is the first part of the answer. Nodes do not write a payment into the ledger the moment it arrives. New payments wait together. Some nodes hold your payment to Rono, and others hold your payment to Miva.
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2
About every 10 minutes, a group of waiting payments goes into the ledger together, like a new page. This page is called a block. A block can hold only one of your two payments, never both. Which one? That depends on who writes the block.
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