How Bitcoin works: the blockchain explained
Bitcoin confirmations: why a payment is safer after a few more blocks
Two Bitcoin miners can win the same race at the same moment, and the ledger splits in two. Which payments survive, and how long should a seller wait before trusting one?
-
1
Two miners win at once. One block holds your payment to Rono. The other holds your payment to Miva. Both blocks point to the same block before them, so the chain now has two ends.
-
2
Each node keeps the block it heard first, and the miners near it start guessing on top of it. For a few minutes, the nodes hold two versions of the ledger. This split is called a fork.
The rest of this episode is for subscribers
Subscribe to read every premium episode. You can cancel when you want.
Paid yearly: $99 instead of $119.88