Distributed Ledger Technology

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The term distributed ledger technology (English for technology for distributed cash books ) describes a technology that is used for the documentation of certain transactions. In contrast to the classic approach, in which a general ledger is usually managed by just one instance, here any number of principally equivalent copies of the ledger are maintained decentrally by different parties. Suitable measures are taken to ensure that new transactions to be added are transferred to all copies of the ledger and that an agreement (consensus) is reached on the current status of the ledger.

Even if a distributed ledger could in principle also be implemented differently, this technology has only become practicable through the use of networked computers . There is also talk of decentralized account books or transaction databases . The technology is considered to be groundbreaking for managing data on the Internet without proprietary platforms.

The Distributed Ledger techniques differ in the way the networked computer to an agreement come (consensus protocols), such as proof of work as in Bitcoin , economic by demonstrating interests ( Proof of Stake ) in Ethereums Casper , by a Coordinator like in Raft or by elections like in Swirlds . There are public and private distributed ledger techniques; With the public, anyone can participate in the network and view the data, with the private not.

terminology

The blockchain , one of the foundations for cryptocurrencies , is one of the most popular distributed ledger technologies; therefore the blockchain technology is often used as a synonym for distributed ledger technology.

Schematic overview of terminology in distributed ledger technology

Within the distributed ledger technology there are different architectures ("DLT Concepts") which differ mainly in how transactions are validated and stored. Some well-known architectures are the blockchain , the block directed acyclic graphs (blockDAG) and the transaction-based directed acyclic graphs (TDAG).

There are different, specific implementations ("DLT Design") for these architectures, for example Bitcoin and Ethereum are implementations of the blockchain. These implementations can be differentiated on the basis of certain properties ("DLT Properties"). Certain characteristics (“DLT Characteristics”) can also be defined for these properties. For the security of an implementation, among other things, its availability and confidentiality are important.

Application examples

In addition to the well-known applications in the field of cryptocurrencies, distributed ledger techniques are increasingly being used in the financial industry, open science, healthcare and logistics. A distributed ledger can manage various data, for example the account balance of a Bitcoin address, the status of a “ smart contract ” or the origin of a diamond.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patrick Schüffel, Nikolaj Groeneweg, Rico Baldegg: The Crypto Encyclopedia: Coins, tokens and digital assets from A to Z . Ed .: University of Economics Friborg / Growth Publisher, Bern. Bern / Friborg August 2019.
  2. ↑ Distributed Ledger: The technology behind the virtual currencies using the example of the blockchain. BaFin, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology. SAP, accessed February 5, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Blockchain Technologies. European Commission, accessed February 5, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Proof of Stake thanks to Casper: the future of Ethereum. BTC-ECHO, May 7, 2017, accessed February 5, 2018 .
  6. ^ Raft Consensus Algorithm. Accessed February 5, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Blockchain Just Became Obsolete. The future is hash graph. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 3, 2018 ; accessed on February 5, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / squawker.org
  8. ↑ Distributed ledger technologies in payment transactions and securities processing. In: Monthly Report, September 2017. Deutsche Bundesbank, accessed on February 5, 2018 .
  9. ↑ iX: Distributed ledger technology needs legal changes. Retrieved on February 5, 2018 (German).
  10. ↑ Make blockchain secure. BSI, February 2, 2018, accessed on February 6, 2018 .
  11. ↑ (PDF) What Does Not Fit Can be Made to Fit! Trade-Offs in Distributed Ledger Technology Designs. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  12. ↑ About Hyperledger. Accessed February 5, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Security for the supply chain. Retrieved December 16, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Stephan Leible, Steffen Schlager, Moritz Schubotz, Bela Gipp: A Review on Blockchain Technology and Blockchain Projects Fostering Open Science . In: Frontiers in Blockchain . tape 2 , November 19, 2019, p. 1–28 , doi : 10.3389 / fbloc.2019.00016 (English).
  15. ↑ What the blockchain means for the diamond trade. Retrieved February 6, 2018 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ The term is a wrong partial translation of the English technology . The actually correct form of distributed ledger technology is unusual.