Public Blockchain

A Public Blockchain is a network that is globally accessible by anyone anywhere in the world.

Another name for a public blockchain is a permissionless blockchain.

Participants of a public blockchain can add blocks, and initiate and execute transactions.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular decentralized public blockchains in the world.

Public blockchains are normally anonymous, where the identity of their users are unknown.

Anonymity is one of the advantages of a public blockchain. It’s what draws users in.

Public blockchains are also transparent in the fact they are primarily created using open-source software and code that can be reviewed by anyone at any time.

Public blockchain transactions, due to the transparent nature of these blockchains, can also be verified easily.

Finally, public blockchain transactions are recorded to a distributed ledger, where transactions on the blockchain are immutable – they can’t be altered or removed, only added.

Verification of these transactions doesn’t only happen on one node within the network but across a majority of the nodes, with who they share the confirmation across the entire network.

Public blockchains like Bitcoin do consume a lot of power, due to the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism.

Confirmation of transactions is highly energy intensive and it takes a long time to complete.

Public blockchains also have to deal with scalability issues, where more users utilizing the blockchain cause network congestion slowing down the network as a whole.

Related Terms

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin (BTC) is most well known as a digital decentralized cryptocurrency, without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer Bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries, such as payment gateways or banks or routing services. Think of bitcoin as Internet money, that you can send and receive directly, to and from anyone, and you can use it to pay for stuff.

Blockchain

Blockchain networks are at the heart of cryptocurrencies. A blockchain is a database, or digital ledger, made up of a series of interconnected blocks containing transaction data created on the network over some period of time. Each block in a blockchain also contains a unique identifier unlike any other block in the chain called a hash. Think of the hash as a fingerprint identifying that block for all other blocks. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is another name frequently used in relation to blockchains.

Network Fee

A fee you pay to a blockchain network for transferring a digital asset on that network. The fees go to the miners or validators of that blockchain network who win the right or are chosen by the validation mechanism to ultimately confirm your transactions and add to the blockchain.

Polkadot (DOT)

Polkadot (DOT) is an open-source blockchain protocol for cryptocurrencies, dubbed the “blockchain of blockchains”, that allows different, incompatible networks to communicate with each other and share data, using a multichain design.

Private Blockchain

A type of blockchain mainly used by enterprises where access to it is restricted to only employees or invited guest users. The network owner can do whatever it wants to the data on the blockchain, including editing or deleting it. Private blockchains still use cryptography to secure the blockchain, but they’re less focused on identity protection and transparency, as the blockchain already controls who has access to it.