Public versus private blockchains

Before I go into the differences between the two types — public versus private blockchains (or, strictly speaking, three types if you count a consortium blockchain separately), let's first review the similarities. Both types use the same underlying peer-to-peer network technology, whereas the shared ledger is replicated to each participant by distribution over the network. These replicas are both maintained and kept in sync through a consensus protocol. Finally, both public and private blockchains provide guarantees that confirmed transactions registered in the shared ledger are immutable (that is, unchangeable) even when there are malicious participants. However, this is where the similarities end. Both ...

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