To finish our journey into distributed systems, let's talk about a particular type of distributed system that could potentially form the basis of a large number of exciting cutting-edge technologies in the future. Distributed ledgers are a special class within distributed databases made famous recently by the prevalence of blockchain and subsequent cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Traditionally, when you make a purchase using your credit or debit card, the issuing bank acts as the centralized authority. As part of the transaction, a request is made to the bank to ascertain whether you have sufficient funds to complete the transaction. If you do, the bank keeps a record of the new transaction and deducts the amount from ...
