Public Ledger is a shared, transparent record of transactions that is accessible to all participants in the network. It provides an auditable and verifiable history of all transactions, and serves as a foundation to the operation of cryptocurrencies and other decentralised systems, ensuring that all participants can verify the transaction history.
Key benefits of the Public Ledger:
- lets all authorised parties see the same transaction history simultaneously, eliminating disputes about who paid what and when.
- helps trading partners do business confidently without expensive intermediaries verifying each step.
- creates trust between trading partners who’ve never met.
How Public Ledgers work:
- When a transaction occurs, it is grouped with others into a block.
- Nodes in the network validate transactions through consensus mechanisms such as proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake (PoS).
- Validated blocks are linked together in chronological order, forming a secure chain that constitutes the public ledger.
Public ledgers are widely used in cryptocurrency transactions, supply chain management, and decentralised identity systems.