Blockchain underlies the public distributed ledger technology which means no central party can store the blockchain safely. We are familiar with the fact that crypto trading platform comprise a peer to peer network, and this peer to peer network is made of several nodes. Nodes are the computing entity that copies the public distributed ledger in their computers.

Blockchain is the critical technology of cryptocurrencies, and blockchain is one of the prominent reasons many investors have invested their resources in cryptocurrencies. You can start Investing in cryptocurrency by following the steps. There are numerous terms associated with blockchain technology that one should know, so without wasting any further ado, let's jump straight to the facts.

Mining

Bitcoin mining or cryptocurrency mining is one of the essential terms associated with blockchain technology. Mining refers to solving a math puzzle to avail the block reward.

The block reward of every cryptocurrency varies from others. For example, the bitcoin network rewards its miner with a block reward of 6.25 units once these bitcoin miners solve the math puzzle in 10 minutes. So if you don't have money to mine cryptocurrencies, you can invest in cryptocurrency for better results. Mining generally works on the proof of work mechanism, but some currencies also work on the proof of stakes mechanism.

Peer to peer network

Both peer to peer networks and blockchain contribute a great effort in maintaining the decentralization aspects of cryptocurrencies. Peer to peer network is a connected cross of nodes, and these nodes are responsible for approving and rejecting cryptocurrency transactions.

Every node in the peer to peer network has a blockchain copy. Blockchain copy of every cryptocurrency varies in size; the size of the bitcoin blockchain is nearly 350 gigabytes. You can also become a node for the bitcoin network but bear in mind that there are no monetary rewards for becoming a node in the cryptocurrency complex.

Proof of work

Proof of work is the only technology in cryptocurrency responsible for immense energy consumption while mining cryptocurrency. Proof of work ensures that a miner should solve the math puzzle in the given time as proof of the efforts he made while approving that particular transaction.

Block

Blockchain is the component of smaller blocks. Bitcoin miner verifies the transactions and adds new blocks to the blockchain. Blocks in the blockchain consist of information regarding cryptocurrency transactions.

Blocks in the bitcoin blockchain are composed of four further compos: timestamp of the transaction, hash rate, difficulty and nonce hashing function alongside the transaction summary. The block consists of two headers. The size of the block in the blockchain varies in every cryptocurrency. For example, the blockchain of bitcoin has a block of one megabyte and to create blocks requires a different amount of time. The bitcoin complex requires 10 minutes to create a block and ethereum, which is merely a few seconds.

Smart contracts

A smart contract is one of the innovative features of blockchain. These are unalterable contracts between two parties. If you start investing in cryptocurrency today, you can still make profitable results out of it. Intelligent contracts are hosted on the blockchain, and you cannot resolve the contract until every party involved in the contract agrees.