diff --git a/ch02.asciidoc b/ch02.asciidoc index 0b36c6c6..e25165a8 100644 --- a/ch02.asciidoc +++ b/ch02.asciidoc @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ === Transactions, Blocks, Mining and the Blockchain -In the bitcoin system trust is de-centralized and achieved as an emergent property from the interactions of different participants in the bitcoin system. This is completely unlike traditional banking and payment systems, where trust is necessarily placed in one or more central trusted authorities. In this chapter we will examine bitcoin from a high-level by tracking a single transaction through the bitcoin system and watch as it becomes "trusted" and accepted by the bitcoin mechanism of distributed consensus and is finally recorded on the blockchain, the distributed ledger of all transactions. +In the bitcoin system trust is de-centralized and achieved as an emergent property from the interactions of different participants in the bitcoin system. This is completely unlike traditional banking and payment systems, where trust is necessarily placed in one or more central trusted authorities. In this chapter we will examine bitcoin from a high level by tracking a single transaction through the bitcoin system and watch as it becomes "trusted" and accepted by the bitcoin mechanism of distributed consensus and is finally recorded on the blockchain, the distributed ledger of all transactions. Each example below is based upon an actual transaction made on the bitcoin network, simulating the interactions between the users (Joe, Alice and Bob) by sending funds from one wallet to another. While tracking a transaction through the bitcoin network and blockchain, we will use a _blockchain explorer_ site to visualize each step. A blockchain explorer is a web application that operates as a bitcoin search engine, in that it allows you to search for addresses, transactions and blocks and see the relationships and flows between them.