Von Ralf Keuper
Da es sich beim Thema Blockchain um ein sehr abstraktes handelt, sind Erklärungen, die mit wenigen Worten, Metaphern oder Analogien auskommen, von großem Nutzen. Das hat sich wohl auch Jenn Webb gedacht, als sie folgenden Vergleich zog:
One way to think about the blockchain is like layers in a geological formation, or a glacier core sample. The surface layers may change with the seasons, or even be blown away before they have time to settle. But once you go a few inches deep, geological layers become more and more stable. By the time you look a few hundred feet down, you are looking at a snapshot of the past that has remained undisturbed for millennia or millions of years. In the blockchain, the most recent few blocks may be revised if there is a chain recalculation due to a fork. The top six blocks are like a few inches of topsoil. But once you go deeper into the blockchain, beyond six blocks, blocks are less and less likely to change. After 100 blocks back, there is so much stability that the “coinbase” transaction, the transaction containing newly mined bitcoins, can be spent. A few thousand blocks back (a month) and the blockchain is settled history. It will never change.
Das hat große Ähnlichkeit mit der Metapher der Zeitschichten von Reinhart Koselleck.