A blockchain consists of a series of expandable data sets, so-called blocks, that are linked to each other by cryptographic methods. It is a kind of distributed electronic ledger or database, where records are added by digital transactions without the interference of a central administrator. A distributed ledger gives all the participants of the network shared read and write permissions and has a network of replicated databases that are being synchronised via the internet and that are visible to anyone in the network. Each block contains a secure hash of the previous block, a time stamp and its own transaction data.

The major advantage is that the data cannot be controlled by a single entity and that the Peer-to-Peer nature makes trusted intermediaries unnecessary. Among other things, this makes a blockchain forgery-proof, because any and all subsequent transactions are built on the previous ones and must be correct to be validated.