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Author(s)

Dylan Yaga (NIST), Peter Mell (NIST), Nik Roby (G2), Karen Scarfone (Scarfone Cybersecurity)

Announcement

NIST announces the release of Draft NISTIR 8202, Blockchain Technology Overview. This publication is intended to provide a high-level technical overview of blockchain technology. It discusses its application for electronic currency as well as broader uses. The document looks at different categories and approaches for different blockchain platforms.

This document is intended to help readers to understand the technologies which comprise blockchain systems and to understand how blockchains can be appropriately and usefully applied to technology problems.

Section 1 provides an introduction to the topic of blockchain technology.

Section 2 defines the high-level components of a blockchain system architecture, including hashes, transactions, ledgers, blocks, and blockchains.

Section 3 discusses how a blockchain is expanded through the addition of new blocks representing sets of transactions.

Section 4 examines the need for consensus models to resolve conflicts among blockchain mining nodes.

Section 5 introduces the concept of forking.

Section 6 defines and discusses smart contracts.

Section 7 looks at blockchain permission models, discusses their application considerations, and provides use case examples for each model.

Section 8 provides several examples of blockchain platforms in use today to indicate the variations from one platform to another.

Section 9 highlights some of the limitations of blockchain technology.

Section 10 gives a short conclusion for the document.

Appendix A contains a glossary for selected terms defined in the document.

Appendix B provides a list of acronyms and abbreviations used in the document.

Appendix C defines the references used throughout the document.

Your feedback on this draft publication is important to us. We appreciate each contribution from our reviewers. The very insightful comments from the public and private sectors, nationally and internationally, continue to help shape the final publication to ensure that it meets the needs and expectations of our customers.

Abstract Blockchains are immutable digital ledger systems implemented in a distributed fashion (i.e., without a central repository) and usually without a central authority. At its most basic level, they enable a community of users to record transactions in a ledger public to that community such that no transaction can be changed once published. This document provides a high-level technical overview of blockchain technology. It discusses its application to electronic currency in depth, but also shows its broader applications. The purpose is to help readers understand how blockchains work, so that they can be appropriately and usefully applied to technology problems. Additionally, this document explores some specific blockchain applications and some examples of when a blockchain system should be considered for use. Blockchains are immutable digital ledger systems implemented in a distributed fashion (i.e., without a central repository) and usually without a central authority. At its most basic level, they enable a community of users to record transactions in a ledger public to that community such that no... See full abstract Blockchains are immutable digital ledger systems implemented in a distributed fashion (i.e., without a central repository) and usually without a central authority. At its most basic level, they enable a community of users to record transactions in a ledger public to that community such that no transaction can be changed once published. This document provides a high-level technical overview of blockchain technology. It discusses its application to electronic currency in depth, but also shows its broader applications. The purpose is to help readers understand how blockchains work, so that they can be appropriately and usefully applied to technology problems. Additionally, this document explores some specific blockchain applications and some examples of when a blockchain system should be considered for use.

Hide full abstract Keywords blockchain ; consensus model ; cryptocurrency ; cryptographic hash ; distributed ledger ; mining

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