Earlier this week I watched Blythe Masters and other banking executives perform remarkable feats of linguistic gymnastics to avoid using the words “bitcoin” and “blockchain”. I found this ironic as the event we were attending was titled Digital Currencies + the Blockchain. Instead, they used the following list of more palatable phrases.

Permissioned Ledger

Unpermissioned Ledger

Shared Ledger

Distributed Ledger

Replicated Shared Ledgers

Distributed Ledger Systems

Permissioned Distributed Ledgers

Permissioned Permissionlessness Ledgers

I’m offering a modest proposal to end this madness

In her speech, Ms. Masters specifically made an effort to position blockchains as a subset of a broader category she calls “distributed ledger technology”. Her comments brought me back to the days when the Internet was commonly referred to the “information superhighway”. Eventually we all learned what the Internet was and stopped trying to describe it by referring to things from days past. We’re in the middle of going through this process with the word “blockchain”. I’d like to spare us all much pain and suffering by asking that everyone consider adopting the following terms:

Open Blockchain — A public network that maintains an immutable record of transactions. Anyone can publish a transaction and participate in the network by adhering to a set of published rules. Examples: Bitcoin, Litecoin

Closed Blockchain — A private network that maintains a shared record of transactions. The network is accessible only to those who have permission and transactions can be edited by administrators. Examples: Hyperledger, Ripple, Eris

In today’s society, there’s a role for both the Internet and Intranets. Similarly there’s probably a role for both open and closed blockchains. Whatever your position on the subtleties and shortcomings of my definitions, can we all agree to avoid inventing a confusing cacophony of new terms and make use of the ones we already have?

Think you’ve get a better idea to simplify how we talk about blockchains? Tweet me @WayneVaughan.