Distributed Ledger Technology

They’re not all called Blockchain…

First off, this article is for beginners so if you’re a well seasoned pro, you’ll probably read the following post and roll your eyes, or you might find the following rant relatable.

Blockchain this, blockchain that. Let’s put everything on a blockchain. Let’s build a blockchain and call it something else. Too many people have the wrong idea about this groundbreaking technology. I’d say about 80% of people who have an opinion about crypto are wrong. 40% are wrong because they believe in crypto for the wrong reason, and 40% because they don’t believe in crypto. I could write a whole article on why the latter should reconsider their frivolous standpoint, but I’m not ready to expose myself online. Stay smart, practice safe internet surfing.

The first thing most people need to understand is not the only one of its kind. The blockchain is one of many Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs)that have recently come up in popularity. Allow me to rephrase:

NOT EVERY CRYPTOCURRENCY IS BUILT ON A BLOCKCHAIN

Way too many people seem to think there’s no difference between Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash or even Bitcoin and Ethereum. Comparing Ethereum to Bitcoin is, as the expression goes, as meaningless as comparing apples to oranges (Although comparing Bitcoin to Bitcoin Cash is more like comparing Oranges to Tangerines). Still, people need to understand the differences before cryptocurrency becomes widely accepted, else we risk creating another bubble based on nothing but speculation.

Allow me to first list a couple DLTs worth noting:

Blockchain (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc.) Directed Acyclic Graph aka. DAGs (IOTA, Dagcoin, etc.) Hyperledger Fabric (IBM, Corda, Intel, etc.) Hashgraphs (Hedera)

To make this a little more comprehensive, Let’s draw some pictures.

This is a blockchain

This is a DAG

This is a Hashgraph

You are now smarter than 37% of people in the crypto world. (Yes, I made that statistic up.)