Trustless
By CoinGecko | Updated on Mar 03, 2020
A defining aspect of cryptocurrencies is that is it now possible to complete a monetary transaction without need to assume trust in a third party. In traditional finance, a monetary transaction on the internet requires trust in a facilitator such as central banks, commecial banks, agents, or financial service provider without the universal access to audit their ability to faciliate the transaction. Sending money online is more akin to writing a cheque than paying in cash as the issue of decentralization without double spending remains unsolved until the emergence of bitcoin.
When a party makes a transaction with cryptocurrencies, they can verify publically and mathematically that a transaction has been completed. This is in contrast to taking the "transaction completed" notification from a facilitator at face value.
Related Terms
Byzantine Generals’ Problem
A term used to describe the situation a single strategy which requires consensus from all members within a group who cannot be trusted or verified
51% Attack
An attack on blockchain by a group of miners controlling more than 50% of network hash rate
Daily Active Addresses (DAA)
On a blockchain, users interact with one another through their addresses, and daily active addresses (DAA) refers to the number of addresses which fulfills the defined activity parameter on a given blockchain.
Block Reward
One of the mechanisms built into a blockchain to incentivize validators
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