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The Role of Databases in Blockchain Technology
Importance of databases in blockchain technology
Blockchain technology has revolutionized various industries, including finance, supply chain, and healthcare. While it’s often associated with distributed ledgers, the role of databases in blockchain technology is crucial for ensuring data integrity, accessibility, and performance.
Understanding the Blockchain Data Structure
At its core, a blockchain is a distributed and decentralized ledger that stores a chain of blocks, each containing a set of transactions. The blockchain data structure is inherently persistent, which means data written to the blockchain is immutable and preserved over time. However, there are two primary types of databases used in blockchain technology: the blockchain itself and off-chain databases.
1. On-Chain Database
The on-chain database, also known as the blockchain, stores the critical components of a blockchain system, including:
- Transactions: Details of transactions, such as sender, receiver, amount, and timestamp.
- Blocks: Blocks containing a group of transactions, along with metadata.
- Consensus Rules: Rules that govern the validation of…
