Excellent explainer: how consensus algorithms (including Bitcoin/blockchain) work
by Cory Doctorow from on (#3FZXN)
The creation of "public ledgers" -- like blockchain, popularized by Bitcoin -- requires "consensus algorithms" that allow mutually untrusted, uncoordinated parties to agree on a world-readable, distributed list of things (domain names, transactions, title deeds, etc), something that cryptography makes possible in a variety of ways. (more")