 |
This is a list of blockchains - decentralized, cryptographic databases - and other distributed ledgers.
|
This is a list of blockchains - decentralized, cryptographic databases - and other distributed ledgers.
| Name | Date created | Created by | Native cryptocurrency | Consensus algorithm | Programmable? | Private? [Note 1] | Permissioned? [Note 1] | Finality | Ledger state | Notes | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | January 3, 2009 | Satoshi Nakamoto | PoW with Nakamoto Consensus | Yes (scripts) | No | No | Probabilistic | UTXO | First and most well-known blockchain of all; BTC is the most valuable token in terms of market share. | [1] [2] | |
| Litecoin | Oct 8, 2011 | Charlie Lee | LTC | PoW | Yes (scripts) | Yes | [1] [3] | ||||
| Peercoin | Aug 19, 2012 | PPC | PoW | Yes (scripts) | No | [1] [4] | |||||
| Primecoin | Jul 7, 2013 | Sunny King | XPM | PoW | Work is finding long Cunningham chains of prime numbers | ||||||
| MazaCoin | 2014? | Payu Harris, AnonymousPirate [5] | MAZA | Initially created for the Oglala Lakota Tribe, [5] but never quite used for that purpose | |||||||
| Namecoin | ? | NMC | Allows users to register names; precursor to NFTs | ||||||||
| Ethereum | Jul 30, 2015 | Ethereum Foundation (founded by Vitalik Buterin and others) | ETH 1.0 - PoW with Nakamoto consensus, ETH 2.0 - PoS with supermajority | Yes | No | No | ETH 1.0 Probabilistic, ETH 2.0 Economic | Account-balance | ETH is the second most valuable token in terms of market share; switched to PoS (the “merge”) on September 15, 2022; progenitor of Ethereum Classic | [1] [6] | |
| Arbitrum | ? | Offchain Labs | ETH | Optimistic rollup | Yes | EVM-compatible Layer-2 on Ethereum | [7] | ||||
| Base | June 15, 2023 | Coinbase | ETH | Optimistic rollup | Yes | EVM-compatible Layer-2 on Ethereum | [8] [9] | ||||
| Optimism | ? | Optimism PBC | ETH | Optimistic rollup | Yes | EVM-compatible Layer-2 on Ethereum | [7] [8] | ||||
| StarkNet | ? | StarkWare | STRK | ZK-rollup | Yes | Layer-2 on Ethereum | [10] | ||||
| Polygon zkEVM | ? | Polygon Technology | ETH | ZK-rollup | Yes | zkEVM-compatible Layer-2 on Ethereum | |||||
| Ethereum Classic | Jul 20, 2016 | ETC | PoW | Yes | No | No | Split from Ethereum due to The DAO hack earlier that month | [1] | |||
| Bitcoin Cash | Aug 1, 2017 | BCH | PoW | [11] | split from Bitcoin | ||||||
| Cardano | Sep 27, 2017 | Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood | ADA | DPoS | Yes | No | No | Probabilistic | UTXO | [1] [12] [13] | |
| TRON | Jun 24, 2018 | TRON | DPoS | Yes | No | [1] [14] | |||||
| Tezos | Jun 30, 2018 | Arthur and Kathleen Breitman | XTZ | PoS | Yes | No | [1] [15] | ||||
| Bitcoin SV | Nov 2018 | BSV | PoW | Yes (scripts) | No | split from Bitcoin Cash, itself split from Bitcoin | [1] | ||||
| Lightning Network [ relevant? ] | 2018 | n/a | ? | Layer-2 on Bitcoin | |||||||
| XinFin | June 1, 2019 | XinFin Fintech, XDC Foundation | XDC | XDPOS | Yes | No | No | immediate | XDC Network is an layer 1 EVM compatible, environmental friendly, near zero transaction cost with high speed settlement blockchain platform. | ||
| Algorand | Jun 10, 2019 | Silvio Micali and others | ALGO | PoS | Yes | No | No | Immediate | Uses a verifiable random function to choose random validators for consensus | [16] | |
| $PC | Sep 16, 2019 | $PC | PoS | Yes (scripts) | No | No | $PC future well-known blockchain | [17] | |||
| Solana | March 16, 2020 | Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal | SOL | PoS with Proof of History (PoH) | Yes | No | No | Immediate | Account-balance | [18] | |
| Oasis | June 18, 2020 | Oasis Labs, Oasis Protocol Foundation | ROSE | PoS | Yes (in ParaTimes) | No | No | Immediate | Account-balance | ParaTimes can use TEE for confidential computing | [19] [20] |
| Polkadot | May 26, 2020 | Parity Technologies | DOT | Started with PoA then moved to PoS | Yes (in parachains) | No | No | Hybrid | Account-balance | [21] [22] | |
| Avalanche | September 10, 2020 | Emin Gün Sirer, Maofan "Ted" Yin and Kevin Sekniqi | AVAX | PoS | Yes (in C-Chain) | No | No | Immediate | UTXO | [23] | |
| MobileCoin | Dec 6, 2020 | MobileCoin Inc. (founded by Josh Goldbard and Shane Glynn) | MOB | ||||||||
| Internet Computer | ? | DFINITY Foundation (founded by Dominic WIlliams) | ICP | Computation is very cheap; can host websites | |||||||
| DESO | Jan 18, 2021 | Nader al-Naji (aka diamondhands) and others | DESO (formerly BTCLT, CLOUT) | social media; flagship app BitClout; name acquired in Sep 2021 | [24] | ||||||
| Terra Classic | ? | Do Kwon and others | LUNC (formerly LUNA), UST | Formerly Terra until May 2022; ecosystem collapsed in May 2022 (UST depegged to near-zero and LUNA also went to near-zero) | |||||||
| Terra 2.0 | May 28, 2022 | LUNA | New blockchain created following the collapse of Terra. | [25] | |||||||
| Stellar | Apr 6, 2016 | XLM | BFT | ? | ? | Yes | ? | [4] | |||
| EOS.IO | Jul 1, 2017 | ? | EOS | DPoS | Yes | No | ? | ? | [4] | ||
| LBRY | ? | LBC | |||||||||
| Ripple | June 2012 | Ripple Labs | XRP | BFT | No | No | No | Immediate | Account-balance | Blockchain is known as XRP Ledger. Smart contract capabilities are being added. | [26] [27] [28] |
| Stacks | ? | STX | |||||||||
| Vertcoin | Jan 8, 2014 | VTC | |||||||||
| Hedera Hashgraph | ? | HBAR | Yes | No | Yes | Account-balance | Uses a directed acyclic graph instead of a chain per se | ||||
| Zcash | Oct 28, 2016 [4] | ZEC | PoW | Yes | uses zero-knowledge proofs for privacy | ||||||
| Monero | Apr 18, 2014 | XMR | PoW | No | Yes | [1] [4] | |||||
| Bitcoin Gold | BTG | PoW | Yes (scripts) | No | [1] | ||||||
| Dogecoin | DOGE | PoW | No | No | [1] | ||||||
| Hyperledger Fabric | ? | Linux Foundation | N/A | BFT, PoA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Immediate | Account-balance | ||
| R3 Corda | ? | R3 | N/A | PoA (by notaries) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Immediate | UTXO | ||
| Polygon PoS | ? | ? | MATIC | PoS | Yes | No | No | Immediate | Account-balance | network anchored to Ethereum | [8] |
| Binance Smart Chain | ? | Binance | BNB | PoS and PoA | Yes | No | Yes | Immediate | ? | Binance Smart Chain is now merged with Binance chain and called BNB chain. Validators on BNB chain are chosen by BNB Beacon chain validators who are permissioned. Hence, BNB chain is considered permissioned. | [29] |
| Quorum | Nov 22, 2016 | ? | Ether | PoA with supermajority voting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Immediate | Account-balance | Enterprise version of Ethereum | [30] |
| IOTA | Jul 11, 2016 | IOTA Foundation | MIOTA | PoW/TaPoW[ clarification needed ] | No | No | Yes | Immediate | UTXO | Smart contract capabilities are being added. | [1] [31] [32] |
| Nano | October 4, 2015 | Colin LeMahieu | XNO | Open Representative Voting | No | No | No | Instant (less than1 second) with deterministic finality | Account-balance | ||
| NEAR | 24 Sep, 2020 | NEAR Foundation | NEAR | Started with PoA then moved to PoS | Yes | No | No | Finality | Account-balance | [33] | |
| Aptos | Oct 12, 2022 | Aptos Labs | APT | BFT | Yes | No | No | Finality? | Ledger state? | [34] | |
| Linea | January 2024 | ConsenSys | ETH | ZK-rollup | Yes | ? | zkEVM-compatible Layer-2 on Ethereum | ||||
| Berachain | Berachain Foundation | Proof of Liquidity | [35] |
Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Nodes in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network verify transactions through cryptography and record them in a public distributed ledger, called a blockchain, without central oversight. Consensus between nodes is achieved using a computationally intensive process based on proof of work, called mining, that secures the bitcoin blockchain. Mining consumes large quantities of electricity and has been criticized for its environmental impact.
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.
The XRP Ledger is a cryptocurrency platform launched in 2012. The XRPL employs the native cryptocurrency known as XRP, and supports tokens cryptocurrency or other units of value such as frequent flyer miles or mobile minutes.
The bitcoin protocol is the set of rules that govern the functioning of bitcoin. Its key components and principles are: a peer-to-peer decentralized network with no central oversight; the blockchain technology, a public ledger that records all bitcoin transactions; mining and proof of work, the process to create new bitcoins and verify transactions; and cryptographic security.
Proof-of-stake (PoS) protocols are a class of consensus mechanisms for blockchains that work by selecting validators in proportion to their quantity of holdings in the associated cryptocurrency. This is done to avoid the computational cost of proof-of-work (POW) schemes. The first functioning use of PoS for cryptocurrency was Peercoin in 2012, although the scheme, on the surface, still resembled a POW.
Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capitalization. It is open-source software.
A blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of records (blocks) that are securely linked together via cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. Since each block contains information about the previous block, they effectively form a chain, with each additional block linking to the ones before it. Consequently, blockchain transactions are irreversible in that, once they are recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.
Hyperledger is an umbrella project of open source blockchains and related tools that the Linux Foundation started in December 2015. IBM, Intel, and SAP Ariba have contributed to support the collaborative development of blockchain-based distributed ledgers. It was renamed the Hyperledger Foundation in October 2021.
A decentralised application is an application that can operate autonomously, typically through the use of smart contracts, that run on a decentralized computing, blockchain or other distributed ledger system. Like traditional applications, DApps provide some function or utility to its users. However, unlike traditional applications, DApps operate without human intervention and are not owned by any one entity, rather DApps distribute tokens that represent ownership. These tokens are distributed according to a programmed algorithm to the users of the system, diluting ownership and control of the DApp. Without any one entity controlling the system, the application is therefore decentralised.
A distributed ledger is a system whereby replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data is geographically spread (distributed) across many sites, countries, or institutions. In contrast to a centralized database, a distributed ledger does not require a central administrator, and consequently does not have a single (central) point-of-failure.
Ethereum Classic is a blockchain-based distributed computing platform that offers smart contract (scripting) functionality. It is open source and supports a modified version of Nakamoto consensus via transaction-based state transitions executed on a public Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
Cardano is a public blockchain platform. It is open-source and decentralized, with consensus achieved using proof of stake. It can facilitate peer-to-peer transactions with its internal cryptocurrency, ADA.
Gavin James Wood is an English computer scientist, a co-founder of Ethereum, and creator of Polkadot and Kusama.
Polkadot is a decentralized, nominated proof-of-stake blockchain with smart contract functionality. The cryptocurrency native to the blockchain is the DOT.
Distributed ledger technology law is not yet defined and recognized but an emerging field of law due to the recent dissemination of distributed ledger technology application in business and governance environment. Those smart contracts which were created through interaction of lawyers and developers and are intended to also be enforceable legal contracts are called smart legal contracts.
IOTA is an open-source distributed ledger and cryptocurrency designed for the Internet of things (IoT). It uses a directed acyclic graph to store transactions on its ledger, motivated by a potentially higher scalability over blockchain based distributed ledgers. IOTA does not use miners to validate transactions, instead, nodes that issue a new transaction on the network must approve two previous transactions. Transactions can therefore be issued without fees, facilitating microtransactions. The network currently achieves consensus through a coordinator node, operated by the IOTA Foundation. As the coordinator is a single point of failure, the network is currently centralized.
Hashgraph is a distributed ledger technology that has been described as an alternative to blockchains. The hashgraph technology is currently patented, is used by the public ledger Hedera, and there is a grant to implement the patent as a result of the Apache 2.0's Grant of Patent License so long as the implementation conforms to the terms of the Apache license. The native cryptocurrency of the Hedera Hashgraph system is HBAR.
Ouroboros is a family of proof-of-stake consensus protocols used in the Cardano and Polkadot blockchains. It can run both permissionless and permissioned blockchains.
Algorand is a proof-of-stake blockchain and cryptocurrency. Algorand's native cryptocurrency is called ALGO.