Distributed Ledger Technology

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is the broader family of systems that let many independent computers keep and agree on the same record of data without a central administrator. Blockchain is the best-known form of DLT, but not the only one: some designs arrange entries in a directed acyclic graph, and others share a ledger only among a permissioned set of known institutions. What all of them have in common is replicated record-keeping, cryptographic verification of every entry, and a consensus rule that decides which version is authoritative. Banks and supply-chain projects usually use permissioned DLT with vetted participants, while public cryptocurrencies use open networks that anyone can join. The trade-off is normally between openness and performance.