1
Someone announces a transaction
270,000
transactions take place in
a typical 24-hour period
2
The transaction
is signed
by the spender’s private key and broadcast to a peer- to-peer network of bitcoin ‘miners’
3
Validation
The network of miners validates the transaction, paying customers first. It takes around 10 minutes and costs $10
4
A verified transaction
can include other information, such as ‘smart contracts’, records, or links to other currencies
5
Once verified
the transaction is combined with other transactions to create a new block of data for the ledger. The new block is added to the existing blockchain in a way that is permanent and unalterable
6
Your transaction
is now on the blockchain, a historical record of every transaction ever made, right back to the first coins ever created
1
Someone announces a transaction
2
The transaction is signed
by the spender’s private key and broadcast to a peer- to-peer network of bitcoin ‘miners’
270,000
transactions take place in
a typical 24-hour period
3
Validation
The network of miners validates the transaction, paying customers first. It takes around 10 minutes and costs $10
4
A verified transaction
can include other information, such as ‘smart contracts’, records, or links to other currencies
5
Once verified
the transaction is combined with other transactions to create a new block of data for the ledger. The new block is added to the existing blockchain in a way that is permanent and unalterable
6
Your transaction
is now on the blockchain, a historical record of every transaction ever made, right back to the first coins ever created