Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers Uncovered: Clarifications, Achievements, and Open Issues

Although the first Blockchain (BC) was proposed about a decade ago, BC achievements from a technical and functional perspective are measurable, but still face open issues. Since IFIP’s Working Group 6.6 on the “Management of Networks and Distributed System” investigated BCs in various aspects, this contribution here summarizes and clarifies key characteristics of BCs and their related approach of Distributed Ledgers (DL).