Want to know how blockchain actually works? Using the example of “transferring 100 bitcoins to Old Wang,” the core logic can be explained in just one minute:

You don’t need a bank’s approval. You simply shout to the entire network (i.e., broadcast the transaction): “Everybody listen up! I’m transferring 100 bitcoins to Old Wang!”

This message will be received simultaneously by hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide that help maintain the network (these are called “nodes”). There is no central authority to decide whether it’s allowed or not.

All nodes instantly check your transaction history together: Do you really have more than 100 bitcoins? Has this money already been spent elsewhere? Is the digital signature genuinely yours? Once everything checks out, all nodes agree: “This transaction is valid and legitimate!”

At this point, specialized “miners” (nodes that perform high-intensity calculations) collect all the valid transactions happening across the network at that moment (possibly thousands of them) and pack them into a “data package” (called a “block”). Then miners compete in an extremely difficult mathematical puzzle; the first one to solve it earns the right to permanently record that block on the ledger and receive a bitcoin reward.

The miner who solves it first immediately announces to the whole network: “Block #888888 is done! It includes the transaction transferring 100 bitcoins to Old Wang!” At the same time, they generate a unique “digital fingerprint” (hash) for the block, attach it like a seal, and also include the hash of the previous block, linking all blocks together like an iron chain.

All other nodes worldwide quickly verify: the seal hasn’t been tampered with, the fingerprints match perfectly, and the chain between blocks is unbroken → once confirmed, every node updates its own ledger, and the transfer becomes final and irreversible.

Trying to alter where those 100 bitcoins went afterward would be nearly impossible: you’d have to simultaneously modify the same record on more than 51% of nodes worldwide; harder than breaking into a Swiss bank vault by a factor of ten thousand.

In the end, blockchain’s core logic is remarkably simple: replace the traditional trust-in-a-bank model with “trust in mathematics + supervision by everyone on the network.” Cryptography welds the ledger shut, economic incentives attract strangers to actively participate in verification and supervision, ultimately achieving secure, transparent, and tamper-proof transactions.