Want to know exactly how blockchain works? Using the example of “transferring 100 coins to Old Wang next door”, 5 super easy steps to make you instantly understand:

1. Shout to the whole network: No middleman needed, demand syncs directly

You want to send 100 coins to Old Wang? No need to beg a bank for approval or wait for a third party. Just “shout” the transfer info to the entire network — hundreds of thousands of computers (nodes) worldwide maintaining the network will receive it instantly. No one can intercept it, no one can pretend they didn’t see it. Zero intermediaries the whole way.

2. Everyone verifies: In seconds, the whole network checks the goods together

As soon as nodes receive the transaction, they all switch to “verification mode”: Do you actually have more than 100 coins? Has this money already been double-spent? Is the signature really yours? Within seconds, tens of thousands of computers collectively shout “Approved!” confirming the transaction is legit.

3. Miners pack the block: Fight for the right to keep the ledger — two core methods

Professional “miners” (nodes doing heavy computation) collect all verified transactions happening right now and pack them into a “data package” (a block). Then they compete for the right to add it to the ledger in two main ways:

  • Bitcoin style (PoW): Compete on raw computing power and speed. Whoever solves a crazy-hard math puzzle first wins the right to record — basically an electricity-burning race.

  • Ethereum style (PoS): No computing race, just wealth and stake. The more coins you hold and the longer you hold them, the higher your chance of being randomly picked — like a “rich people get better lottery tickets” system.

The miner who wins immediately broadcasts: “I packed this block, reward is mine!”

4. Chain-lock: Stamp a unique fingerprint — can’t change it, can’t delete it

The winning miner generates a unique “digital fingerprint” (hash) for the new block and also embeds the fingerprint of the previous block — permanently locking the two together like steel rings in a chain.

Want to tamper with any block? Impossible. Change even one character and its fingerprint instantly breaks, which breaks every subsequent block. The whole network would notice immediately. You’d have to re-mine thousands or tens of thousands of following blocks — technically almost impossible.

5. Fully public: Live-streamed ledger, anyone can check, no one can deny

From the very first “genesis block”, every single transaction is crystal clear: who sent what to whom, how much, exact timestamp. Anyone can open a blockchain explorer and scroll through the entire history like watching public surveillance footage.

These records can never be deleted or altered. Neither party — nor any third party — can ever deny what happened.

One-sentence summary: Blockchain replaces “the bank decides who to trust” with “math algorithms + public supervision by everyone”. Using either electricity-burning races (PoW) or staking rights (PoS), strangers are incentivized to verify transactions, and the ledger is nailed publicly across the planet — making every transaction fully transparent and tamper-proof forever.