Blockchain Structure
You now understand the fundamentals of blockchain technology and, in particular, how Bitcoin uses it. With this foundation in place, we can move on to examining the detailed structure of a blockchain built on the Bitcoin model.
Block Components
A blockchain is, at its core, a chain of blocks. These are not physical blocks but digital data structures that are linked together sequentially.
The table below provides an overview of the general structure of a block in the Bitcoin blockchain:
You don't have to memorize the size of each field, they are simply provided for better understanding. Speaking of sizes, below is an explanation of what bits and bytes actually are:
A bit is the smallest unit of data in computing, represented as a 0 or 1, which reflects the binary nature of computers, and a byte is a unit of data that consists of 8 bits used for measuring data storage and processing capacity in computers.
Block Header
Perhaps, the most important part of each block is its header which is made up of 6 fields. Below is an illustration of a more detailed block structure (Txn_count and txns stand for transaction counter and transactions, respectively, which are not a part of the header):
Let's now go through each of the fields of the block header:
Don't worry, we'll go through most of these fields in more detail later in the course. For now, let's take a look at a real block using a Blockchain Explorer (here is the link):
As you can see, all the components we have discussed are present in this block.
Difficulty is calculated from the bits field and is not explicitly stored in the block header. It is a derived value that represents how difficult it is to find a new block relative to the easiest it can ever be.
There are also additional details (you can disregard them for now) provided by the blockchain explorer:
- Height;
- Status;
- Virtual size;
- Weight units.
These fields provide context about the block's status within the blockchain, its size, and resource usage.
1. Which of the following is NOT a part of the block header?
2. Choose the correct size of the block header.
Thanks for your feedback!
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You now understand the fundamentals of blockchain technology and, in particular, how Bitcoin uses it. With this foundation in place, we can move on to examining the detailed structure of a blockchain built on the Bitcoin model.
Block Components
A blockchain is, at its core, a chain of blocks. These are not physical blocks but digital data structures that are linked together sequentially.
The table below provides an overview of the general structure of a block in the Bitcoin blockchain:
You don't have to memorize the size of each field, they are simply provided for better understanding. Speaking of sizes, below is an explanation of what bits and bytes actually are:
A bit is the smallest unit of data in computing, represented as a 0 or 1, which reflects the binary nature of computers, and a byte is a unit of data that consists of 8 bits used for measuring data storage and processing capacity in computers.
Block Header
Perhaps, the most important part of each block is its header which is made up of 6 fields. Below is an illustration of a more detailed block structure (Txn_count and txns stand for transaction counter and transactions, respectively, which are not a part of the header):
Let's now go through each of the fields of the block header:
Don't worry, we'll go through most of these fields in more detail later in the course. For now, let's take a look at a real block using a Blockchain Explorer (here is the link):
As you can see, all the components we have discussed are present in this block.
Difficulty is calculated from the bits field and is not explicitly stored in the block header. It is a derived value that represents how difficult it is to find a new block relative to the easiest it can ever be.
There are also additional details (you can disregard them for now) provided by the blockchain explorer:
- Height;
- Status;
- Virtual size;
- Weight units.
These fields provide context about the block's status within the blockchain, its size, and resource usage.
1. Which of the following is NOT a part of the block header?
2. Choose the correct size of the block header.
Thanks for your feedback!
