Decentralized. Blockchains use distributed ledger technology (DLT), which means that copies of a digital ledger can be kept and maintained by many people or organizations, and no copy is the master or lead copy.

Distributed. Blockchains may be publicly or privately distributed.

Immutable. Once transaction data is recorded in the blockchain, it cannot be modified or deleted.

Self-proving. Blockchains use cryptography and a consensus algorithm among their decentralized or distributed computer "nodes" to verify recorded transactions or other data. Merely by looking at a blockchain ledger, a user can tell whether the data in that blockchain is correct or whether it may have been tampered with. A blockchain therefore offers transparency and eliminates or reduces the need for intermediaries and physical records where it is used.