I just have a very basic doubt. Suppose there's a public blockchain network like Bitcoin comprising several nodes. Would it be possible that this network consists of multiple mainchains??I am not talking about the situation where orphan nodes are created. My situation is say, there are 4 txns T1,T2,T3,T4. Now for each of these transactions, would there be 4 separate main chain for each transaction or one single mainblockchain which comprises these transactions in same/diff blocks that might have got generated after from the beginning of the genesis block.
1 Answer
The purpose of the blockchain is to reach consensus on the state of the network. Everybody has to be in agreement which money belongs to whom in order for the network to be useful. All four transactions would be collected in the same chain.
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Yes I was also thinking that eventually there would be one main blockchain in the network and all 4 transactions would be gettng attached to it in same/different blocks. Otherwise it would n't be possible for a block to contain more than one transaction. In other words, had this been not the case there would be four diff main blockchains for four diff transactions. Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 18:14
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1I think I see where your question is coming from now. Did you think that immediately when a transaction is created it is included in a block? That is not the case. Transactions are first broadcast to the network and kept on a waiting list called the
memory poolby each node that receives them. Miners pick a set of transactions from their memory pool that they include in their block template. Only once a miner finds a new valid block, transactions get confirmed. The successful miner determines the order of the transactions in the block.– Murch ♦Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 19:16 -
I think that this question might help your understanding: bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/12427/5406– Murch ♦Commented Nov 7, 2018 at 19:21