Which technology is described as having decentralized, verifiable, and immutable characteristics?

Which technology is described as having decentralized, verifiable, and immutable characteristics?

• A. Internet of Things
• B. Cloud computing
• C. Blockchain
• D. Artificial intelligence

Answer: (C)

These features describe blockchain technology. In a blockchain, no single entity controls the entire ledger; instead, many nodes participate in maintaining and validating the record, which makes the system decentralized. Transactions and blocks are tied together with cryptographic hashes, and consensus protocols let the network agree on which transactions are valid, so the ledger is verifiable by anyone who checks the chain and its proofs. Once data is added and confirmed, the structure of the chain makes it practically immutable because altering a past block would require recomputing all subsequent blocks and overcoming the network’s collective agreement, which is computationally intensive in a well-secured network. This combination is what underpins trust in blockchain for use cases like cryptocurrency, supply chain provenance, and smart contracts. Other technologies like IoT, cloud computing, or AI serve different purposes—IoT focuses on device connectivity and data collection, cloud computing centers on scalable resources, and AI on processing and pattern recognition—not on providing a decentralized, verifiable, and immutable ledger.

These features describe blockchain technology. In a blockchain, no single entity controls the entire ledger; instead, many nodes participate in maintaining and validating the record, which makes the system decentralized. Transactions and blocks are tied together with cryptographic hashes, and consensus protocols let the network agree on which transactions are valid, so the ledger is verifiable by anyone who checks the chain and its proofs. Once data is added and confirmed, the structure of the chain makes it practically immutable because altering a past block would require recomputing all subsequent blocks and overcoming the network’s collective agreement, which is computationally intensive in a well-secured network.

This combination is what underpins trust in blockchain for use cases like cryptocurrency, supply chain provenance, and smart contracts. Other technologies like IoT, cloud computing, or AI serve different purposes—IoT focuses on device connectivity and data collection, cloud computing centers on scalable resources, and AI on processing and pattern recognition—not on providing a decentralized, verifiable, and immutable ledger.