SatsAtlas

Bitcoin glossary

Timechain

Satoshi’s original name for the blockchain — a chain of provable time.

Satoshi’s early code and notes used “timechain” rather than “blockchain” — and many bitcoiners prefer it, because it names the function rather than the structure: an unforgeable ordering of events in time, secured by cumulative work.

The distinction has an edge to it: “blockchain” became a buzzword sold separately from Bitcoin, while a timechain without proof-of-work’s cost has nothing anchoring its history.

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