DIN SPEC 16597:2018 – Terminology for blockchains; Text in English

DIN SPEC 16597:2018 – Terminology for blockchains; Text in English
1 Scope
This terminology provides general blockchain terms. Being industry and usage independent, it considers a variety of existing blockchain specifications.
The target groups are:
— developers of other standards,
— regulators,
— blockchain companies,
— developers of blockchain solutions in general,
— private and public sector,
— researchers.
Legal considerations do not fall within the scope of this document.
2 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
2.1 IT terms
2.1.1
decentralized system
system in which control is distributed among the participants
2.1.2
digital asset
asset that exists only in digital form or that has been converted from some other form to a digital representation
2.1.3
distributed database
database that exists across multiple physical or virtual instances and is presented to a user as a single database
2.1.4
leaf
element of a tree without any outgoing links
2.1.5
merkle tree
complete binary tree with a value attached to each element, such that each parent element value is a hash function of the element values of its child elements
2.1.6
network
collection of computers and devices interconnected by communication channels that facilitate communications among users
[SOURCE: ISO 2789:2013, 2.4.5, modified — removed “and allow users to share resources and services”]
2.1.7
node
computer or a device in a network
Note 1 to entry: Specific nodes in a blockchain context are presented in 2.4.
2.1.8
peer-to-peer (P2P) network
distributed networking composed of peers that share a portion of the resources to be available to the other peers
Note 1 to entry: In the context of this document we refer to “peers” as “nodes”.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC/TR 20002:2013, 3.4, modified — added Note 1 to entry]
2.1.9
time stamp
time variant parameter which denotes a point in time with respect to a common reference
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 9798-1: 2010, 3.35]
2.1.10
token
digital object representing an asset or other form of value or permissions
Note 1 to entry: A token is typically owned by the holder of an associated private key, and which can be transferred by providing that private key.
2.1.11
tree
data structure comprising a set of elements having directed links such that one element, the root element,has no incoming links, the remaining elements have precisely one incoming link, and the order of multiple outgoing links from an element is significant
Note 1 to entry: The elements are referred to as parent elements and child elements and link direction is from parent element to child element.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 8211:1994, 4.1.42, modified — exchanged “node(s)” with “element(s)”, “offspring” with “child”, the final sentence was made Note 1 to entry]
2.2 Cryptographic terms
2.2.1
asymmetric cryptography
asymmetric cryptographic technique
cryptography method that uses a pair of keys, one that is designated the private key and kept secret, the other is called the public key that is generally made available
Note 1 to entry: Asymmetric cryptography is also known as “public-key cryptography”.
[SOURCE: IEC/TR 62541-2:2010, 3.1.3, modified — removed information about “symmetric cryptography”
from the note]
2.2.2
cryptocurrency
type of decentralized currency that is natively digital and relies on cryptography