Shared ledger
Participants retain or consult a history according to the network model. Permissions, rules and responsibilities remain specific to that model.
Blockchain & DLT
Understand distributed ledgers, their uses and limits.
SwissTokint provides learning resources and open research on blockchain and DLT. We distinguish how a ledger works from the truth of the data recorded in it.
Fundamentals
A shared ledger does not prove everything.
A blockchain or DLT coordinates records among participants under common rules. It can make certain records verifiable within a network context without automatically making a fact true, useful or lawful.
Transactions, rules and finality
Transactions propose state changes. Nodes apply protocol rules, and finality depends on the network, its mechanisms and its context.
Network, asset and application
Infrastructure, an asset representation and the application that uses it are separate roles. Treating them as one hides governance and security choices.
Responsible use
Technology does not replace judgement.
Responsible use starts with checking context and making human decisions explicit. This is an educational page: it asks for no interaction with a key, access credential or asset.
Check the context
Identify the source, version, network, recipient and intended action before relying on information or an interface.
Protect secrets
Never share a recovery phrase, private key or sign-in code. A rushed or inconsistent request is a cue to stop and verify.
Keep decisions separate
An educational resource explains mechanisms and limitations; it does not replace a personal decision, independent control or specialist advice.
Open research
Document methods before expanding promises.
Public work distinguishes an intention, work in progress and results that are actually documented. Limitations are part of the result.
Sources and versions
Linking a statement to a source, version and scope helps readers understand what was examined and what remains outside scope.
Stated goals and boundaries
Describe what a prototype is intended to explore without presenting a hypothesis as an established result, guarantee or adoption.
Published material
Publish only material that anyone can inspect, connect to its context and read with explicit limitations.
Documented example
POM-RX v0.1
POM-RX v0.1 — public working specification and tested prototype.
POM-RX v0.1 explores a chain of three linked receipts — preflight, execution acknowledgement and reconciliation. The Node/TypeScript reference verifier checks the supplied structure, phase order, selected shared fields and receipt hash links.
This check does not establish trusted chronology, the truth of an external fact, authorization consumption, independent observation or execution blocking.
Limits
Choose a distributed ledger only when it adds verifiable value.
Technology removes neither data risks nor governance obligations nor human responsibility. A simpler system may fit the need better.
A ledger is not truth
A record can be consistent with network rules without the source data being accurate, complete, useful or lawful.
Network conditions vary
Finality, permissions, costs, privacy and participation rules depend on the selected architecture.
Not every problem needs DLT
Clear governance, verifiable procedures or a centralised architecture can be more appropriate than a distributed ledger.