Author: BlockchainJournal

Blockchain Journal's editorial team covers digital assets, blockchain infrastructure, markets, regulation and security. The team works to the publication's documented sourcing, review and corrections standards, with individual contributors credited where applicable.

A wallet may still describe BNB as an “exchange token”, but the network underneath it has changed substantially. BNB began as an ERC-20 token linked to Binance, later moved into a two-chain ecosystem and now operates primarily on BNB Smart Chain after BNB Beacon Chain shut down on December 3, 2024. That history matters because old explanations often treat Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain as two active halves of the same architecture. They are not. The BNB Chain Fusion record confirms that staking and governance functions migrated to BNB Smart Chain before Beacon Chain retired. BNB and BNB Smart…

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Once a blockchain transaction calls deployed code, there is no operator deciding whether the requested function feels reasonable. The network executes the program under its rules. That program is commonly called a smart contract. It receives transactions, checks conditions and changes onchain state according to its code. “Smart” refers to automation; “contract” describes only part of its possible context. Legal enforceability and the parties’ intent remain separate questions. Smart contracts make tokens, exchanges, lending markets and governance systems possible. They also make software defects financially consequential because public functions may control assets and can be called by strangers. How a…

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The most important MetaMask screen is not the portfolio view. It is the confirmation window that asks a user to approve a transaction, signature or token permission. MetaMask is the browser-extension and mobile interface that manages those blockchain accounts and presents those requests. This tutorial was checked against MetaMask’s official extension and mobile guidance on September 3, 2026. Interface labels can change, so use the sequence and security checks as the durable guide rather than expecting every button to remain in the same position. Before installing MetaMask Decide what the wallet will be used for and which device will hold…

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A DeFi transaction often begins with a familiar-looking button—Swap, Supply or Borrow—but the click can involve a wallet, several smart contracts, an oracle, a stablecoin issuer and the blockchain that settles the result. Decentralised finance is the collection of applications built from those components. Users can exchange assets, supply liquidity, borrow, lend or manage collateral without asking a traditional institution to update its private ledger. Control is distributed unevenly, however: development teams, governance voters, hosted interfaces and bridges may remain decisive even when execution occurs onchain. The components behind a DeFi transaction A user normally controls an externally owned blockchain…

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Imagine five organisations keeping copies of the same ledger. A new entry arrives, two copies disagree and nobody has appointed a central database administrator. A blockchain is one way to decide which update the group will accept and in what order. Transactions are grouped into blocks, each block is cryptographically linked to earlier data, and network nodes verify proposed changes under agreed rules. The result can be tamper-evident and resistant to unilateral alteration. Its reliability still depends on what is recorded, who participates in consensus and which facts enter from outside the chain. What is inside a blockchain? A transaction…

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