- A distributed ledger is a database that exists across several locations or among multiple participants.
- A blockchain is essentially a shared database filled with entries that must be confirmed and encrypted.
The most important difference to remember is that blockchain is just one type of distributed ledger. Although blockchain is a sequence of blocks, distributed ledgers do not require such a chain. Furthermore, distributed ledgers do not need proof of work and offer – theoretically – better scaling options.
Unlike blockchain, a distributed ledger does not necessarily need to have a data structure in blocks. A distributed ledger is merely a type of database spread across multiple sites, regions, or participants.