A distributed ledger (also called a shared ledger, or distributed ledger

technology, DLT) is a consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronized digital

data geographically spread across multiple sites, countries, or institutions.[1]
There is no central administrator or centralized data storage.[2]

A peer-to-peer network is required as well as consensus algorithms to ensure

replication across nodes is undertaken.[2] One form of distributed ledger design is
the blockchain system, which can be either public or private.
The meaning of the word "blockchain" remains controversial. While some people[who?]
state it is synonymous with a distributed ledger (and most of generalist press
tends to use it with this meaning), others[who?] argue that technically it would
only apply to linear blockchains such as the one Bitcoin or Litecoin use and not to
directed acyclic graphs such as the ledgers based on Iota, Tangle, or Hedera
Hashgraph algorithms. Therefore according to the latter definition, not all
distributed ledgers have to necessarily employ a chain of blocks to successfully
provide secure and valid achievement of distributed consensus: a blockchain is only
one type of data structure considered to be a distributed ledger.[disputed –
discuss][3]

Distributed ledgers are mostly known because of their use as cryptocurrencies, even
if technically speaking the cryptocurrency and the underlying ledger are two
different things. However, in practice, a distributed ledger needs to have a
cryptocurrency (proprietary or used from another ledger) in order to provide
incentives to keep the nodes up and running.

Distributed ledgers may be permissioned or permissionless regarding if anyone or

only approved people can run a node to validate transactions. [6] They also vary
between the consensus algorithm. (Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, or Voting
systems). They may also be mineable (you can claim ownership of new coins
contributing with a node) or not mineable (the creator of the cryptocurrency owns
all at the beginning).