There are four major types of blockchain technologies: public, private, consortium, and permissioned.
Public blockchains are open to everyone and are used in networks where high transparency is required. They have no central authority and are completely open-source. They offer full transparency of transactions and make heavy use of tokens.
Private blockchains are closed networks where only a set of groups are allowed to validate transactions or data. They are used in networks where high privacy and security are required. They tend to be faster than public blockchains as they have some nodes for validations. They can offer customizability and strong privacy as permission is needed for accessing transaction information.
Consortium blockchains are a hybrid of public and private blockchains. They are used by a group of organizations that work together to achieve a common goal. Consortium blockchains can be either permissioned or public.
Permissioned blockchains are the closed network where only a limited number of users are allowed to validate transactions or data in a given blockchain network. They do not have a central authority and were developed by private authority.
Each type of blockchain technology has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, public blockchains provide greater trust among users, greater security among data, and broader decentralization of access to more participants. However, they have poor energy efficiency due to their large network, lower performance scalability, and less privacy as many things are visible. Private blockchains tend to be faster than public blockchains, offer customizability, strong privacy, and better performance scalability. However, they require permission for accessing transaction information and risk corruption as only a few participants are involved. Consortium blockchains offer the benefits of both public and private blockchains but also have their own disadvantages.
