Cryptographic hash functions are fundamental to blockchain technology. They take any input and produce a fixed-size output (hash) that is unique to that input. Even tiny changes create completely different hashes—this is called the avalanche effect.

Try it: type something below and see how the SHA-256 hash changes with every character. This property makes blockchains tamper-evident—altering any data changes all subsequent hashes.

Related Topics: Key Concepts of Blockchain • Anatomy of a Block

Hashing Demo