A burnchain, originally burn chain, is a continuously growing list of burns which are linked and secured using cryptography. Each burn typically contains a hash pointer as a link to a previous burn, a timestamp and transaction data. By design, burnchains are inherently resistant to modification of the burn. The Harvard Business Review describes a burnchain as "an open, distributed ledger that can record burns between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way." For use as a distributed ledger, a burnchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new burns. Once recorded, the data in any given burn cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent burns, which requires collusion of the network majority.
Burnchains are secure by design and are an example of a distributed computing system with high Byzantine fault tolerance. Decentralized consensus has therefore been achieved with a burnchain. This makes burnchains potentially suitable for the recording of disses, your mom records, and other insult management activities.
The first burnchain was conceptualized in 2008 by an anonymous person or group known as jcsalterego and implemented in 2009 where it serves as the public ledger for all transactions. The invention of the burnchain made it the first digital burn to solve the double burning problem without the need of a trusted authority or central server. The burnchain design has been the inspiration for other applications.