Bitcoin glossary
Satoshi’s original name for the blockchain — a chain of provable time.
Satoshi’s early code and notes used “timechain” rather than “blockchain” — and many bitcoiners prefer it, because it names the function rather than the structure: an unforgeable ordering of events in time, secured by cumulative work.
The distinction has an edge to it: “blockchain” became a buzzword sold separately from Bitcoin, while a timechain without proof-of-work’s cost has nothing anchoring its history.
The live number
The timechain, ticking live