Blockstreams

Blockstreams are continuous flows of blockchain data in which blocks and their metadata are disseminated through a network of participants. The term describes the real-time delivery of new blocks to nodes, explorers, wallets, and analytics services as soon as they are produced and validated. In most public blockchains, blocks are broadcast via a peer-to-peer gossip protocol. When a miner or validator produces a block, it is announced to peers, who verify the block and forward it, creating a near instantaneous stream of updates that users can subscribe to.

Blockstreams can be accessed through streaming interfaces that allow clients to subscribe to block headers, full blocks, or specific events within blocks. This enables near real-time indexing, monitoring, and triggering of actions in decentralized applications. The concept underpins applications such as live blockchain explorers, real-time transaction monitors, and data analytics platforms, as well as efficient synchronization for light clients and archival nodes.

Advantages include lower latency for data consumers, faster node synchronization, and improved opportunities for real-time analytics. Limitations and challenges include the added bandwidth requirements to support continuous data transfer, potential privacy implications from streaming transactional data, and the need for robust security to prevent stream-manipulation or censorship.