![Bitcoin Runes](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bitcoin-Runes-Featured-Image-768x480.webp)
Bitcoin Runes, launched with Bitcoin's 840,000th block, are a new token standard improving upon BRC-20. The token standard was developed by Casey Rodarmor.
![Smart Contracts](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Smart-Contracts-768x480.webp)
Smart Contracts are pieces of codes that automatically execute blockchain transactions based on a set of inputs given.
![Bitcoin Halving Dates](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Bitcoin-Halving-Dates-768x480.webp)
Halving means a phenomenon in blockchains by which block rewards are reduced to half of their previous value.
![Coins vs Tokens](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Coins-vs-Tokens-1-768x480.webp)
Tokens are those cryptocurrencies which exist on other blockchains; and might or might not have their own blockchain. Understand the difference of coins vs tokens.
![Gas War](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Gas-War-768x480.webp)
In Ethereum, Gas War means a competitive situation where senders compete for gas fee to get their transactions executed in priority.
![Gas Fee in Ethereum](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Gas-Fee-in-Ethereum-768x480.webp)
Gas fee is the transaction fee charged in the Ethereum blockchain. The fee is paid to Ethereum validators for verifying transactions and adding blocks to the blockchain.
![Block Header](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Block-Header-768x480.webp)
Block Headers are the meta data of each block on a blockchain. They contain details such as nonce value, hash of previous block, timestamp, difficulty target, etc.
![Merkle Tree with a Merkle Root (R)](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Merkle-Tree-with-a-Merkle-Root-R-768x480.webp)
A Merkle Root is the hash of all the transactions in a block by hashing transactions till the time there exists only a single hash result for the entire block.
![Consensus Mechanisms Working in Steps](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Consensus-Mechanisms-768x480.webp)
Consensus Mechanisms are different ways to verify blockchain transactions by running it through multiple validators each of whom verifies them individually.
![What is a Testnet?](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Testnet-768x480.webp)
A testnet is a replica of the mainnet with reduced security and reduced network capacity meant to simulate the mainnet for testing purposes.
![How Sharding is supposed to work in Ethereum](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Sharding-in-Ethereum-768x480.webp)
Sharding is the process of breaking a blockchain's total no. of validators into smaller groups called "Shards". Each shard has its own unique set of validators.
![Finality in Blockchain](https://blockchainlab.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Finality-in-Blockchain-768x480.webp)
Finality refers to the situation where a blockchain transaction is permanent and cannot be reversed. For Bitcoin, the blockchain finality is after 6 blocks.