Permissioned Blockchain

A permissioned blockchain requires approval before a participant can join, validate or, in some designs, even read the ledger. The identities of validators are known and vetted, which allows fast consensus among a small set of nodes and makes regulatory reporting easier than on open networks. Permissioned chains, sometimes called enterprise blockchains, appear in trade finance, settlement and asset tokenisation projects where firms must know their counterparties. The trade-off is trust: because a defined group controls block production, it can collectively censor transactions or amend history, so users depend on governance and legal agreements rather than on open economic security. Read access may still be public even when the right to write is restricted.