Tiered access-oriented blockchain architecture

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a first node, a block in a blockchain;
• determining whether the block is located at a certain position within the blockchain;
• responsive to determining the block is located at the certain position within the blockchain, receiving, for a threshold period of time, indications from other nodes participating in a blockchain system;
• obtaining an average number of the other nodes from which the indications are received for the threshold period of time;
• and
• determining, based on the average number of the other nodes, a number of nodes to which the first node is connected.

A method comprising:

• generating a string of blocks in a blockchain by ordering a plurality of blocks in the blockchain by block index;
• generating ordered content in each of the plurality of blocks in the string of blocks by ordering content in each of the plurality of blocks by a block hash corresponding to each block of the plurality of blocks, and transaction data in each of the plurality of blocks;
• and
• responsive to generating the ordered content in each of the plurality of blocks in the string of blocks, outputting an ordered blockchain including the string of blocks with the ordered content.