Cell is the most basic structure for representing a single piece of data in Nervos. The data contained in a Cell can take many forms, including CKBytes, tokens, code in Javascript, or even serialized data like JSON strings. As there is no restriction on the type of data included, developers have full flexibility in their choices.

Each Cell contains a small program called a Lock Script that defines who has permission to use it. In general, the Lock Script defines one user as the owner of a Cell, it can also do more complex operations such as having multiple owners (multi-sig) or conditional uses of time-locking within particular time-frames.

A Cell can opt to include a second program, called a Type Script, to execute a set of rules on the usage of cell. As a result, developers are empowered to create complex smart contracts across a wide range of use cases, from CryptoKitties to tokens, DeFi, and everything in between.

 

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