Methods and systems for recording, tracking, and analyzing digital software usage in a distributed database that is used by multiple participants are described herein. A single usage event may occur, and may be identified by a client device. The usage event may be emitted to one or more nodes, which may include an aggregator node and/or one or more validator nodes. A block in a distributed database may be created to record the usage event. A mixed-mode mechanism may be used by one or more devices to validate the usage event.