The state of the blockchain can be different in different platforms and representations. In an UTXO bases system, the system state is indirectly represented by the outputs of the transactions. In an account - balance based system, each account contains an internal variable storing the balance and the account can only be changed if the owner signs a transaction with the private key. The model can be extended to contain variables and other elements in the state, just like with Ethereum, where the different state variables can be changed under different validation conditions. Further improvements can be imagined however, both the state and the validation can be hundred percent customized just like at Tendermint and a couple of similar blockchain systems. There might be a separation between standard and system blockchain state, giving an opportunity to on-chain governance. We might as well imagine that the blockchain state contains full scale objects, including properties and functions as well where the object state can be changed only via the functions that has to be signed by the private key related either to the public key of the object or the public key of the functions.
