Introduction

Leaving my thoughts reflections here on stuff I come across i this space

Blockchain - the Basics


Why is blockchain so interesting?

  • It's decentralised, not one organisation owns the ledger
  • Transparent, everyone can look up all transactions (but not necessarily who behind the sending or receiving)
  • Immutable, because everyone has a copy it is nearly impossible to falsely chance a transaction. You would have to do it to every copy of the ledger that many many people have.

The above combinations results in some interesting properties:

  • Computations (on a smart contract or cryptocurrency) can safely run autonomously. and decentralised. So very complex process that otherwise centrally would require a lot of computing power become very easy. For example, imagine everyone filing their IP claim at the same time with a ip agency, they would be overwhelmed pretty quickly. However in a blockchain environment there is no central authority, just a set of rules people will need to adhere to to file their IP to directly get their proof (ie as a token, NFT), which can happen decentralised where they are. The blockchain only has to keep track of all the transactions, which was exactly what it was build for. People trust it to be done this way cause of the combination of immutable transactions, transparent to everyone what was done, and copies are everywhere the same and accessible to all.

Why is it so hyped? Speculating on crypto currencies

Explainer on block chain:

Podcasts with some of the basics:

Tim Ferriss Show: The Quiet Master of Cryptocurrency - Nick Szabo (#244)