here's a quick way to understand blockchain
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We all pretend that we understand how bitcoin and blockchain work! Will these cause a bubble or revoltuion in our world?
Even if we don’t understand what they mean, we know that it is safe to use.
With the concept becoming increasingly popular, it is now imperative to understand whether this is causing a bubble or revolution in financial markets or the internet of things (IoT).
who created the first bitcoin?
With an arcane origin, cryptocurrency addresses the fallacies of money as we know it today and wishes to bring about a revolution in how we understand it.
A person with the alias Santoshi Nakamoto possibly created bitcoin using blockchain. Or at least we think this is the name of the person.
The origin of the concept is as mysterious as the person who started it.
Aimed at removing middlemen, i.e. the banking system, and with the vision of doing transaction across borders in a simple manner, the system of bitcoins wished to change the way the financial game is played globally.
One can exchange bitcoins for transactions.
In fact, this transaction made bitcoins particularly famous-
March 2010- First bitcoin exchange was launched in dollars for 0.3 cents per bitcoin.
May 2010- A person in Florida offered 41,000 bitcoins or 41 USD to send him a pizza. He ordered two large pizzas from a famous eatery. Those 10,000 bitcoins today are now worth more than 90 million USD.
This is a 2.2-million-fold increase in value.
No form of financial instrument has seen this kind of growth.
Blockchain technology is not just limited to cryptocurrency. It has other amazing applications as well.
Already in use by the world’s biggest companies from the internet of things to food products, it is changing the way business is done, especially in the supply chain.
It helps make services better and improves organization performance overall.
what are rai stones?
You will start to understand the mysterious origin of bitcoin, the renowned cryptocurrency, at the beginning of the book.
An interesting analogy to Rai stones and the people of Yap Island describes what could have been the origin of bitcoin.
Imagine a currency that does not physically move from one location to another and is moderated by shared ethical values, how dissimilar it sounds to the banking system that we know of today.
It is by sharing these Rai stones, the Yapese buy and sell goods and services. With an immaculate system that is based on simplicity and faith in people, bitcoins seem to have a lot of commonalities to the Rai stones.
Just like the Yapese, new bitcoins are mined by certain miners.
Also, there will always be a certain limited number of bitcoins and other forms of famous cryptocurrency available.
It needs to have a limit, as the Yapese would have a limited number of stones on their island too.
But once you get the hang of what these stones are all about and how the Yapese dealt with it, you develop a good understanding of bitcoins.
how do blockchain and bitcoin work?
To understand blockchain, the middle portion of the book Bubble or Revolution discusses it in detail.
The system of blockchain is designed to have linear chains, block trees, hash functions, how difficult and expensive it is to undermine the system, chain hijacking, nonces, transaction pool, ASICs, and much more.
You will end up sounding like a computer scientist somewhat at the end of this book for sure!
what is the internet of things? (iot)
You are surrounded by it. You do not need to sign up for the concept of IoT. It has already absorbed you in its ecosystem.
As per Bubble or Revolution, the Internet of Things (IoT) is linked to collate data using technology is being used by you today.
You may have daily interaction with this concept and its sheer growth is dependent on how, when, where, why, and what you use these products for.
Using this data, all companies ameliorate their operations to meet your requirements and provide a better service to you.
Also, bigger companies have altered their supplychains to accommodate blockchain to manage their operations better.
It leads to more transparency as manipulating data is next to impossible once blockchain is introduced in the system. It leads to lesser chances of errors in the transactions as well.
Also, any error made in the process can be isolated easily and worked upon for quicker problem solving in comparison to earlier systems.
Bubble or Revolution explains the concept that is often daunting in a simplistic manner.
The book is written objectively in a format, that delves into the pros and cons of this technology but leaves you ready to understand and talk about it in a simple manner.
what does the book cover?
The book covers basic terminologies associated with blockchain.
There are examples of how some big companies have used blockchain and are reaping the major benefits of using blockchain in their systems.
So, you get to understand real-time applications of blockchain technology.
Some other relevant concepts talked about in the book include-
- How do new bitcoins get generated in the system?
- What have been the past success/failure stories of bitcoin?
- Why are people averse to investing in bitcoin?
- How will bitcoin ensure its sustainability in the future?
- Is it a viable investment today?
- Why hasn’t blockchain scaled up globally?
- What other uses of blockchain exist besides bitcoin?
- Is it cost-effective to implement blockchain in your company?
This index of questions and much more is explained in the book Bubble or Revolution.
Bubble or Revolution is a good read if you want to familiarize yourselves with the world of bitcoin and blockchain.
The decision to invest in bitcoin or not solely on the reader.
Since it is now being used globally in all things surrounding you, it would be wise to pre-emptively become aware of its terminologies, its applications and be knowledgeable of its impact on you as well.
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