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Blockchain & Money: Session 5: Blockchain Basics & Transactions, UTXO, & Script Code by M.I.T. Sloan School of Management with Professor Gary Gensler
Session 5: Blockchain Basics & Transactions, UTXO, & Script Code Session 5 Study Questions: How does Bitcoin record transactions? What is Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO)? What is script code embedded in each Bitcoin transaction and how flexible a programming language is it? As many design features (public key cryptography, hash functions, append-only timestamped logs, digital cash, & proof-of-work) pre-date Bitcoin, what was the novel innovation of Satoshi Nakamoto? Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? (Only kidding a bit.) Session 5 Readings: ‘Bitcoin’s Academic Pedigree’ Narayanan and Clark ‘Making Sense of Cryptoeconomics’ CoinDesk Narayanan & Clark’s Chronology of Ideas in Bitcoin Overview: Transaction Inputs & Outputs; Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO); Scripting Language; Blockchain…
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Blockchain & Money: Session 4: Blockchain Basics & Consensus by M.I.T. Sloan School of Management with Professor Gary Gensler
Session 4: Blockchain Basics and Consensus Session 4 Study Questions: What is the Byzantine General’s problem? How does proof-of-work and mining in Bitcoin address it? More generally, how does blockchain technology address it? What other consensus protocols are there? What are some of the tradeoffs of alternative consensus algorithms–proof-of-work, proof-of-stake, etc.? How do economic incentives work within blockchain technology to maintain decentralized ledgers and avoid double spending? What are the incentives of consensus protocols & mining? Session 4 Readings: ‘Geneva Report’ Chapter 1 (pages 1-7); Casey, Crane, Gensler, Johnson & Narula. ‘Blockchain Technology Review’ NIST (pages 23-32, section 3 & 4). ‘The Byzantine Generals Problem’; Lamport, Shostak & Pease (382-387).…
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Blockchain & Money: Session 3: Blockchain Basics & Cryptography by M.I.T. Sloan School of Management with Professor Gary Gensler
Session 3: Blockchain Basics & Cryptography Session 3 Study Questions: What are the design features–cryptography, append-only, time-stamped blocks, distributed consensus algorithms, and networking– of Bitcoin, the first use case for blockchain technology? What are cryptographic hash functions, asymmetric cryptography and digital signatures? How are they utilized to help make blockchain technology verifiable and immutable? What is the double spending problem and how it is addressed by blockchain technology? Session 3 Readings: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System; Satoshi Nakamoto whitepaper. ‘Blockchain Technology Overview’ NIST (pages 9-23, sections 1 & 2) ‘Blockchain 101-A Visual Demo’ Brownworth; Youtube video. Bitcoin is just the first use-case of blockchain technology. We’re going to look…
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Blockchain & Money: Sessions 1 & 2: Introduction and Money, Ledgers & Bitcoin by M.I.T. Sloan School of Management with Professor Gary Gensler
There’s a great course available for free about Blockchain & Money. The semester long course is taught by Professor Gary Gensler (yes, the S.E.C. Gary Gensler), offered by M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management, and, freely available via video-lecture. I pored over the videos and studiously took notes as I watched. The course is for students wishing to explore blockchain technology’s potential use–by entrepreneurs & incumbents–to change the world of money and finance. The course goes through a review of the technology’s initial application, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, and then lays an understanding of the commercial, technical and public policy fundamentals of blockchain technology, distributed ledgers and smart contracts in both open…
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Blockchain Technology: In the News…
From an article on CNET: Forget Bitcoin: Inside the insane world of altcoin cryptocurrency trading Ironically, it’s blockchain, the behind-the-scenes technology, that could be the solution to the burgeoning deepfake problem. In cryptocurrency, the blockchain is an unalterable ledger that tracks every transaction. Once it’s on the ledger, it can’t be altered. That same technology can be used to track anything — like the creation and distribution of a video, from studio to iPhone screen. There are already startups working toward this, like Truepic. When I asked about blockchain’s ability to neutralize deepfakes, Inman-Grant wasn’t entirely optimistic. “It’s definitely an arms race, but it’s not an arms race we’re winning right now.” via…
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Billions were stolen in blockchain hacks last year…
According to this article, the total value of the losses from 122 attacks in 2020 would be worth $3.8 billion today. We know how some hackers passed away their time during the lockdown: By running Bitcoin-related hacks and potentially netting “nearly $3.78 billion” in 2020, according to a report from Atlas VPN. Data collected by Slowmist Hacked showed that there were 122 attacks in 2020, targeting three major areas: –Decentralized apps running on the Ethereum platform had 47 attacks (current value $437 million) –Cryptocurrency exchanges had 28 attacks (current value $300 million in losses) –27 attacks on blockchain wallets Via ZDNet—Billions were stolen in blockchain hacks last year
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Get ready for self-driving banks
This article from the Financial Times looks at the algorithms and blockchain technology that may be required for 21st century regulation. DeFi turns all this on its head. It leverages blockchain technology to deliver services with no human intermediation. One example is creating money markets with algorithmically derived interest rates based on supply and demand — rates that traditional banks set by committee. Other DeFi projects include decentralised exchanges that allow users to trade without brokers, and protocols for lending that do not involve loan officers or credit committees. Although these “self-driving banks” are new, they are not small. They are likely to be mainstream before self-driving cars start to…
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What exactly IS Blockchain? Blockchain Technology Explained [VIDEO]
This video gives an interesting, easy-to-follow explanation of “blockchain” technology, including what exactly it is and it’s potential impact to the tech landscape. Below are some choice quotes that stuck out to me and quickly help convey some key concepts: “What is Blockchain? A shared trusted, secure database; se. can enable inter-organizational collaboration” “You can get from small to large by centralizing, but you get from large to infinite by distributing. And that’s what blockchain can do for this next 3d generation internet.”—Blockchain Technology Explained youtube video “The interesting part of the blockchain is really in what it enables in terms of new forms of distributed organization.” “Blockchain is an…
