As of today, the blockchain is a hot topic.According to many people and institutions, including banks (who were among the first to disregard the Bitcoin phenomenon) it looks like a revolution in both the computer science and the the economics fields.Sly, a truck and a giant bird.It lacks unicorns, though.The 9-pages long Bitcoin paper (mis)interpretation seems to be an infinite source of “brilliant” ideas and articles (including this one, obviously).“Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe.” – (usually attributed to) Albert Einstein That said, I couldn’t resist the urge of raising the bar a little bit, by sharing what my years-long interest and experience in this field finally taught me.“And this morning, I was standing on the edge of my toilet hanging a clock, the porcelain was wet, I slipped, hit my head on the sink, and when I came to I had a revelation!”– Doc Emmett Brown Let’s put an end to this unbearable suspense: The Bitcoin blockchain is an Einsteinian solution to a Newtonian problem.

Bitcoin, as any financial system, needs a ledger.This distibuted ledger guarantees the transfer of ownership of a given “coin”, by the use of cryptograhic signatures from both the current and the future owner.Now enters the issue of double-spending.In a distributed system, one malicious attacker could spread many transfer-of-ownership transactions issued from the very same coin.Now let’s forget for a while what we already know about Bitcoin and its blockchain.If the ledger was held by a single, central authority, then this issue wouldn’t exist.The first transfer-of-ownership would be written into the ledger, and the subsequent ones would be refused.The idea of first and subsequent transfer-of-ownership transactions rely on the idea of time.Even with Einstein’s (and others) works on Relativity, we still live with the idea of time perceived as an absolute, regular, infinite phenomenon.Our world may be Einsteinian, but our perception of it is Newtonian.Chapter #3 of Bitcoin paper is entitled Timestamp server.

The solution we propose begins with a timestamp server.There comes the idea of Trusted Timestamping.The idea isn’t new, and has been successfully used in many fields such as law or finance, in order to give documents a probative value.However, giving trust to some external entity, being it only for applying a timestamp to a given document, is against Bitcoin’s philosophy.And what is the proposed solution?Yes, you already know it: the (in)famous proof-of-work.The proof-of-work is the idea of finding a solution to a given problem of cryptographic computation, that cannot (as of today’s knowledge) be solved in a reasonable amount of time by brute force, or even a predictable amount of time.Think about it as a giant lottery.Now, let’s go further: no matter how many attempts, how much time is spent by computers all around the world to find a solution, the idea of a continuous flow of time is dictacted by a chain of “lucky ones” solving the problem.No matter how much real world’s time is spent trying (or not) to find a solution, it is only when such a solution is eventually found that the blockchain’s time “advances” (i.e.

a new block of transactions is added to the blockchain).This is the energy spent to find the correct solution, the proof-of-work that rules the world.In Bitcoin’s universe, Time has been replaced by Energy.But what is really disturbing is that, since Einstein, we all know that it is how the real world works.This is what seems to me where the real genius of the Bitcoin’s blockchain resides: instead of trying to find a way to replace the need of an absolute timestamp server, which is something that belongs to a Newtonian perception of the world, it just goes further by finding a solution in Einstein’s spacetime model.win bitcoin diceAnd as the Bitcoin universe expands (to a limit), the problem to solve increases in difficulty, adapting itself to the whole computing power of its members.ethereum price in euro

This is where another part of the “magic” resides: for most problems in computer science, the time spent to solve them decreases (Moore’s law et al.), whereas in Bitcoin’s blockchain case, it seems steady… And this is where the paradox relies: Bitcoin uses an Einsteinian, energy-based, spacetime timestamping scheme to enforce what looks like a Newtonian, continuous flow of time.This curve is about cosmology, supernovas, etc. I don’t know how it is related to the curve above, but they look similar.bitcoin machine dallasMath don’t lie, so it proves my whole point.ethereum block hash← Previous Archive Next →ethereum hashrateGHTorrent maintains a relational model of GitHub activity data and offers archives for download.dell bitcoin canada

Both MySql and MongoDB dumps are available.GitHub archive is the comprehensive source of all GitHub events starting from February 12, 2011.It is officially provided by GitHub and includes 18 event types, which range from new commits and fork events, to opening new tickets, commenting, and adding members to a project.The activity is aggregated in hourly archives, which you can access with any HTTP client.The purpose of this blog is to help create a free society by encouraging people to join our community which is centered around Bitshares, a next generation fully decentralized crypto-currency exchange.bitcoin pdf frI use Austrian Economics to engineer the economic incentives which make freedom and non-violence profitable.bitcoin kaufen schweizFollow this blog to explore where blockchain technology can take us.bitcoin hawaii law

It has the potential to free us from the Socialist Justice System and help us take control of our own identity while laying the foundation for provably honest online elections.How to Launch a Crypto Currency Legally while Raising Funds March 27, 2016 Thousands of startups are entering the cryptocurrency space and attempting to determine how their business model meshes with the numerous edicts handed down to us by unelected bureaucrats at numerous government agencies such as the IRS, FinCEN, and the SEC to list three agencies just in the United States.How to build a Decentralized Application without Fees February 10, 2016 Blockchain technology currently depends upon transaction fees to prevent spam.These fees suffer all of the known problems with microtransactions that prevent blockchains from being used for necessary low-value transactions.Truly decentralized applications must offer users the appearance of free transactions if they wish to compete with their centralized alternatives.

This paper outlines an approach to eliminate the need for fees and thereby enabling a wide range of previously untenable decentralized applications.The Currency Distribution Problem February 9, 2016 The distribution of currency is extremely controversial and ultimately a political issue.Whenever new currency is created it transfers value from the previous holders of the currency to someone new.A similar economic outcome could be achieved by a savings tax that reduces everyone’s balance and gives it to someone else.If markets were perfectly efficient then the purchasing power of someone’s account would be the same whether the inflationary approach or the tax and transfer approach is used.The Benefits of Proof of Work January 4, 2016 I have long been of the opinion that proof-of-stake is superior to proof-of-work.Today I would like to challenge my own beliefs against the lessons I have learned from over a year of experience with proof-of-stake.In the past I have argued that proof-of-work is wasteful and that the same end result can be achieved much cheaper with proof-of-stake.

Today I would like to consider if there is some value to proof-of-work.Mutual Aid Society vs Insurance January 1, 2016 It has long been accepted that blockchain technology is a perfect fit for the Financial industry.Now it is time to consider how the technology could benefit the Insurance industry.Maybe someday it will also take over Real Estate and completely conquer the FIRE sector of the economy.Mutual Aid Society December 31, 2015 Today I would like to present my concept for a Mutual Aid Society (MAS) on a blockchain.For lack of a better name for this concept I will refer to this system as MUXER.Muxer is a social network of giving you can count on when you need it the most.Why I like Ethereum December 30, 2015 I have said many negative things about Ethereum in the past, but today I would like to change that.Due to recent disputes within the BitShares ecosystem I have come to appreciate a certain qualities of Ethereum that the BitShares community could learn from.

Why Vision Matters December 29, 2015 My prior blog post created quite a controversy among many in the BitShares community.I cast a vision for BitShares as an an non-violent alternative to government.These ideas are considered niche and a distraction by some.Today I am going to justify the raw business benefits of a vision.BitShares Vision December 28, 2015 A new year, calls for a renewed vision and direction for BitShares.For too long BitShares has been evolving without any clearly and consistently stated purpose or direction.Today I would to cast my vision for BitShares in 2016 and the years beyond.The most high level vision is to create a well ordered society that is governed in a manner that fully adheres to the Non Aggression Principle (NAP).Bitcoin is 100x less secure than commonly believed September 29, 2015 The reason proof of work is considered secure is because it is more profitable to join the honest network than to attempt to attack it.