Tag: open source

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Bitcoin Cypherpunk

The Blockchain Is The New Corporation

Blockchain Is The New Corporation

Do corporations need humans to survive? Increasingly the answer is “no”.

Corporations, as we have seen, are devoting a larger share of capital to automation technologies within businesses across almost every type of industry. Technological innovation, both by way of employee input and customer’s expected output, is undergoing a transformation. With blockchain technology, this is an organizational change that reassigns the role of the employee and customer outside the responsibility of human control. Blockchain technology stands to radically transform our concept of the corporation where machines, not humans, are both the customers and employees.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations

The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2027, 10% of global GDP will be stored on a blockchain network. In such a world, it will be clear that corporations are less reliant than ever upon humans to survive and prosper. Blockchain technology is the blueprint for a type of corporation that is light-years ahead of its 20th century predecessor in terms of resource allocation and communication methods.

20th century business models were characterized by ownership rather than access, and centralized over decentralized decision making. The bitcoin blockchain economic model does away with all these conventional notions and provides us a non-exclusive, decentralized, autonomous corporation. This type of corporate model is fundamentally different in its function because, among other things, it is independent of human intervention while simultaneously owned by no single party.

In the bitcoin economy, machines are the employees rather than as humans were in the industrial age. The role of the employee, and the producer of labour, is occupied by network miner. In terms of the bitcoin mining function, the product of labour would be the hashing power necessary to solve the next block of transactions. The compensation for each employee? The network pays each node equal to the current block reward every time the miner finds a solution.

Corporate Nucleus
The corporate nucleus has evolved beyond human function.

When we come to understand this shift in the makeup of the corporation, we see that the core of its function has undergone a significant change. The blockchain network concept is such an altering framework for conducting business, that it shakes the very foundations of what we believe to be a legitimate corporation. Truly, the blockchain represents a milestone in technology innovation.

Employees are now considered machines in the information age rather than as humans were in the industrial era. Further, customers are now humans, but soon to be machines as well with the implementation of self-executing smart contracts.

Uncheatable Smart Contracts

Networks of smart contracts have empirical objectives. That is, they’re functionality will be understood through examination of the source code which it operates by. As it applies to smart contracting systems of the future, open-source systems make for an entirely transparent and uncheatable form of governance. The instances of misuse will come from failing to understand the objectives of the contract or network.

It is crucial that we note the computing revolution is well past an inflection point. When such technologies first began being used in universities and large organizations, they were under the control of many, many humans who all shared one machine. With bitcoin, we have one large, interconnected computer network which controls many, many human counterparts. More importantly, it administers one of the most precious aspects of our lives: financial livelihood.

An exact reversal of how the computing revolution began is characterized by an inflection point of control which has recently passed. First we shape our tools, thereafter our tools shape us.

Once the machine thinking method has started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers. … At some stage therefore we should have to expect the machines to take control ….

– Alan Turing, Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory, 1951

Networked Machines

You can be certain that, just as one computer would work for many humans in times past, many humans will come to work for one main network of machines. Computer technology is capable of achieving this dominance because it rewrites the laws of society with something based on mathematics and science rather than steel and paper.

The blueprint of blockchain technology represents an important milestone in computing innovation – one which allows digital systems, whether they be for commerce or communication, to operate independently from conventional forms of law.

As is with the current landscape of bitcoin today, the miners are the employees of the corporation. Mere years ahead however, lies a paradigm where smart contracting begins to populate the role of customer as well.

Categories
Bitcoin Cypherpunk

Don’t Let Anyone Tell You the Identity of Satoshi Nakamoto Does Not Matter

Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto

The world’s first trillionaire by USD valuation could quite possibly be the creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. If bitcoin continues to climb the ladder of exponential price appreciation, than once Nakamoto decides to move their money and make transactions with it, there will be a seismic shift in the perceived supply of money.

In the numerous attempts to lift the veil of bitcoin’s mysterious inventor, people have gotten hurt. Homes have been raided. Journalists have been ostracized. Following these chaotic rumours however, seems to be a cultish mantra echoing from the chambers of bitcoin’s disillusioned – that “the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto does not matter.”

This is not only terribly untrue, but dangerous. Naive to the nature of the emerging bitcoin digital economy, the disillusioned will claim that the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto does not matter because the software is open source. Anyone can read the source code of bitcoin. Anyone can identify vulnerability in the protocol’s architecture. Anyone can fork it and create their own implementation. This is well known of bitcoin, and it is not the reason its creator’s identity still holds crucial importance.

The 21st Million

The Nakamoto wallets comprise roughly 5.5% of the total bitcoin which will ever be in circulation and about 9.3% which are available today. If there is one party controlling five percent of all currency that will ever be created in an economy, this poses a huge risk to the integrity of decentralization. One in ten bitcoin today lies dormant, but alive. Truly, the mammoth wallets owned by Satoshi Nakamoto are one of the biggest threats to price stability and the principle of decentralization of bitcoin.

In a world where we rage about the centralization of our current economic circumstances, it is plain to see that bitcoin may not be as different as it initially seems.

Satoshi Nakamoto Wallets

Almost all are owned by a single entity, and that entity began mining right from block 1 with the same performance as the genesis block. It can be identified by constant slope segments that occasionally restart. Also this entity is the only entity that has shown complete trust in bitcoin since it hasn’t spent any coins (as last as the eye can see). I estimate at eyesight that Satoshi fortune is around 1M Bitcoin. – Sergio Demian Lerner

World’s First Trillionaire

At this point, not much can be done about the large volume of bitcoin that lie hidden in Nakamoto’s wallets. We don’t know which addresses they belong to and we only have estimates of the amount they hold. What we do know is that Nakamoto has multiple wallets rather than one, and that they have since discontinued their mining activities.

Will the Nakamoto funds ever move? Or have they already been purposefully destroyed? If Nakamoto were to take such a route, it might cause a bullish run on the rest of the bitcoin in circulation because of increased scarcity.

Lost coins only make everyone else’s coins worth slightly more.  Think of it as a donation to everyone. – Satoshi Nakamoto

If bitcoin should continue to challenge the status quo, it is indeed worthwhile to ask the types of questions which would uncover the identity of a party which controls the largest stake in an emerging economy. Satoshi has no obligation to reveal their identity, yet if bitcoin should become worth 10 or 100 times its current value, questions about their identity may haunt those who are deeply invested in this emerging digital economy, both in terms of financial and ideological investment.

Money has a profound way of influencing people. Business leaders recognize the opportunity to shake up the world that comes with owning massive capital. When it comes down to it, the effect bitcoin has on the world may correlate sharply with the causes Nakamoto dedicates their purchasing power to, if they do eventually move their money. Nakamoto can either use that ability to power the common good, or for less noble reasons. The causes this money is dedicated to will forever forge the legacy of the great anonymous wizard Satoshi Nakamoto.

Regardless, don’t let anyone tell you the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto does not matter.

Categories
Bitcoin Cypherpunk

‘t Let Anyone Tell You the Identity of Satoshi Nakamoto Does Not Matter

Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto

The world’s first trillionaire by USD valuation could quite possibly be the creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. If bitcoin continues to climb the ladder of exponential price appreciation, than once Nakamoto decides to move their money and make transactions with it, there will be a seismic shift in the perceived supply of money.

In the numerous attempts to lift the veil of bitcoin’s mysterious inventor, people have gotten hurt. Homes have been raided. Journalists have been ostracized. Following these chaotic rumours however, seems to be a cultish mantra echoing from the chambers of bitcoin’s disillusioned – that “the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto does not matter.”

This is not only terribly untrue, but dangerous. Naive to the nature of the emerging bitcoin digital economy, the disillusioned will claim that the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto does not matter because the software is open source. Anyone can read the source code of bitcoin. Anyone can identify vulnerability in the protocol’s architecture. Anyone can fork it and create their own implementation. This is well known of bitcoin, and it is not the reason its creator’s identity still holds crucial importance.

The 21st Million

The Nakamoto wallets comprise roughly 5.5% of the total bitcoin which will ever be in circulation and about 9.3% which are available today. If there is one party controlling five percent of all currency that will ever be created in an economy, this poses a huge risk to the integrity of decentralization. One in ten bitcoin today lies dormant, but alive. Truly, the mammoth wallets owned by Satoshi Nakamoto are one of the biggest threats to price stability and the principle of decentralization of bitcoin.

In a world where we rage about the centralization of our current economic circumstances, it is plain to see that bitcoin may not be as different as it initially seems.

Satoshi Nakamoto Wallets

Almost all are owned by a single entity, and that entity began mining right from block 1 with the same performance as the genesis block. It can be identified by constant slope segments that occasionally restart. Also this entity is the only entity that has shown complete trust in bitcoin since it hasn’t spent any coins (as last as the eye can see). I estimate at eyesight that Satoshi fortune is around 1M Bitcoin. – Sergio Demian Lerner

World’s First Trillionaire

At this point, not much can be done about the large volume of bitcoin that lie hidden in Nakamoto’s wallets. We don’t know which addresses they belong to and we only have estimates of the amount they hold. What we do know is that Nakamoto has multiple wallets rather than one, and that they have since discontinued their mining activities.

Will the Nakamoto funds ever move? Or have they already been purposefully destroyed? If Nakamoto were to take such a route, it might cause a bullish run on the rest of the bitcoin in circulation because of increased scarcity.

Lost coins only make everyone else’s coins worth slightly more.  Think of it as a donation to everyone. – Satoshi Nakamoto

If bitcoin should continue to challenge the status quo, it is indeed worthwhile to ask the types of questions which would uncover the identity of a party which controls the largest stake in an emerging economy. Satoshi has no obligation to reveal their identity, yet if bitcoin should become worth 10 or 100 times its current value, questions about their identity may haunt those who are deeply invested in this emerging digital economy, both in terms of financial and ideological investment.

Money has a profound way of influencing people. Business leaders recognize the opportunity to shake up the world that comes with owning massive capital. When it comes down to it, the effect bitcoin has on the world may correlate sharply with the causes Nakamoto dedicates their purchasing power to, if they do eventually move their money. Nakamoto can either use that ability to power the common good, or for less noble reasons. The causes this money is dedicated to will forever forge the legacy of the great anonymous wizard Satoshi Nakamoto.

Regardless, don’t let anyone tell you the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto does not matter.

Categories
Bitcoin Cybereconomy

Bitcoin Is Backed by Time Itself

Bitcoin Is Backed By Time Itself

One of the most commonly heard criticisms of bitcoin is that it is not backed by anything. What investors and enthusiasts must understand, is that bitcoin is not only a financial asset with considerable valuable, but it is regulated by a universal constant unlike any man-made money system which has come before it: time itself.

Algorithmic Regulation

If the USD is backed by the authority of its government and the largest force of military might on the planet – then what is backing bitcoin? Even if programmable, digital money brings intrinsically valuable capabilities, how can we have faith in it if there is no core party which oversees its acceptance and adoption?

This regulatory construct of bitcoin allows us to plot the supply schedule in a manner which is highly predictable while being uncheatable through manipulation found in traditional monetary policies. At the very root of what makes the bitcoin network tick, is a regulatory algorithm which determines that new blocks of bitcoin will be mined on average every 10 minutes. These ‘uncheatable’ maths which are intelligently constructed by system design, ensure that nothing can alter the predetermined issuance rate, nor the block reward halving rate, of bitcoin.

Every 10 minutes, more bitcoin become available at a disinflationary rate. That mathematical guarantee formulated by a crude form of artificial intelligence is the backing of a system which boasts remarkable intrinsic value.

Friedman’s k-percent Rule

American economist, statistician and writer Milton Friedman once posed the idea of replacing central banking institutions with a computer capable of mechanically managing the supply of money. He proposed a fixed monetary rule, called Friedman’s k-percent rule, where the money supply would be calculated by known macroeconomic factors, targeting a specific level of inflation. Under this rule, there would be no leeway for the central reserve bank as money supply increases could be determined “by a computer” and the market could anticipate all monetary policy decisions.

Will we ever see Friedman’s computerized banking institution put into action?

Considering the mining network of cryptocurrencies are the closest thing to an authority, and mining will only get more specialized and thus centralized in the future, we may well already have arrived. Friedman predicted the rise of a computer capable of automatically adjusting the inflation rate of money, and this is precisely what we see in the case of bitcoin.

As a regulatory algorithm intelligently adjusts the mining difficulty to make the issuance of blocks more or less difficult, bitcoin well resembles a working prototype of Friedman’s k-percent rule.

Bitcoin boasts the economic backing of a force magnitudes more intelligent and pervasive than the promise of men & military might: an uncheatable, highly predictable, chronologically enforced supply schedule.

The computerized function of the bitcoin system boasts remarkable intrinsic value. The cumulative value of this network will continue to grow as more users join the fold and payment in bitcoin becomes more accessible for every participant.

No money system we have seen to date can claim it is regulated chronologically. Bitcoin is backed by time itself.

Categories
Bitcoin Forecasting

Advantages & Disadvantages of Using Bitcoin

Bitcoin Has Redefined Money

The benefits of using a bitcoin for payments far outweigh the risks posed. Bitcoin represents a dramatic improvement upon our current arrangement of financial payment systems which use government sponsored currency by relying on an internet protocol for the transmission of value where no humans or third parties are required.

Advantages of Bitcoin

    1. Trustless Payments

Bitcoin does not require a central party to facilitate transactions or confirm account balances. This is the power of peer-to-peer payments. When a payment is made, the transaction is verified by an economy of interconnected computers very much in the same way networks of servers make up the world wide web of today. The transaction is initially broadcast, then verified by the network in a secure manner. Eliminating the need for third party trust was one of the objectives of bitcoin in the first place, and it accomplished this unlike any financial instrument before. Typically, people trust banks to store their money, they trust central banks to retain the value of their money, and they trust governments to manage debt problems in a responsible manner. Bitcoin divorces the reliance on these institutions by putting trust in cryptographic technology rather than third parties.

    1. Open Payment System

The bitcoin payment system is the first non-exclusionary payment system every devised. It does not require paying monthly fees or deny access to people who are not in a position to be serviced by a traditional banking institution. Your account is never in jeopardy of being locked because there is no central institution with the capability to block transactions. With bitcoin technology, advocacy groups are able to accept and spend their money as they like, without requiring approval from government payment processing services.

    1. Personal Information Privacy

Under the current system, unless you are using cash, you are identified when you make a purchase. With bitcoin, this is no longer necessary, but it comes as a double edged sword. In one sense, bitcoin can be obtained and used in an anonymous manner. It does not require the personal information that traditional financial institutions would, such as government identification and contact information among a host of other data. Because the bitcoin payment system does not require these inputs, it need not put a citizen’s personal information at risk. However, just as easily as it can be used for stealth can bitcoin be used transparently, giving the entire world first-hand viewing ability into your financial standing. Being a distributed ledger, the blockchain will be making your wallet viewable but will be tied to your identification the instant you associate your real world identity to your transactions. Every person has an inalienable right to privacy, and that includes financial privacy. Bitcoin may provide that financial privacy while eliminating the potential for identification fraud and theft of personal information. Many people will argue that providing the ability to transact anonymously opens the floodgates for money laundering, illicit purchases, and all kinds of criminal activity. This may be true to a certain degree, but bitcoin technology does not aggravate this issue any more than paper cash does today. Indeed, using cash is still the most popular way to conduct money laundering and other illegal activities. There are risks associated with an anonymous form of transaction that financial enforcement agencies are well aware of. Even more so are they aware that paper cash is still the best medium for laundering money.

    1. Simplicity & Security

The cryptographic technology behind bitcoin is the most advanced of its kind, making the system impractical to hacking attempts. Rather, the hacking attempts to steal funds have been successful due to poor storage practices and faults with exchanges. Security experts around the world have been attempting to attack the bitcoin network directly since its inception. None have been able to find a chink in its armor. When used correctly, the bitcoin blockchain is an elegant and airtight solution to sending money cheaply and efficiently.

    1. Internet Functionality

The innovation of a payment layer for the internet is one of the primary reasons people are so excited about bitcoin. Some of the payment system features include worldwide accessibility, zero or low processing fees, open-source, fraud control, multi-signature accounts

Disadvantages of Bitcoin

    1. Technical Sophistication

In order to properly store and use bitcoin it requires a certain degree of technical understanding that most of society current finds challenging. The more you understand about vulnerabilities to storing bitcoin, the safer you will be. Storing your bitcoin is one of the biggest challenges and being protected from hackers takes a considerable degree of computer competency.

    1. Limited Acceptance

Bitcoin is continuing to gain traction with merchants. The number of businesses accepting it is growing daily. The Federal Reserve Board of Washington reports that the number of daily users is likely to have grown exponentially in the past few years, and that the user base has doubled every 8 months for the last 3 years. Businesses that do transactions online are taking a close look at integrating bitcoin, while brick and mortar retailers are still just getting onboard with this new type of payment. Because you may find it difficult to pay your rent or buy food at the grocery store with bitcoin (for now), this limited acceptance can be a disadvantage.

    1. Uncertain Future

No one can say with certainty what will come of bitcoin. As it remains today, bitcoin is very speculative as it is still an experimental type of technology. However, the upside is so one-sided that the average consumer would be wise to research and understand this new type of technology, given that money factors into our lives essentially everyday.

In the long-run bitcoin technology will transform the distribution and access to information in a manner similar to internet and smartphone technology. Considering the only action a user need perform to start using bitcoin is downloading an app using the aforementioned technologies, and you may begin to see why we are on the cusp of a powerful disruption in business, economics, and daily life.