Essence of Blockchain

“If you are going to do anything big, you are, by definition, unqualified to do it.”

I recently gave a talk in Korea. Here is a small taste of what I talked about.

Blockchain

Cryptography combined with connectivity has allowed us to create a structure which has three special properties:

• Anyone can write on it
• Everyone can read it
• No one can erase it

These three properties are the essence of why a blockchain is so powerful.

Money

Money allows us to track and quantify trades.

Trading allows us to work together for mutual benefit.

Since a blockchain allows us to track and quantify trades, a blockchain can replace money.

Blockchain

Users send transactions to a peer-to-peer network of nodes.

The nodes somehow agree on the order of transactions.

They may also do calculations.

They save the results in a blockchain which they each keep a copy of.

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A single bitcoin transaction uses almost as much electricity as an average Korean uses in their home in an entire year.