Each week, I compile the most useful links to articles, posts, and videos that helped me to level up my knowledge of Bitcoin, cryptos, blockchain, and levelling up in life.
In a week with the volatility of All Time Highs and corrections, skeptics continue their steady drumbeats: bubble, mania, parabolic, scam, tulip bulbs. Whether you're "too the moon" or "it's all worthless", it's good to know what ground you stand on and whether it's firm. I have absolutely no idea where the prices go up or down. What attracted me to this space is is the vast landscape of innovation and promise around the core themes of blockchain, decentralization & distributed consensus, censorship resistance, and permissionless innovation. When you understand the problems we have and the solutions before us, you know you stand on firm ground.
Did you invest the right amount at the right time in the right project? I don't care. 🙃 🙉
On to the picks:
- Bitcoin Original Announcement Thread: Though blockchain, digital currency, & cryptography all preceded Satoshi Nakamoto, it's undenable that thread represents the catalyst for opening the floodgates to all the creativity of the blockchain revolution. It's a fun read just to see the people who were there and the initial skepticism.
- Bitcoin Obituaries: Bitcoin is by no means the entire crypto space, but it seems to be a focal point for the debates about bubbles, scalability, immutability, and mentions of "MySpace." One should never take the media headlines to heart, whether they confirm or challenge your bias. This list of obituaries is a lesson in click-bait journalism and a basic human tendency to want to know the winners and losers NOW, instead of seeing a process that is evolving and unfolding.
Bitcoin has died 217 times
- Experiences and your fear of engagement: Wise words from Seth Godin...for everyone
waitinghoping for a catastrophic bubble to pop that puts this crypto thing to bed once and for all so the rest of the world can go back to stocks, bonds, mutual funds, gold, Facebook, or whatever it is that makes them feel safe.[W]e try to avoid the fear by simulating it, putting the experience into a box that makes it like something else we've done, something that's safe. Of course, if you put a new experience in the box of an old experience, it's not a new experience, is it? Problem solved. But you've also just cut yourself off from what that new experience could deliver. A new box. The entire point.
- Dan Larimer: Visionary Programmer of BitShares, Steem and EOS: A high-level introduction to Dan Larimer, the technical mind behind BitShares, Steem / Steemit, and EOS. Over the last few months, I've been increasingly interested in EOS as a more realistic option as a decentralized Operating System for business to develop applications on top of when compared to Ethereum (at least for the next few years). This article led me to finally read the EOS whitepaper, which will lead you down the rabbit hole to Dan's Steemit post on Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) Also worth a watch/listen is Epicenter's interview with Dan on EOS.
- Smart Contracts: The Blockchain Technology That Will Replace Lawyers: A great introduction to smart contracts that you can easily read in one sitting. Smart Contracts will improve: voting in elections, supply chains, logging changes of ownership (cars, houses), managing healthcare records -- all with a simplified contract that gives you: autonomy (no intermediaries like lawyers), trust (no one can say they "didn't receive it"), safety (cryptography & encryption), speed, savings (no lawyers, remember!), accuracy (no botched paperwork). All of this was going through my head when taking out a car loan recently. The whole process of buying a car included loads of paperwork, numerous parties, and the car dealer wouldn't receive final payment for something like a week. Here's a simple example of our future:
Suppose you rent an apartment from me. You can do this through the blockchain by paying in cryptocurrency. You get a receipt which is held in our virtual contract; I give you the digital entry key which comes to you by a specified date. If the key doesn’t come on time, the blockchain releases a refund. If I send the key before the rental date, the function holds it releasing both the fee and key to you and me respectively when the date arrives. The system works on the If-Then premise and is witnessed by hundreds of people, so you can expect a faultless delivery. If I give you the key, I’m sure to be paid. If you send a certain amount in bitcoins, you receive the key. The document is automatically canceled after the time, and the code cannot be interfered by either of us without the other knowing since all participants are simultaneously alerted.
You can use smart contracts for all sort of situations that range from financial derivatives to insurance premiums, breach contracts, property law, credit enforcement, financial services, legal processes and crowdfunding agreements.
