These three ideas are my mottos, “For free”, “Do not take too much time” and “Something I can do while I have some free time” of obtaining new information about cryptocurrencies. And, I started visiting these useful sites I introduced in my previous blog almost every day. ((o･д･)bｸﾞｯｼﾞｮﾌﾞ♪
These are something I learned at the very first stage of my crypto journey.
Bitcoin and blockchain are not the same things!
There are many cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.
…etc.
As I obtained new information about cryptocurrencies, I started realizing that it was inevitable to learn about Bitcoin, which is the very first cryptocurrency created utilizing blockchain technology.
Many people say that “Bitcoin (BTC) is awesome!!!”, “Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a scam!!!”, “Ethereum (ETH) is the next Bitcoin!!!”, “Cardano (ADA) will surpass Bitcoin!!!”, “Avalanche (AVAX) is the new Bitcoin!!!”. And, I did not know what they were talking about, or I did not have enough knowledge to distinguish the differences among them. I was like, “Well, they all look the same?!” (´･ω･`)ﾓｷｭ?
Let´s learn the basics of blockchain technology, Bitcoin!
Therefore, I just went back to the Bitcoin white paper which was created by Satoshi Nakamoto. Well, this time, I learned about it on YouTube. (The fees of education are becoming more and more expensive, and YouTube lectures are so useful to get very basic knowledge about anything! From how to make kimchi to how to speak Khoisan languages! Thank you, YouTube and YouTuber who make very interesting online lectures.) (ﾟv`d)ﾍﾞﾘｸﾞｰ♪
As you may have already realized, there are many people Satoshi mentioned in the white paper who inspired to create Bitcoin, blockchain, and proof of work. Bitcoin was not simply created by Satoshi Nakamoto, but many forerunners had invented many incredible ideas before Bitcoin. Ether is used to transact any Ethereum related transactions as a gas fee, and the smallest unit of ether is called “wei” which comes from Wei Dai who invented B-money. Another example is Adam Back who invented Hash Cash, which also inspired Satoshi tremendously. These are people who advocate libertarianism as well as the so-called Cyberpunk movement which supports the idea of decentralized government and be independent from any centralized institutions. (ﾟзﾟ)ｲｲﾝﾃﾞﾈｰﾉ?
What is the Cyberpunk movement?
According to Wikipedia (Well, it is not reliable! LOL!), the word “Cyberpunk” came to the world when Bruce Bethke, the author of an SF novel “Cyberpunk” was issued in 1980. The novel focus themes on realistic science fiction (near-future) which is far away from mainstream science fiction which addresses the theme of non-realistic science fiction like Star Wars (Well, I am not saying that Star Wars are unrealistic, but if we compare that with Blade Runner or Terminator. I hope you get the point!)
Libertarianism and Cyberpunk have been fused! And then, Bitcoin has been created. Fusion!
Bitcoin has been created by whoever advocates to be independent from any centralized institution that controls our privacy and freedom. For libertarians and cyberpunks, the creation of Bitcoin is a cultural revolution!
Advocators of the Cyberpunk movement support protecting privacy using cryptography, and disagree with any centralized institutions which control our privacy and accumulate a great deal of power over society by collecting unimaginable amounts of information from millions of users! Shame on Amazon Web Services!
At last, Bitcoin was created for everyone who wishes to be independent of the centralized institutions.
“Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency which is not backed by any central organization, government, or company. Instead, Bitcoin is built by the users, for the users.”
Well, I see! It is a lot philosophical than I expected when I learned about the idea of why Bitcoin was created. ﾎｰ!((〆( `Д´ )ﾒﾓﾒﾓ
I would like to add another fun fact about the Cyberpunk movement in the 80s and 90s. William Ford Gibson, who is an author of Cyberpunk-related books once had an interview with TIME magazine, and he said “Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk.” I believe the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto picked up a name from Japan because s/he thought “Modern Japan = Cyberpunk = a Japanese name”. It is pretty cool. ﾌ──(･ε･`o)──ﾝ
Are there any websites you can recommend to learn about cryptocurrencies? It would be nice if you comment below! Thank you!!
Mizuo
References
How to make kimchi? (YouTube)
How to speak Khoisan languages?
Wei （Ethereum）
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wei.asp
Wei Dai （Wikipedia）
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei_Dai
Adam Back (Bitcoinwiki)
https://en.bitcoinwiki.org/wiki/Adam_Back
TIME interview with William Gibson (2001)
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1956774,00.html
Cyberpunk, novel (Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_(novel)
サイバーパンク（Wikipedia）
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B5%E3%82%A4%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%91%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF