- An Introductory Primer to Blockchain Technology:
Table of contents
Chapter One: Purpose & Design
1.0 The Recording: What is blockchain technology?
1.1 Proof Of Work & Stake: Why is it reliable?
1.2 Public & Private Keys: What makes it user safe?
1.3 Forking The Chain: How is it democratic?
Chapter Two: Broadening Relevance
2.0 Society Of Records: Why is it important?
2.1 Healthcare: How does it affect your life?
2.2 Smart Contracts: How can a ledger do so much? 8
Chapter Three: Every Angle
3.0 Cryptocurrencies: It’s not just a bubble.
3.1 Origins: Where did blockchain come from?
3.2 Getting Online: Can it be global?
3.3 Power of the ledger: Could it help the developing world?
3.4 Adoption: What is blockchain’s status today?
Chapter Four: Parting Words
4.0 QBIC: Who we are & why we're excited.
4.1 In Conclusion
-Written by James D. Hazlett
Edited by Zachary Spencer-
Chapter One: Purpose & Design
1.0 The Recording: What is blockchain technology?
Blockchain is a series of linked or chained sections of data, called blocks. Each block in the chain is like a single scene in a movie. Every consecutive block is dependent on the first “genesis block.” The film, or blockchain, only makes sense if every scene lines up with the previous block of data. Each block is held together and intertwined with a mathematical function called a hash. This hash ensures the blockchain is a private, secure, and independently verifiable record. This record can be an account of money or any form of digital data(1).
1.1 Proof Of Work & Stake: Why is it reliable?
Security and reliability is the result of miners -- independent individuals who hash each block into a growing chain. They compete to write and solve each new block. Published blocks are added to the public and encrypted ledger of data. As an incentive for maintaining the blockchain, miners write themselves a predetermined reward on the given blockchain ledger. In the case of Bitcoin and other dated cryptocurrencies, miners use massive levels of computer power and energy to create each new block. Miners are incentivized to maintain the system’s integrity, as any false transaction on the ledger would cost both the power to make an invalid block and the block reward. This energy intensive consensus algorithm is called proof of work (POW). Bitcoin’s contribution to global power usage sparked 2011's innovation: proof of stake (POS). In this system, instead of using massive quantities of energy, miners create valid blocks by putting up extra funds as collateral. A large pool of the miner’s funds, the block reward, and sometimes even transaction fees are forfeit if any miner tries to pass off a falsification within the block. Mining can be done on a few smartphones, as opposed to a fleet of supercomputers. Although archaic, Bitcoin looks unlikely to upgrade, but almost all major blockchain projects are already implementing or moving towards POS. Blockchain, still in its infancy, can be expected to continue evolving in features and efficiency (2).
1.2 Public & Private Keys: What makes it user safe?
Public and private keys are used to write information to the blockchain. Private keys are used to decode information; public keys can only encrypt a piece of information. This is called one-way encryption. In a blockchain they are used in tandem. Public keys are used like an address box which encrypts data. A private key is used to unlock the encrypted information. Private keys can be thought of as mailbox keys, allowing you to access data, funds, or other blockchain features. When combined, they make a blockchain that is resistant to middleman attacks. These two keys enable only sender and receiver to make choices as to how to change the blockchain ledger (3).
1.3 Forking The Chain: How is it democratic?
Although blockchain is a family of ledger technologies, most currently have some form of decentralization, making them inherently democratic. It is not unheard of for a group to decide to take one ledger and go a separate course. Two blockchains split from one original: one carries on with a new set of rules while the other continues with the older set. This type of splitting is called a hard fork and can happen if miners and users don't agree on an upgrade path. Instead of expanding rules, they can also be tightened. This is called a soft fork, it occurs when blocks with old rules are no longer accepted by the community and the system changes without splitting. Together they give us two ways for users to upgrade blockchain and ensure it works democratically for different user needs (4).
Chapter Two: Broadening Relevance
2.0 Society Of Records: Why is it important?
Today's developed societies are more than highrises, electronics, cars and roads. They are built on records. We carry wallets with driver licenses, healthcare insurance cards, multiple business and payment cards, and of course physical cash. Our phones are records of cellular services, endless social media data, and various other logins. There's more: consider your lease agreement or land deed, your credit score and bank account, government records such as court filings and fishing licenses. These are all records of who you are and how you connect to the rest of society. Blockchain is a technology specifically designed to secure record banks of this kind. In today’s society of records, the capacity to secure and organize your information is more important than ever.
2.1 Healthcare: How does it affect your life?
Healthcare is one example of blockchain's applicability. Healthcare data is fragmented to say the least. Part of the reason for this inefficiency is the need for strict security and privacy measures to secure highly personal data. Blockchain is, by design, a dynamic encryption service and record of data. IBM, the CDC, and MIT are already working on blockchain health record systems (5-7). Using complex key systems, blockchain can be used to ensure only appropriate medical professionals can access and add to your records. Storing large amounts of data on a blockchain is difficult, but soon possible. Ideas such as the interplanetary file system (IPFS) are blockchain-based decentralized platforms designed for securing large amounts of private data, with few or no centralized servers (8). Technical challenges are being overcome and blockchain will play an increasingly significant role in the medical world. One of the best examples of this is nebula genomics, a blockchain startup concerned with providing a means for customers to control the sale and use of their genetic data (9-10). Today, consumers and patients are given little or no say in the use of their genetic information once collected (11). Additionally, more data is collected about us now than at any point in history. Although still under development, blockchain technology’s ability to interface with and guard medical and personal information is relevant.
2.2 Smart Contracts: How can a ledger do so much?
Smart contracts make blockchain’s diverse utility possible by adding community made contractual programs into a blockchain. These are known as decentralized applications or DAPPs. Initially pioneered by Ethereum’s blockchain, each smart contract is designed to carry out functions within the blockchain. The contract can be a simple as a transfer of an asset, or more. Using smart contracts an owner can exchange a house or property deed instantly. If a transfer of funds is completed within the set time period, the smart contract executes the operation, exchanging deed and funds simultaneously. Token sales or initial coin offerings (ICO) work this way. An ICO is started by bidding or paying into a payee account. In return, tokens are deposited at your address and usually used as an unregulated security. In the most dynamic example of a smart contract, the running of an entire venture capitalist firm was coordinated on a blockchain. Known as the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), this experiment was a proof of concept run entirely with DAO voting tokens via Ethereum smart contracts (12-13). Due to smart contracts, ownership, voting, and even the running of organizations are becoming blockchain applications.
Chapter Three: Every Angle
3.0 Cryptocurrencies: It’s not just a bubble.
The rise of cryptocurrencies and 2017’s ICO boom have caused blockchain growing pains. As of 2018, over one thousand cryptocurrencies exist. They are the basis of many ideas, projects, and firms. Regardless of whether these cryptocurrencies are innovative or discordant, moral or disingenuous, cryptocurrencies are prone to bubbles (14). The 2017-2018 crash has garnered significant media attention (15). Cryptocurrency markets have had similar hits before, but not when the market cap was nearly a trillion USD. Though all cryptocurrencies are relatively unique, that does not make each a rare or scarce resource. Any person or organization can launch their own ICO. This openness has created a financial wilderness in which many have built fortunes, and where many unseasoned investors have found defeat. However, before dismissing blockchain as bubble-prone, one should consider the original motivations behind the conception of blockchain.
3.1 Origins: Where did blockchain come from?
Blockchain was intended to expand personal and technological freedom for everyone. Satoshi Nakamoto, renowned as blockchain's anonymous creator(s), solved many of the technical challenges that were obstacles to the creation of the first blockchain. However, these ideas didn’t emerge from thin air. In the eighties, Intel senior scientist Timothy C. May began writing about decentralized digital currencies. Earlier that decade Richard Stallman's free software movement encouraged the free and open use of computing and software licensing(16). Bitcoin was released under such licenses. These efforts provided blockchain with its ability to evolve based on community needs, rather than the whims of centralized intellectual property holders. For example, as the Venezuelan economy and government collapse, many in the population have gravitated towards cryptocurrencies(17). Blockchain is the result of many old and still evolving ideas; it is the cornerstone in a movement dedicated to free sharing of ideas, decentralization of power, and even democracy in the digital world.
"Blockchain can be simultaneously understood and analyzed as a currency, an asset, a tool, a supercomputer, a social movement, an activist group, and a political cause."
By Kris Jones, QBIC Member, and Sociology Masters Student.
3.2 Getting Online: Can it be global?
As the Internet reaches more of the globe, blockchain can start to influence developing nations. From 2008 to 2018, Internet access went from 20% of the world’s population to over 50%, and projects are already underway to connect the other half of the globe to the web (18). Google's Project Loon intends to use augmented weather balloons to provide cellular and wifi service in remote and underdeveloped areas (19). Both Elon Musk’s Space X and Richard Branson's OneWeb have plans to do the same with satellites(20). Projects like Android One and Android Go are Google’s attempt to put $100 Android phones in the developing world's pockets (21). At the same time, KaiOS, a Firefox mobile spinoff, is producing even cheaper smartphones(22). The developing world is quickly gaining Internet access via cheaper devices and innovative connection methods. Venezuela may not stay an isolated incident of adoption.
3.3 Power of the ledger: Could it help the developing world?
As the world goes online, blockchain can make the record bases of adopters borderless, secure, and permanent. A refugee can provide healthcare, financial, criminal, education and work records using blockchain. These records are more likely to survive government shutdowns and natural disasters compared to a physical and centralized alternative. Many developing nations lack the ability to create grassroots democratic movements. Japan is already testing blockchain as a means to help verify their electoral process; countries lacking institutional structure could use blockchain to secure their elections (23). It could be used by anyone to quickly start a DOA, or a political or worker’s union. People need a way to verify records and build peer-to-peer trust for democratic freedom to evolve. In the developing world, blockchain could provide the tools for such growth.
3.4 Adoption: What is blockchain’s status today?
Instead of competing against existing structures, Blockchain can be incorporated into them. Ripple is consistently one of the big five cryptocurrencies used in market capitalization. It is a payment remittance and currency exchange system used by CIBC and a dozen other multinational firms (24). The R3 consortium represents the other four major Canadian banks, and over 200 firms (25). They research and develop distributed ledger technology. Governments are also experimenting. The Canadian National Research Council is doing its own experiments on expenditure tracking (26). The Royal Canadian Mint is experimenting with a Canadian digital dollar. Other adopters are the Russian military, the Finnish and Saudi federal governments, and a whole host of other nations (27-29). Estonia is pioneering electronic governance. E-identity, E-law, E-taxes, E-cabinet and of course E-health records. E-Estonia, backed by Estonia, is a program of online citizenship and nationality, taking the idea of government into cyberspace (30). The question is not if there be widespread adoption of blockchain and occupying ideas, but how they will merge with the world we live in today.
Chapter Four: Parting Words
4.0 QBIC: Who we are & why we're excited.
Queens Blockchain Innovation Community (QBIC) was founded early in the fall of 2017 by a group of economics, philosophy, education, computer science and commerce students. Its inception was the result of a profound desire to develop a collaborative understanding of blockchain. We believe it is the duty of academia to understand this technology and its far-reaching impact. We run workshops on smart contract software development, blockchain introduction sessions, cryptocurrency trading workshops, and talks on blockchain subjects. At least once a semester, we run larger events with private sponsors and a diverse selection of speakers. In short, we are interested in understanding and sharing concepts of the blockchain space. Whatever your talent, we are always growing our volunteer base and building strong relationships with corporate sponsors. Please feel free to contact us with questions, concerns and comments.
Recruitment & Sponsorship - marcel@qbic.tech
Author & Research Chair - research@qbic.tech
4.1 In Conclusion
Blockchain does not have a sole function, nor is it easily summed up in a sentence. It’s not Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision for Bitcoin, or a specific previous thinker’s ideas. Instead, it is a torch of innovation carried on from where its original thinkers left off. It is not a financial fad left to the elements, but a family of new concepts and ideas to discover. The roots of blockchain are technological innovation and democracy. QBIC is part of this growing community of ideas known as the blockchain space. It is not just a computing, political, or economic concept but a social one. We are a society of records and blockchain is simply a new kind of record.
Sincerely, Queens Blockchain Innovation Community
Thank you, for reading & looking towards the future with us.
Further Reading:
Cryptocurrency: Use by Wikileaks and the Venezuelan resistance movements
A.I. : Processing blockchains secure ledger.
Who is Satoshi: Hal Finney & Dorian Nakamoto.
Beyond Proof of Stake Merkel Trees & Directed Acyclic graphs.
New Hashes: Post quantum encryption.
Decentralized computing: Selling computational power on the chain.
GIG Economy: A record of employment, trust & sharing.
Jaspreet Bindra Ted Talk: How blockchain can transform India.
Sourced Articles
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