BitCamp in Detroit!
An in-depth explosion of Blockchain space knowledge
It is one of the first developments of the start up BitBox,
and was only the second one to take place. Both took place in Detroit, where the BitBox founder grew up, but further camps are planned for Chicago, New York, Washington DC, Boston, LA, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore.
BitCamp is three 7 hour days,
but the space seems to attract the type of people that create those kinds of conversations where 20, 30 minutes, all of a sudden an hour or so has passed. We generally went past our ending time.
There is also a burgeoning Blockchain community in Detroit
that hosts various weekly meetings for networking and more education on a conversational level. The greater tech industry is making a big push in Detroit with organizations like Grand Circus, where Bitcamp took place.
The major focus here was why?
Attaining an understanding of the greater purpose of digital currencies and blockchain technology establishes a deeper connection to the space, the coins individuals chose to convert their wealth to, and healthy growth towards the future of widespread adoption.
The basics behind Bitcoin - what makes it possible:
- Cryptography fundamentals
- Transactions
- The Network
- The Blockchain
- Mining
This is taught through brief histories on:
- History and Mythology of Money
- The Problem with our current monetary system
- The Gale: the impending collapse of the current monetary system
- The Back Story: the generations-long struggle to birth a cryptocurrency
I was constantly engaged by this material
I had some awareness, but was surprised how deeply the foundation of Blockchain technology is rooted in the behavior of humans over the course of our entire recorded history. I could, and probably should, spend much more time reading into these topics. They provide the basis, and inevitable applications to long standing institutions of our society.
Major applications covered at some point in the course:
- Real Estate
- Records management
- Logistics/Supply Chain
- Insurance
- Finance
- IoT
- Artificial Intelligence
- Public Administration + Civil Service
- Accounting
- Data Science
- Compliance/Regulations/Taxes
The course also covers the practical skillset
with the key areas of knowledge for physically using digital currencies on your computer or mobile device, and understanding why there are altcoins.
Core skills needed to navigate the cryptocurrency world:
- Setting up Wallets
- Buying Bitcoin
- Trading
- Securing a wallet
- Key Management
- Cold Storage
- Blockchain Tools and Resources
A working scope of the Altconomy:
- Altcoins
- Consensus Algorithms
- Bitcoin/Blockchain/Cryptocurrency Ecosystem Topology
- Hard Forks, Soft Forks, Chainsplits, and spoons
The sort of grander purpose of BitCamp
is to energize a growing community to create value - start ups, content, mining, community growth and engagement. This aspect is accentuated by guest speakers each day. Onyx is my hero. As the space grows, so will the creation of further and more diversified CryptoStartups
A light history and understanding of:
- What is Ethereum
- Blockchain Programming
- Smart Contracts
- Triple-Entry Bookkeeping
- Decentralized Organizations
- Decentralized Applications
- How to Launch a Cryptocurrency
- How to do and ICO
The pace of the course is very fast,
and being improved as it goes, because so are the companies and technology it covers! The future is being built on the Blockchain, it would probably be best you have a working understanding.
You can read, listen to all the podcasts, and watch all the youtube videos,
but there is really nothing that compares in engaged in-person education with people who know their stuff. Seriously, I've been trying for about 16 hours a day for a month. The connections made when you're introduced to a network of people trying to tackle the same problems you are is priceless.
It made the decision clear for me to refocus my career. I will be fully engaging the Detroit Blockchain space, my abilities as a writer, and learning to code. We'll see how that last one goes.