We started trading using physical objects, like gold. If I gave a coin to someone I no longer had the coin. This does not work in the digital realm: If I give a file to some-one I can still keep the file. So digital cash required centralisation, in the form of banks that act as trust-worthy middleman. Bitcoin works without a central authority to verify the integrity of the transactions. The authority is replaced by an algorithm running on the devices of all bitcoin players.

Money: from physical to bitcoin

Is a tamper-resistant database for storing things of value.Blockchain does not store any of its information in a central location. Instead, the blockchain is copied and spread across a network of computers. Whenever a new block is added to the blockchain, every computer on the network updates its blockchain to reflect the change.

Blockchain

<ul><li>The blockchain is a database for storing things of value: cryptocurrencies, tokens, assets, or identity</li><li>The blockchain is a protocol, which means the infrastructure can be operated by machines, who can hold and send money with a script. </li><li>Blockchain is better than gold, faster than SWIFT transfers, enabled 10x more crowdfunding than Kickstarter, etc.</li><li>It can enable huge internet-scale cap-tables (the docs that are kept in Excel)</li><li>It can transform social networks by making early users shareholders in tokens. </li></ul>

Benefits of Blockchain

Balaji Srinivasan, an angel investor and cofounder of multiple companies including Earn.com and Counsyl, gives an overview of “Applications: Today and 2025.” Srinivasan starts off by tracing the history of crypto from Bitcoin and Ethereum to the present. He highlights the crypto applications that have already gotten traction — infrastructure providers such as exchanges, wallets, and miners; decentralized finance (DeFi) apps; and stablecoins that eliminate the volatility of early cryptocurrencies — and looks ahead to the ones that are likely to emerge in the next five years. These include personal tokenization, new financial instruments, decentralized autonomous organizations and gaming. Andreessen Horowitz’s Crypto Startup School brought together 45 participants from around the U.S. and overseas in a seven-week course to learn how to build crypto companies. Andreessen Horowitz is partnering with TechCrunch to release the online version of the course over the next few weeks. Find more Crypto Startup School videos plus additional reading and info: https://bit.ly/2ThsHen

crypto

Cryptocurrency

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

cybersecurity

Cybersecurity

podcasts

Podcasts

artificialintelligence

Artificial Intelligence

Balaji Srinivasan, an angel investor and cofounder of multiple companies including Earn.com and Counsyl, gives an overview of “Applications: Today and 2025.” Srinivasan starts off by tracing the history of crypto from Bitcoin and Ethereum to the present. He highlights the crypto applications that have already gotten traction — infrastructure providers such as exchanges, wallets, and miners; decentralized finance (DeFi) apps; and stablecoins that eliminate the volatility of early cryptocurrencies — and looks ahead to the ones that are likely to emerge in the next five years. These include personal tokenization, new financial instruments, decentralized autonomous organizations and gaming.

Andreessen Horowitz’s Crypto Startup School brought together 45 participants from around the U.S. and overseas in a seven-week course to learn how to build crypto companies. Andreessen Horowitz is partnering with TechCrunch to release the online version of the course over the next few weeks.

Find more Crypto Startup School videos plus additional reading and info: https://bit.ly/2ThsHen

TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.

Balaji Srinivasan: Applications: Today & 2025

Money: from physical to bitcoin

Blockchain

Benefits of Blockchain

Related collections

Other curated ideas on this topic: