Summary of David Gerard's Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

#1 The developed world has mostly come to use banks to transfer money between accounts, using digital money. However, this isn’t a complete solution since a shop’s card reader could be down, your payment gateway might charge fees, and you may want to send money to someone not on the same banking network.

#2 Bitcoins are a bit like money in a bank account with a debit card, except there is no safety net and no way to reverse a transaction. You can earn, spend, save, and invest them, but they aren’t actually yours.

#3 Bitcoin is secured by math. The blockchain is a digital ledger that is tamper-evident. It contains every confirmed transaction since January 2009.

#4 Bitcoin is a digital currency that requires competitive Proof of Work to write to the ledger. The competition gets viciously Darwinian very quickly, and the electricity is literally wasted for the sake of decentralisation.

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Rafbók: 13 april 2022