Bitcoin’s Cypherpunk Roots presented by Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins at Bit Block Boom.
Blog post by Cousin Edgar Stumblefield.
Outline
A brief guide to my point of view
I'm not a Bitcoin Maximalist, I'm a Bitcoin “mostimalist.”
I design new blockchains for a living.
I'm a radical crypto-anarchist.
I'm also an IBM Futurist.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the reference architecture for blockchain.
What makes Bitcoin different?
Bitcoin is the world's first fully decentralized currency.
What makes Bitcoin different from other Blockchains?
Bitcoin has the most secure and tested consensus mechanism of all of blockchains.
Why does “Blockchain not bitcoin” matter?
It's fair to say that as of 2018, blockchain is here to stay.
Oracle and IBM have made heavy investments in the Hyperledger foundation, a cross-industry attempt to standardize blockchain implementations, sans-cryptocurrency.
They are arguably investing more capital into the concept upon which cryptocurrency is based.
Timeline: “Byzantine General's Problem” posed: 1978 – 1984
This is based off a Computer Science problem first conceptualized in the late 70s, and then better described in the 1980s. The problem describes a fictional battle with a group of generals that act independently and have individual loyalties, but must act in unison or they will be destroyed.
Timeline: Roots of Cypherpunk – Timothy May ; Eric Hughes
Timeline: Hashcahs Created – System made by Dr. Adam Back in 1997 ; was primarily designed as an anti-spam mechanism
Timeline: Wei Dai proposed B-Money in 1998 (would be called “nodes” today)
Timeline: 2004 – Hal Finney
Timeline: 2004 – Nick Szabo published Bitgold Proposal
Timeline: 2008 – Satoshi Nakamoto published his white paper proposing a fully federated and decentralized solution
2009 – First 50 bitcoins mined
Silk Road was an online black market and the first darknet market, best known as a platform for selling illegal drugs.
Timeline: April 2011 ; I learned about and jumped into Bitcoin
Timeline: The 2nd time I was wrong about price ; April 2 2012
Timeline: The end of GPU mining
Timeline: November 29 2013 ; Bitcoin hits $1000 ; Mt. Gox Dies
Timeline: The FBI Arrests Ross Ulbricht ; alleged founder of Silk Road
Timeline: RIP Good Times. Sorta December 2013 to April 2017 ; Bitcoin remained mostly flat in price, and the fervor
Timeline: Bitcoin hits $1000. Again.
Timeline: Bitcoin Hard Forks
Timeline: The end of Bitcoin dominance December 19 2017 ; We're currently past the age of Bitcoin dominance
Blockchain can be a protocol for instrumenting existing capital ; Bitcoin remains one of the primary conduits for capital flow into blockchains which aren't Bitcoin ;
Key Learnings (and puppy tax)
There's no such thing as “blockchain, not bitcoin.”
Blockchain is an inherently political concept.
Essentially, we are creating the tools needed to not have to be dependent upon the government.
Mark is a futurist and blockchain evangelist.
In 2017 and 2018, he’s served as an advisor or C-Level executive to a variety of blockchain projects, including Boundre Group, Veritoken, Robokind, Bitqyck, as well as several blockchain projects in “stealth mode.”
Website: Rizzn.com
Mark Hopkins is the founder of SiliconANGLE Media and the Roger Wilco Agency. He has also served as the Associate Editor at Mashable.com, as well as, worked as a developer and project manager for many large corporations such as Apple Computers, IBM, Nokia, Cox Communications and CompUSA Corporate. In mid-2016, he accepted a partnership at the newly created Dallas office for Barista Ventures, which remains a nexus for activity in the Dallas startups scene.
