Video series about Bitcoin and Blockchain by TechCrunch

in #bitcoin7 years ago
“… This is the big breakthrough. This is the thing we’ve been waiting  for,” said Marc Andreessen, the cocreator of the first commercial Web  browser, Netscape, and a big investor in technology ventures. “He solved  all the problems. Whoever he is should get the Nobel Prize – he’s  genius. This is the thing! This is the distributed trust network that  the Internet always needed and never had.”
About Satoshi Nakamoto. From the book »Blockchain Revolution«  of Don Tapscott

TechCrunch, a technology-focused US online magazine, released a featured six-part video series on Bitcoin and Blockchain. Each episode of the series is approximately seven minutes long and is freely available on Youtube.

The series is based on the book "Digital Gold" by New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper. It features personalities who have helped shape the development to date, including BTCC CEO Bobby Lee, current Bitcoin chief developer Gavin Andresen, Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin, managing director of  R3 blockchain consulting firm Charley Cooper, the controversial Bitcoin evangelist Roger Ver and former US Treasury Secretary and emeritus president of Harvard University Larry Summers.

Episode 1 - In the Beginning

The first part of the series breaks the mold, from the release of Bitcoin software in 2009, to the first burst of 2011 speculation bubble - which  attracted the first major public attention - to the current discussion of the technology in a global context.

An anonymous miner from Venezuela declares Bitcoin based on a public book that consistently presents all information in an accessible and verifiable way - a kind of global consensus among all participants in the network.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1sBurdHCNo

Episode 2 - Mines and Miners

The second episode is about mining. Professional actors from the USA and China explain the mining, whose intention by the inventor and the arising problem goes along with it. Shown is a professional guided mining company on Min Jiang River in China. The number of people working with Bitcoin in China is growing, as energy costs are cheap compared to many other countries.

The topic is the increasing concentration of mining capacities. In an open network like Bitcoin, a large concentration of too few participants can lead to a kind of digital dictatorship, as the mining  power simultaneously reflects decision-making power in the network. Thus, few could determine which version and type of Bitcoin software is globally valid for all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtR06bIDxkE

Episode 3 - In the Search of Itself

The  third episode looks at Bitcoin looking for itself and the fragmentation of the community about the unresolved issue of scalability. So far, limiting block size and limiting the number of transactions processed has not been a problem. The increasing popularity and usage of Bitcoin is leading to ever-fuller blocks, resulting in longer validation periods - the throughput is, so to speak, clogged.

The dispute about the maximum number of transactions per second runs across the community. The episode shows the pros and cons as well as the possible ways out (block enlargement, off-blockchains or sidechains).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgENsi-qpn4

Episode 4 - Blockchain on the Rise

The application scenarios of Blockchain technology are manifold. The secure storage of digital data and assets, through smart contracts to changing the flow of information. Startups are shown working on solutions to everyday and global problems using Blockchain. And how the world could change completely through technology in many areas.

Michael Dunworth, CEO of the startup SnapCard, describes the blockchain as a kind of "alien technology". A technology that did not exist before and we first had to learn how to deal with it and how to exploit the opportunities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AllnjW_04Y0

Episode 5 - Ethereum's Blockchain

The fifth episode of the series deals with the blockchain of the much discussed and controversial project Ethereum. Ethereum went live on July 30, 2015, and has since become second most valuable blockchain project. The main developer and head of the project is Vitalik Buterin, who has a lot to say in this series.

Ethereum sees itself as a new and improved version of Bitcoin that offers more options. The goal is to create not only a decentralized currency, but rather a decentralized world computer to calculate a variety of tasks. Basically nothing else than the development of decentralized enterprises, which are led according to fixed rules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfULutvxvzY

Episode 6 - Co-opt vs. Disrupt?

In  the last part, we go from the technological possibility to the social impact, and discuss the pros and cons of public and private blockchains. The prevailing opinion of the tech elite that everything must be open, available and divisible for everyone is contrary to the business and  political interests of many institutions (Silicon Valley vs Wall  Street).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_jacBtTuNs

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