What I Don’t Know About Cryptocurrency

Miha AhronovitzFebruary 16th, 2018Last Updated: February 16th, 2018

2 58 3 minutes read

My motivation

My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive.

This is what Boris Johnson, British foreign secretary, said. Yet one day he may be Prime Minister

I would say 99.99% of people don’t know why a bitcoin is valuable, while 100% they think they know

One of the most original, successful and unorthodox entrepreneur asked me to work at a book on cryptocurrencies. This reminded me that my chances to become a cryptocurrency guru are as good as being reincarnated as an olive.

All I can write is a journey. For a question with no reply doesn’t mean can’t be a book by itself.

The illusion of immortality

The following data are from Blockchain Capital Bitcoin Survey Fall 2017.

30% OF MILLENNIALS PREFER $1K OF BITCOIN OVER $1K OF GOVERNMENT BONDS
Which means 70% of the millennials prefer traditional bonds
42% OF MILLENNIALS AGREE THAT MOST PEOPLE WILL BE USING BITCOIN IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS
Which means 58% do not agree
The knowledge and interest for people 65+ are almost zero.This is because a bitcoin investor must live long enough to see the future profits and handle the downturns. The 65+ know they are mortals and live with fear of God. The millennials think they will live for ever an their ambitions are the engine of their own success.

A short FAQ of bitcoin

This a FAQ | Bitcoin from Telegraph

What is it?

A digital currency, used to make payments of any value without fees. It runs on the blockchain, a decentralised ledger kept running by “miners” whose powerful computers crunch transactions and are rewarded in bitcoins.

Who invented it?

Satoshi Nakamoto, a secretive internet user, invented bitcoin in 2008 before it went online in 2009. Many attempts to identify Satoshi have been made without conclusive proof.

What’s it for?

People see value in money free from government control and the fees banks charge; as well as the blockchain, to verify transactions. Bitcoin has been seen as a tool for private, anonymous transactions, and it’s the payment of choice for drug deals and other illegal purchases.

Is it worth anything?

Yes. As of 15 February 2018, there were around 16,867,100 bitcoins in circulation. Each is worth USD 10,133 around after a recent high of close to $20,000 for a market value of $171 billion.

The mysterious Satoshi

During October 2008 Satoshi’s white paper, A white paper appeared in the cryptocurrency mailing list metzdowd.com under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It outlined a new system to move and store money online that was anonymous, cheap and, crucially, secure.

Before Satoshi’s paper, digital currencies were prone to the ‘double spend’ problem. When a unit of currency is spent, there is often no way of knowing if it has been spent before – it needs a trusted authority to confirm the transaction is real. This is a role usually undertaken by banks.

Satoshi’s proposed payment method used a purely peer-to-peer system, meaning that a community, rather than banks or credit card companies, would verify transactions.

The first heist in cryptocurrencies

History was made January 28, 2018.
Mr Aston lives with his 31-year-old business partner Amy Jay, in the affluent and picturesque village of Moulsford in Oxfordshir. In June 2017, he established his own digital currency firm just before Bitcoin’s huge surge in value in July, according to Companies House.

Four armed robbers in balaclavas forced their way into the home of Danny Aston, 30, who runs a digital currency trading firm, before reportedly tying up a woman and forcing Mr Aston to transfer an unknown quantity of the cryptocurrency.

The astute combination of mediocrity

What should you do for a career if you’re not really good at anything?
According to Quora’s Maria Nikols:

We’re forever being sold a lie on how to prosper in life: discover what you’re best at, work hard at it, swim in an ocean of riches and happiness.
That works brilliantly if you were born the best at something, but for everyone else, it’s kinda soul-crushing. What if you don’t have any world class skills?
What if you’re just okay at lots of things?
Bill Gates is not the best programmer in the world, nor is he the world’s greatest speaker, salesperson, visionary or accountant. He’s good-to-passable at these things though, and he’s learned to weld his skills together into something far more valuable.
Even when your skills are mediocre, an astute combination of mediocrity can turn you into something priceless.

Life, like bitcoins, is irrational

The bitcoin is tangible proof that the irrational can be something productive and we create reality from legends.

Probably the best way to learn what a token (the humble name of a coin) of cryptocurrency is to make one yourself.

Published on Java Code Geeks with permission by Miha Ahronovitz , partner at our JCG program. See the original article here: What I Don’t Know About Cryptocurrency

Opinions expressed by Java Code Geeks contributors are their own.