To Former Colleagues & Friends -
$BTC
When a fellow lawyer hired me to research crypto regulations, I pretended I knew something about them. Despite years as a financial regulator and banking consultant, I knew precious little. In fact, save a former colleague who is deep in the space, and a young hacker I know who thinks it's the second coming, most regular people I know are in the dark.
[Image Licensed from 123RF]
We're not alone -- Harry Potter author J.K Rowling famously tweeted out a request for someone to "Please explain Bitcoin to me." The responses were so filled with lingo, as she called it "blah, blah, blah," that she finally asked people to stop the explaining. And this is a woman who invents alternate universes for a living.
I challenged myself to wade through all the lingo -- "decentralized" this and "peer-to-peer" that, with doses of Libertarianism, Austrian economics and complex monetary theory. Months later I emerged from the pile of books and charts on my wall, with a working understanding of the whole mess.
I started an article to explain it all - and decided to fall back on my high school newspaper adviser's teachings, of the classic Who, What, When, Where & Why. And here I offer an Old School, low-tech, no-lingo explanation of Bitcoin.I deleted the mention of supply/demand determining value because that’s how value of all currencies are determined relative to another (ie how many euros is one dollar worth).
“Bitcoin is digital currency that can be sent directly from person-to-person, secured by encryption. Each transaction is recorded in blocks according to time; the blocks are linked together in a digital chain that forms a permanent ledger (the “blockchain”). Bitcoin is a fiat currency, meaning it’s not backed by any commodity, nor is it recognized as legal tender or controlled by any government entity. An anonymous person launched Bitcoin in 2008, building on prior cryptocurrency concepts, and innovating the blockchain. The goal was to allow direct cash-like payments, without fees from a third party. Many cryptocurrencies exist now, but Bitcoin has the largest market capitalization.”
When a fellow lawyer hired me to research crypto regulations, I pretended I knew something about them. Despite years as a financial regulator and banking consultant, I knew precious little. In fact, save a former colleague who is deep in the space, and a young hacker I know who thinks it's the second coming, most regular people I know are in the dark.
[Image Licensed from 123RF]
We're not alone -- Harry Potter author J.K Rowling famously tweeted out a request for someone to "Please explain Bitcoin to me." The responses were so filled with lingo, as she called it "blah, blah, blah," that she finally asked people to stop the explaining. And this is a woman who invents alternate universes for a living.
I challenged myself to wade through all the lingo -- "decentralized" this and "peer-to-peer" that, with doses of Libertarianism, Austrian economics and complex monetary theory. Months later I emerged from the pile of books and charts on my wall, with a working understanding of the whole mess.
I started an article to explain it all - and decided to fall back on my high school newspaper adviser's teachings, of the classic Who, What, When, Where & Why. And here I offer an Old School, low-tech, no-lingo explanation of Bitcoin.I deleted the mention of supply/demand determining value because that’s how value of all currencies are determined relative to another (ie how many euros is one dollar worth).
“Bitcoin is digital currency that can be sent directly from person-to-person, secured by encryption. Each transaction is recorded in blocks according to time; the blocks are linked together in a digital chain that forms a permanent ledger (the “blockchain”). Bitcoin is a fiat currency, meaning it’s not backed by any commodity, nor is it recognized as legal tender or controlled by any government entity. An anonymous person launched Bitcoin in 2008, building on prior cryptocurrency concepts, and innovating the blockchain. The goal was to allow direct cash-like payments, without fees from a third party. Many cryptocurrencies exist now, but Bitcoin has the largest market capitalization.”
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