What is a blockchain? Why is cryptocurrency the future of the finance world? Below you can find a deck I was preparing for a lighting talk at ESGgo. Since I got some positive feedback on it, I wanted to share it broadly. Hopefully, you will find it valuable.
In the past two years, I’ve been fascinated by the rise of web3.
As Albert (from union square venture) wrote:
“It is difficult to overstate how big an innovation this is. We went from not being able to do something at all to having a first working version. Again to be clear, I am not saying this will solve all problems. Of course it won’t. And it will even create new problems of its own. Still, permissionless data was a crucial missing piece – its absence resulted in a vast power concentration. As such Web3 can, if properly developed and with the right kind of regulation, provide a meaningful shift in power back to individuals and communities.“
Albert WengeR – USV
So let’s start with the first step. Get your wallet. You can think on the crypto wallet as a ‘browser’ to the world of distributed applications that lives in the #web3 world. I would suggest you to try a few wallets as we are still very early in this new frontier.
Desktop: I like Exodus and (of course) you need Metamask in your browser. Btw, Brave got a wallet as well but with Metamask it will be ‘easier’ to start ‘trying’ the NFT world as well.
🚨Do NOT buy any hardware wallet from third-party resellers such as Amazon or eBay. Only buy units from the OEM to ensure that you are getting a clean device.
Next, you wish to buy some tokens (e.g. BTC, ETH, SOL etc’) – You can do it in one of the exchanges below.
EXCHANGES
Coinbase – The easy way to get into the crypto world.
The Google Assistant give users their own personal Google that helps them find, organize, and get things done in their world. The main way users interact with the Google Assistant is by carrying on a conversation with it. You can extend the Google Assistant by building apps that let users get things done with your products and services.
Bitcoin leverage a powerful and new technology. It is not controlled or issued by any one organization (e.g. bank or government). Instead, it is an open network which is managed by its users. In a similar way that email and WhatsApp improved communication by making it fast and cheap, bitcoin is an improvement on existing payment methods which were not designed for the internet era.
What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a decentralized, anonymous, digital-only currency that’s lately gotten a lot of public attention. It was originally developed in 2008 and like in any good mystery, someone using the alias “Satoshi Nakamoto” published a paper describing how Bitcoins could work. (There is a very interesting story about this guy too. He must be very smart but, has never come forward to claim ownership, or any part in revenue.) Just one year later, at 2009, they started being traded and mined. In short, bitcoin represents a way to transfer money anonymously and at almost no cost. And since it’s an arbitrary currency with no nationality attached to it, you’re free to exchange it with anyone in the world. Since Bitcoin’s core protocol is viewable by anyone, it has been vetted by thousands of security researchers around the world and has proven to be robust and reliable. Continue reading →