Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

This article contains interviews with Phil Raporport, drector of markets and trading at Ripple Labs, Stefan Thomas, CTO at Ripple Labs, and Chris Ellis, a cofounder of Feathercoin and show host with World Crypto Network.

What if you could cut your mortgage rate, make it easier to update your will, and ensure that your buddy was never able to weasel out of paying up on a bet? That and much more is the promise of smart contracts, a technology that is getting closer and closer to reality thanks to cryptocurrency.

Smart contracts are computer programs that can automatically execute the terms of a contract. Someday, these programs may replace lawyers and banks for handling certain common financial transactions.

And the potential for smart contracts goes way beyond simple transfers of funds. The door of a car or a house could be unlocked by connecting smart contracts to the Internet of everything. But as always with this cutting edge of financial technology, major questions abound: How will this all align with our current legal system? And, of course, will anyone actually use these things anyway?

The idea of smart contracts goes way back to 1994, nearly the dawn of the World Wide Web itself. That's when Nick Szabo, a cryptographer widely credited with laying the groundwork for bitcoin, first coined the term "smart contract." At core, these automated contracts work like any other computer program's if-then statements. They just happen to be doing it in a way that interacts with real-world assets. When a pre-programmed condition is triggered, the smart contract executes the corresponding contractual clause.

Szabo's original theories about how these contracts could work remained unrealized because there was no digitally native financial system that could support programmable transactions. (It defeats the purpose of smart contracts if a bank still has to manually authorize the release and transfer of money.) "One big hurdle to smart contracts is that computer programs can't really trigger payments right now," says Phil Rapoport, Ripple Labs' director of markets and trading.

The advent and increasingly widespread adoption of bitcoin is changing that, and as a result Szabo's idea has seen a revival. Smart contract technology is now being built on top of bitcoin and other virtual currencieswhat some have termed "Bitcoin 2.0" platforms. Because bitcoin is itself is a computer program, smart contracts can speak to it just like they would any other piece of code. The puzzle pieces are falling into place. A computer program can now trigger payments.

There are currently two major open source projects working on smart contracts, both of which have taken big leaps forward this year. One is called Codius and the other is Ethereum. Codius was developed by Ripple Labs, which also created its own digital currency called Ripple. Codius aims to be interoperable between a variety of cryptocurrency, such as Ripple and bitcoin, although it is managed by the private company.

"Codius can interact with other ledgers and web services. It can work on bitcoin and it can work on any other system," says Stefan Thomas, Ripple's CTO.

In contrast, Ethereum is an entirely new currency with smart contracts baked into its payment system. Originally developed by 20-year-old programmer Vitalik Buterin, it would replace other "coins" like bitcoin, but appears to be more of a community project.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are poised to help smart contracts become reality. But the effect may also be reciprocal. Smart contracts can illustrate a unique benefit of virtual currencies that some advocates think could entice more users.

"Smart contracts are really the killer app of the cryptocurrency world," says Chris Ellis, host of a show about cryptocurrencies on the World Crypto Network.

Let's take a simple example, like a Super Bowl bet. Say you want to bet $500or roughly one bitcointhat the Patriots will win, while your friend is betting the same amount that the Packers will take the title. Step one is for you and your friend to place your bitcoin in a neutral account controlled by the smart contract. When the game is over and the smart contract is able to verify via ESPN, Reuters, or elsewhere that the Patriots beat the Packers, the smart contract would automatically deposit your bet and your winnings from your friend back into your account.

Because smart contracts are computer programs, it would be trivial to add more complex betting elements like odds and score differentials into the mix. While there are services out there today that might handle this sort of transaction, they all charge a fee. The key difference with smart contracts is that it is a decentralized system accessible to anyone, that doesn't require any intermediary party.

A more everyday example would be online shopping. "If you order something online you might not want to pay a merchant immediately until they fulfill their end of the bargain," says Rapoport. "So you could easily have a contract that looks for FedEx tracking data saying that the package you ordered has been delivered to your address before releasing payment to the sender."

If you think about a lot of routine financial transactions, what lawyers and banks do boils down to repetitively processing mundane tasks. And yet we still have to shell out huge fees for lawyers to go through wills or for banks to process our mortgage payments.

Smart contracts could automate and demystify these processes, making it so that ordinary people can save time and money.

Although you got your mortgage through a bank, that bank won't generally hold onto it for the entire 30-year loan; it will be sold to an investor. But you keep making payments to the bank, not the investor that owns your mortgage. The bank just becomes a processor for your monthly payments, sending a chunk to the investor, a slice to taxes, and a bit for homeowner's insurance.

"That's just a real simple operational task, but that bank will often take a quarter to a half percent per year to service that mortgage," says Rapoport. "They're just doing an operational headache of receiving payments and redirecting them. And they're charging people for that. But it's something that a smart contract could theoretically administer very easily."

If mortgage payments were handled by smart contracts, mortgage processing fees could be eliminated and that savings passed on to consumers. The result would be a lowered cost of home ownership.

Although smart contracts are still in their nascent stage, the potential is clear. If a simple enough user interface were developed it could remove a host of legal headaches, like updating your will. Imagine if allocating your assets after your death was as simple as moving an adjustable slider that determines who gets how much. Just like with the bet or FedEx example, once the smart contract can verify the triggering conditionin this case, your deaththe contract goes into effect and your assets are divvied up.

With all this, it may sound like we won't need lawyers anymore. But enthusiasts say that smart contracts should be seen as an evolution of the legal system, not its erasure.

"We don't think that this will replace the legal system as much as provide an intermediate layer between transacting and going to court," says Thomas.

Nonetheless, the role of lawyers might look very different in the future. Rather than having lawyers adjudicate individual contracts, the role of lawyers might shift to producing smart contract templates on a
competitive market. Contract selling points would be their quality, how customizable they are, and their ease of use. It sounds a bit like the marketplace for WordPress themes.

"I imagine a lot of people will create contracts that do different things," says Rapoport. "And they can essentially sell them for others to use. So if you make, for example, a really good equity agreement that has a bunch of different functionality a company can charge for access to their contract."

It's easy to think about a smart contract managing a will, up to a point. It all makes sense if you can imagine yourself keeping all of your assets in bitcoin. But what if you live in the real world and have physical possessions like, you know, most of us? The answer is something called smart property.

"This starts to get more sci-fi when we talk about smart property," says Ellis.

The so-called "Internet of Things" is constantly growing, with more and more interconnected devices out there every day. Some forward-thinking developers are already working on ways to combine the Internet of Things with bitcoin infrastructure so that something like a bitcoin can actually represent a physical object. That token is what these developers call smart property.

But more important than representing some object, these new smart property tokens would actually grant ownership and control to a networked object, whether that be a computer, a car, or even a house.

How does this all come together?

Ellis gives the example of renting out his house. "Let's say all the locks are Internet-enabled and they've all got network connections. When you make a bitcoin transaction for the rent, the smart contract you and I agreed to automatically unlocks the house for you. You just go in using keys stored on your smartphone."

A smart contract would also make it trivial to set up dates when those digital keys would automatically expire. It sounds a bit like Airbnb without the need for Airbnb.

And if you think about it, that's the fundamental transformation smart contracts are after. A service like Airbnb is desirable because it obviates the need for the host and the guest to trust each otherthey both only need to trust Airbnb. If the guest doesn't pay up, or the host doesn't leave the keys, either of them can take it up with Airbnb.

Doing the same sublet with a smart contract would supplant a business model like Airbnb's. The homeowner and renter still don't need to trust each otherthey just need to trust the smart contract. Smart contracts would decentralize the model of who needs to be trusted. And in doing so, it would cut out hefty fees by brokering services like Airbnb.

But smart contracts don't have to just disrupt existing business models. They can also complement them. Way back in his '94 essay, Nick Szabo envisioned the idea of smart property writing that "smart property might be created by embedding smart contracts in physical objects." His example of choice was a car loan, writing that if you miss a car payment, the smart contract could automatically revoke your digital keys to operate the car. No doubt car dealerships would find this appealing.

Admittedly, at some point it does start to sound like the makings of a dystopian sci-fi film. If you can't make a payment all of a sudden your car could be digitally and remotely repossessed, all without any human interaction.

But in theory, the upside is that financial institutions should be more willing to take risks on people who might not otherwise get loans. Because, worst case scenario, if someone can't pay up, it's inconsequential for the bank to take back the asset in question.

In addition to expanding opportunities to get credit, smart contracts also have the potential to open up access to the legal system for disadvantaged people who might not otherwise be able to reap its benefits. Thomas believes that smart contracts "will make the legal system available to people who might not be able to afford it on their own."

Although the law in theory treats everyone equally, you more often than not need money to take someone to court over a breach of contract.

"At present justice really only works if you can afford a lawyer to enforce that agreement. So once smart contracts have the ability to enforce agreements on their own it will be game-changing. " says Ellis.

Of course it may not play out that cleanly in reality. While this all sounds good and noble in theory, it's impossible to predict how a smart contract would hold up in court if it were ever challenged. Dethroning lawyers as the high priests of arbitrating contracts is certainly appealing. But do we run the risk of just replacing literacy in legalese with literacy in code?

Rapoport acknowledges that there may be drawbacks. "Everyone reads English, so in some ways it's easier to read a traditional contract. But this is still very bleeding-edge technology, so who knows what kinds of user-facing improvements will be made eventually?"

Despite unforeseen pitfalls, the promise of smart contracts is clear. Right now we're waiting to see if either Ethereum or Ripple's Codius will be able to become usable and really take off.

"Right now there are lot of clever people working on this who are high on ideas because they can see the potential," says Ellis "What we don't know yet is who is going to win this raceRipple or Ethereum. It's a bit like VHS vs. Betamax."

Visit link:
What Are Smart Contracts? Cryptocurrency's Killer App ...

This article contains interviews with Phil Raporport, drector of markets and trading at Ripple Labs, Stefan Thomas, CTO at Ripple Labs, and Chris Ellis, a cofounder of Feathercoin and show host with World Crypto Network.

What if you could cut your mortgage rate, make it easier to update your will, and ensure that your buddy was never able to weasel out of paying up on a bet? That and much more is the promise of smart contracts, a technology that is getting closer and closer to reality thanks to cryptocurrency.

Smart contracts are computer programs that can automatically execute the terms of a contract. Someday, these programs may replace lawyers and banks for handling certain common financial transactions.

And the potential for smart contracts goes way beyond simple transfers of funds. The door of a car or a house could be unlocked by connecting smart contracts to the Internet of everything. But as always with this cutting edge of financial technology, major questions abound: How will this all align with our current legal system? And, of course, will anyone actually use these things anyway?

The idea of smart contracts goes way back to 1994, nearly the dawn of the World Wide Web itself. That's when Nick Szabo, a cryptographer widely credited with laying the groundwork for bitcoin, first coined the term "smart contract." At core, these automated contracts work like any other computer program's if-then statements. They just happen to be doing it in a way that interacts with real-world assets. When a pre-programmed condition is triggered, the smart contract executes the corresponding contractual clause.

Szabo's original theories about how these contracts could work remained unrealized because there was no digitally native financial system that could support programmable transactions. (It defeats the purpose of smart contracts if a bank still has to manually authorize the release and transfer of money.) "One big hurdle to smart contracts is that computer programs can't really trigger payments right now," says Phil Rapoport, Ripple Labs' director of markets and trading.

The advent and increasingly widespread adoption of bitcoin is changing that, and as a result Szabo's idea has seen a revival. Smart contract technology is now being built on top of bitcoin and other virtual currencieswhat some have termed "Bitcoin 2.0" platforms. Because bitcoin is itself is a computer program, smart contracts can speak to it just like they would any other piece of code. The puzzle pieces are falling into place. A computer program can now trigger payments.

There are currently two major open source projects working on smart contracts, both of which have taken big leaps forward this year. One is called Codius and the other is Ethereum. Codius was developed by Ripple Labs, which also created its own digital currency called Ripple. Codius aims to be interoperable between a variety of cryptocurrency, such as Ripple and bitcoin, although it is managed by the private company.

"Codius can interact with other ledgers and web services. It can work on bitcoin and it can work on any other system," says Stefan Thomas, Ripple's CTO.

In contrast, Ethereum is an entirely new currency with smart contracts baked into its payment system. Originally developed by 20-year-old programmer Vitalik Buterin, it would replace other "coins" like bitcoin, but appears to be more of a community project.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are poised to help smart contracts become reality. But the effect may also be reciprocal. Smart contracts can illustrate a unique benefit of virtual currencies that some advocates think could entice more users.

"Smart contracts are really the killer app of the cryptocurrency world," says Chris Ellis, host of a show about cryptocurrencies on the World Crypto Network.

Let's take a simple example, like a Super Bowl bet. Say you want to bet $500or roughly one bitcointhat the Patriots will win, while your friend is betting the same amount that the Packers will take the title. Step one is for you and your friend to place your bitcoin in a neutral account controlled by the smart contract. When the game is over and the smart contract is able to verify via ESPN, Reuters, or elsewhere that the Patriots beat the Packers, the smart contract would automatically deposit your bet and your winnings from your friend back into your account.

Because smart contracts are computer programs, it would be trivial to add more complex betting elements like odds and score differentials into the mix. While there are services out there today that might handle this sort of transaction, they all charge a fee. The key difference with smart contracts is that it is a decentralized system accessible to anyone, that doesn't require any intermediary party.

A more everyday example would be online shopping. "If you order something online you might not want to pay a merchant immediately until they fulfill their end of the bargain," says Rapoport. "So you could easily have a contract that looks for FedEx tracking data saying that the package you ordered has been delivered to your address before releasing payment to the sender."

If you think about a lot of routine financial transactions, what lawyers and banks do boils down to repetitively processing mundane tasks. And yet we still have to shell out huge fees for lawyers to go through wills or for banks to process our mortgage payments.

Smart contracts could automate and demystify these processes, making it so that ordinary people can save time and money.

Although you got your mortgage through a bank, that bank won't generally hold onto it for the entire 30-year loan; it will be sold to an investor. But you keep making payments to the bank, not the investor that owns your mortgage. The bank just becomes a processor for your monthly payments, sending a chunk to the investor, a slice to taxes, and a bit for homeowner's insurance.

"That's just a real simple operational task, but that bank will often take a quarter to a half percent per year to service that mortgage," says Rapoport. "They're just doing an operational headache of receiving payments and redirecting them. And they're charging people for that. But it's something that a smart contract could theoretically administer very easily."

If mortgage payments were handled by smart contracts, mortgage processing fees could be eliminated and that savings passed on to consumers. The result would be a lowered cost of home ownership.

Although smart contracts are still in their nascent stage, the potential is clear. If a simple enough user interface were developed it could remove a host of legal headaches, like updating your will. Imagine if allocating your assets after your death was as simple as moving an adjustable slider that determines who gets how much. Just like with the bet or FedEx example, once the smart contract can verify the triggering conditionin this case, your deaththe contract goes into effect and your assets are divvied up.

With all this, it may sound like we won't need lawyers anymore. But enthusiasts say that smart contracts should be seen as an evolution of the legal system, not its erasure.

"We don't think that this will replace the legal system as much as provide an intermediate layer between transacting and going to court," says Thomas.

Nonetheless, the role of lawyers might look very different in the future. Rather than having lawyers adjudicate individual contracts, the role of lawyers might shift to producing smart contract templates on a competitive market. Contract selling points would be their quality, how customizable they are, and their ease of use. It sounds a bit like the marketplace for WordPress themes.

"I imagine a lot of people will create contracts that do different things," says Rapoport. "And they can essentially sell them for others to use. So if you make, for example, a really good equity agreement that has a bunch of different functionality a company can charge for access to their contract."

It's easy to think about a smart contract managing a will, up to a point. It all makes sense if you can imagine yourself keeping all of your assets in bitcoin. But what if you live in the real world and have physical possessions like, you know, most of us? The answer is something called smart property.

"This starts to get more sci-fi when we talk about smart property," says Ellis.

The so-called "Internet of Things" is constantly growing, with more and more interconnected devices out there every day. Some forward-thinking developers are already working on ways to combine the Internet of Things with bitcoin infrastructure so that something like a bitcoin can actually represent a physical object. That token is what these developers call smart property.

But more important than representing some object, these new smart property tokens would actually grant ownership and control to a networked object, whether that be a computer, a car, or even a house.

How does this all come together?

Ellis gives the example of renting out his house. "Let's say all the locks are Internet-enabled and they've all got network connections. When you make a bitcoin transaction for the rent, the smart contract you and I agreed to automatically unlocks the house for you. You just go in using keys stored on your smartphone."

A smart contract would also make it trivial to set up dates when those digital keys would automatically expire. It sounds a bit like Airbnb without the need for Airbnb.

And if you think about it, that's the fundamental transformation smart contracts are after. A service like Airbnb is desirable because it obviates the need for the host and the guest to trust each otherthey both only need to trust Airbnb. If the guest doesn't pay up, or the host doesn't leave the keys, either of them can take it up with Airbnb.

Doing the same sublet with a smart contract would supplant a business model like Airbnb's. The homeowner and renter still don't need to trust each otherthey just need to trust the smart contract. Smart contracts would decentralize the model of who needs to be trusted. And in doing so, it would cut out hefty fees by brokering services like Airbnb.

But smart contracts don't have to just disrupt existing business models. They can also complement them. Way back in his '94 essay, Nick Szabo envisioned the idea of smart property writing that "smart property might be created by embedding smart contracts in physical objects." His example of choice was a car loan, writing that if you miss a car payment, the smart contract could automatically revoke your digital keys to operate the car. No doubt car dealerships would find this appealing.

Admittedly, at some point it does start to sound like the makings of a dystopian sci-fi film. If you can't make a payment all of a sudden your car could be digitally and remotely repossessed, all without any human interaction.

But in theory, the upside is that financial institutions should be more willing to take risks on people who might not otherwise get loans. Because, worst case scenario, if someone can't pay up, it's inconsequential for the bank to take back the asset in question.

In addition to expanding opportunities to get credit, smart contracts also have the potential to open up access to the legal system for disadvantaged people who might not otherwise be able to reap its benefits. Thomas believes that smart contracts "will make the legal system available to people who might not be able to afford it on their own."

Although the law in theory treats everyone equally, you more often than not need money to take someone to court over a breach of contract.

"At present justice really only works if you can afford a lawyer to enforce that agreement. So once smart contracts have the ability to enforce agreements on their own it will be game-changing. " says Ellis.

Of course it may not play out that cleanly in reality. While this all sounds good and noble in theory, it's impossible to predict how a smart contract would hold up in court if it were ever challenged. Dethroning lawyers as the high priests of arbitrating contracts is certainly appealing. But do we run the risk of just replacing literacy in legalese with literacy in code?

Rapoport acknowledges that there may be drawbacks. "Everyone reads English, so in some ways it's easier to read a traditional contract. But this is still very bleeding-edge technology, so who knows what kinds of user-facing improvements will be made eventually?"

Despite unforeseen pitfalls, the promise of smart contracts is clear. Right now we're waiting to see if either Ethereum or Ripple's Codius will be able to become usable and really take off.

"Right now there are lot of clever people working on this who are high on ideas because they can see the potential," says Ellis "What we don't know yet is who is going to win this raceRipple or Ethereum. It's a bit like VHS vs. Betamax."

Excerpt from:
What Are Smart Contracts? Cryptocurrency's Killer App ...

The CryptoCurrency Certification Consortium (C4) understands that privacy is an extremely important right granted to all, and is not a privilege earned by some. To that end, C4 has taken care to ensure that the collection, dissemination, and use of all personally identifiable information is clearly understood. This document outlines what information is collected, when and how it is collected, how it is used once collected, with whom the information is shared and under what circumstances.

C4 collects personal information such as names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, employment history, affiliations, skills/knowledge, and links to social networking sites (i.e. LinkedIn). This personal information is only collected with a persons explicit knowledge and is never collected without their consent or without their knowledge.

Personal information is collected through the use of online web forms that ask users to enter their information into text boxes and submit it to C4 via a submit button, or via file upload buttons designed to submit resumes, curriculums vitae, or similar documents. These forms make it clear that this information is being collected and submitted to C4.

Names, email addresses, and technical data related to electronic mail may be additionally collected by C4 as a result of emails being sent to any email address associated with the @cryptoconsortium.org domain name.

Government-issued identification documents (such as drivers licenses and/or passports) may be reviewed by C4 staff, affiliates, partners, or subsidiaries for the purpose of identifying candidates writing exams at testing facilities.

Non-personal information is also collected from time to time without explicit consent from users. C4s web servers may collect technical information related to a socket connection such as Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, dates/times of website access(es), and logging, tracing, and debug information related to a users web browser connection to C4s web servers.

Furthermore, information regarding payments made to C4 via cryptocurrency networks (i.e. Bitcoin) are implicitly collected by the cryptocurrency networks themselves and is available to the public, including C4. This information includes cryptocurrency addresses from which payments originated, and the public keys associated with the payers cryptocurrency keys.

C4, its affiliates, subsidiaries, and/or partners use the personal information that is collected for the purpose of personnel certification and related activities. Example usage includes adding a successfully certified individual to a list of certified individuals, verifying whether or not an individuals name is present on a list of certified individuals, and informing individuals when their name is due for removal from a list of certified individuals.

C4 may use this information to contact an individual regarding their certification or their pursuit of certification. C4 may, from time to time, use this information to ensure the accuracy of other associated information (i.e. use an email address to confirm the accuracy of a mailing address).

C4 provides information controls that allow individuals to choose the capacities in which their information is used. These controls allow individuals to opt-in or opt-out of particular uses of their information, such as being sent newsletters, being listed in directories of certified professionals, or being contacted for employment or contract opportunities with companies who seek certified cryptocurrency professionals. C4 respects the privacy of individuals and will make every reasonable effort to respect the choices made by individuals who make use of C4s resources.

In the event an email is sent to an address associated with the @cryptoconsortium.org domain, C4 will assume the sender consents to the use of the email address and name information associated with the email for the purposes of receiving a reply from C4 staff. C4 will also assume that the contents of the email were intended as private, and that no consent has been given to C4 to reproduce or share the content with any 3rd party.

C4 respects the privacy of the users of its services and will take reasonable action to prevent the collected information from being given to other parties without consent.

Despite this, C4 will, from time to time, share some or all of the collected information with other parties in select cases in accordance with the choices selected by users or in accordance with local, national, or international laws.

C4 will cooperate with law enforcement personnel who present valid warrants for investigations that involve C4s collected data. C4 will refuse to cooperate with law enforcement who do not positively identify themselves, their organizations, or present a valid warrant issued by a judge, justice of peace, or other authoritative judiciary personnel.

C4 will also share aggregate information (such as the number of certified professionals who match specific criteria) with recruitment firms, headhunters, human resource departments, and other interested parties who meet C4s standards. C4 may share additional information with these parties provided this sharing respects the choices made by individuals in their user profile regarding the use of their personal information.

C4 maintains backup systems which will, from time to time, create copies of information collected by C4. C4 will take reasonable measures to limit the accessibility of this information by making use of techniques such as passwords, encryption, and physical security.

Furthermore, C4 will employ encryption such as SSL or TLS encryption where appropriate to protect the personal information during transit to and from C4s servers.

C4 believes that every individual has the right to control how their information is used. As a result, C4 will respect the request for removal of personal information from its active servers.

While it is possible to remove active data from databases, C4 acknowledges that even after removal it is possible that removed information can still exist in backups or archives of old data that is maintained for the purposes of disaster recovery efforts. These copies may be retained until the copy has been replaced by a more recent backup that no longer contains the personal information. Furthermore, C4 acknowledges that this information, in some cases, can be reconstructed through various digital forensic techniques which are beyond the control of C4. C4 will make every reasonable effort to remove personal information from its active systems where requested and to no longer use the information actively. However, C4 also acknowledges that in many cases it may be impossible to completely remove all traces of this information.

Although C4s services are not directed at children, C4 makes no attempt to prevent access to its services by children. As such, it is possible for children or minors to submit information to C4. If you feel a child or minor has submitted personal information to C4 without consent of their parent or guardian, please do not hesitate to contact C4 to have the situation addressed in a timely fashion.

The rest is here:
CryptoCurrency Certification Consortium (C4)

About the Course

To really understand what is special about Bitcoin, we need to understand how it works at a technical level. Well address the important questions about Bitcoin, such as:

How does Bitcoin work? What makes Bitcoin different? How secure are your Bitcoins? How anonymous are Bitcoin users? What determines the price of Bitcoins? Can cryptocurrencies be regulated? What might the future hold?

After this course, youll know everything you need to be able to separate fact from fiction when reading claims about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Youll have the conceptual foundations you need to engineer secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network. And youll be able to integrate ideas from Bitcoin in your own projects.

Course Lecturers: Arvind Narayanan, Princeton University Joseph Bonneau, Princeton University Edward Felten, Princeton University Andrew Miller, University of Maryland

The class will consist of lecture videos broken up into 5-7 segments, each 10-15 minutes in length. Each segment contains 1 or 2 integrated quiz questions.

There will also be standalone homeworks that are not part of video lectures.

See the original post here:
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies - Princeton ...

Goldman Sachs is seeking to create its own cryptocurrency for post-trade settlement, according to a recently released patent filing.

The cryptocurrency, called SETLcoin, would be the architecture behind a new securities settlement system for the banking giant that would reduce delays in the transfer of assets; the time between when the transaction is initiated and finalized can take days.

SETLcoin guarantees instant execution and settlement, according to the filing, submitted October 2014.

"As implemented by the described technology, a trader no longer trades securities by meeting at an exchange with an indication of cash for security and then settles the transaction meanwhile bearing all of the associated credit risk in the interim," it says.

Goldman isn't the first to patent its own cryptocurrency. Citi and Bank of New York Mellon have also created them, CitiCoin and BK Coins respectively, for internal testing of blockchain technology.

Banks have become increasingly interested in blockchain technology this year. Goldman Sachs was one of the inaugural members of the R3CEV consortium, which now has 30 members and is expected to announce more soon. That firm is developing a similar distributed ledger-based settlement platform with which its members can experiment.

Read this article:
Goldman Sachs Files Patent for Cryptocurrency System ...

Truly anonymous

Untraceable truly anonymous DigitalNote transactions and encrypted information transfers in decentralized p2p network.

DigitalNote provides an instant secure, untraceable and unlinkable way of encrypted communication - crypto messages.

DigitalNotes can be locked on deposit account for some time with 0.5-1% annual interest rate. Deposit is a factor of main supply.

DigitalNote blockchain is resistant to any kind of analysis. All you XDN transactions and messages transfers are unlinkable.

DigitalNote distribution happens with fair ASIC-resistant Proof-of-work mining process. Block reward = 150 XDN ~ 1 year after launch.

XDN announce was public and loud. Since the very first block it is mined by cryptocurrency community users with CPU-efficient PoW.

XDN is a decentralized Open Source project, released under the MIT license, anyone can take a part in development process.

DigitalNote uses decentralized peer-to-peer network technology to operate with no central authority. Your .keys file is a private XDN bank.

Imagine Proof-of-activity based on blockchain deposits, mobile client, aliases for your @messages and even blockchain Digital ID.

Excerpt from:
DigitalNote XDN cryptocurrency, privacy protected ...

Bitcoin

(365)

(42)

(ACOIN)

(ALF)

(ANC)

(ARI)

(ARK)

(ASC)

(AUR)

(BNCR)

(BTA)

(BCX)

(BQC)

(BVC)

(BEN)

(BET)

(BIG)

(BTB)

(BTC)

(BTG)

(BTM)

(BLC)

(CAP)

(BCN)

(CAI)

(CANN)

(CSC)

(CAT)

(CNC)

(CIN)

(CNOTE)

(CON)

(CYC)

(CTM)

(CMC)

(CRC)

(CRYPT)

(BUK)

(CBX)

(CGA)

(CURE)

(DASH)

(DVC)

(DMD)

(DGB)

(DGC)

(DGC)

(DGC)

(NOTE)

(DOGE)

(DOGED)

(EAC)

(EMC2)

(DEM)

(EMD)

(ENC)

(EXE)

(EXC)

(FRQ)

(FST)

(FTC)

(FFC)

(FLAP)

(FLO)

(FLT)

(FRAC)

(FRK)

(FRC)

(FZ)

(GLX)

(GMC)

(GLC)

(GDN)

(GLD)

(GPUC)

(GDC)

(GRS)

(NLG)

(HAM)

(HIRO)

(HBN)

(ICN)

(IFC)

(IEC)

(IXC)

(JPC)

(XJO)

(KARM)

(MEOW)

(KDC)

(KGC)

(LEAF)

(LGD)

(LTC)

(LTCD)

(LGC)

(LOT)

See original here:
Exchange Rates | CoinWarz - Cryptocurrency Mining vs. Bitcoin ...

Bitcoin

(365)

(42)

(ACOIN)

(ALF)

(ANC)

(ARI)

(ARK)

(ASC)

(AUR)

(BNCR)

(BTA)

(BCX)

(BQC)

(BVC)

(BEN)

(BET)

(BIG)

(BTB)

(BTC)

(BTG)

(BTM)

(BLC)

(CAP)

(BCN)

(CAI)

(CANN)

(CSC)

(CAT)

(CNC)

(CIN)

(CNOTE)

(CON)

(CYC)

(CTM)

(CMC)

(CRC)

(CRYPT)

(BUK)

(CBX)

(CGA)

(CURE)

(DASH)

(DVC)

(DMD)

(DGB)

(DGC)

(DGC)

(DGC)

(NOTE)

(DOGE)

(DOGED)

(EAC)

(EMC2)

(DEM)

(EMD)

(ENC)

(EXE)

(EXC)

(FRQ)

(FST)

(FTC)

(FFC)

(FLAP)

(FLO)

(FLT)

(FRAC)

(FRK)

(FRC)

(FZ)

(GLX)

(GMC)

(GLC)

(GDN)

(GLD)

(GPUC)

(GDC)

(GRS)

(NLG)

(HAM)

(HIRO)

(HBN)

(ICN)

(IFC)

(IEC)

(IXC)

(JPC)

(XJO)

(KARM)

(MEOW)

(KDC)

(KGC)

(LEAF)

(LGD)

(LTC)

(LTCD)

(LGC)

(LOT)

Read more:
Exchange Rates | CoinWarz - Cryptocurrency Mining vs. Bitcoin ...

On Wednesday night, Feb. 11, we were part of a special night at the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street, a discussion on digital currency and the future of finance featuring former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers that took a look at the ways in which bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are going to effect, and be absorbed and adapted by, the financial system.

Nearly 300 people (the event sold out very quickly) filled the museums main exhibition hall to hear Summers, us, and a panel of experts talk about the future of finance, and digital currencys place in that future.

The museum occupies the old Bank of New York headquarters, a grand old Greek revival building on the corner of Wall and Williams street, a block away from Federal Hall and the New York Stock Exchange. That location and history made for a dramatic backdrop to what was decidedly a 21st century night of questions and discussions.

The media coverage ranged from the mainstream New York Times, which took a very straightforward angle with this write-up of Summers comments, to this decidedly cynical take from Animal New York. On Wednesday night, the Establishment wasnt afraid, Peter Yeh wrote. It was excited. Its members swarmed the CEOs after the panel ended to exchange business cards. Nothing is more traditional finance than that.

There was something to that take. This was one of the first times, if not the first, that the upstart cryptocurrency world met the staid traditional finance world on its own turf, and engaged it on its own terms. The night was less about disruption and more about evolution, and it seemed to us at least that at some point soon, theres going to be something in the museum to represent bitcoin, something that extends the line of history just one step further.

Continue reading

Publication Day!

Jan. 27 has arrived, and with it, the publication of The Age of Cryptocurrency (and a massive blizzard thats about to dump two feet of snow on the east coast, but thats another story). We are extremely excited to have finally made it to this day. The reception so far has been really quite positive, and were anxious to see how the book does now that its on bookshelves.

Our weekend essay in the Wall Street Journal is a good primer on the promise of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, if you havent read the book yet. It will give you a taste of the direction were going in.

Also over the weekend, the Washington Post gave the book a very strong review. To their ample credit, Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey, veteran Wall Street Journal reporters, resist the common temptation to hype their trendy subject, the finance writer Daniel Gross said. Theyve written a reported explainer that patiently documents bitcoins rise, acknowledges its flaws and highlights its promise. Smart and conscientious, The Age of Cryptocurrency is the most thorough and readable account of the short life of this controversial currency.

Heres an excerpt from our Journal essay:

No digital currency will soon dislodge the dollar, but bitcoin is much more than a currency. It is a radically new, decentralized system for managing the way societies exchange value. It is, quite simply, one of the most powerful innovations in finance in 500 years.

If applied widely to the inner workings of our global economy, this model could slash trillions in financial fees; computerize much of the work done by payment processors, government property-title offices, lawyers and accountants; and create opportunities for billions of people who dont currently have bank accounts. Great value will be created, but many jobs also will be rendered obsolete.

Continue reading

The book doesnt arrive for another two weeks, but today we published our trailer on YouTube. For this, we performed a relatively simple experiment: we went out into Times Square, and asked people, what is bitcoin? You can see for yourself what they said.

Yes, that is Mike Casey making an ever so brief cameo toward the end.

The Economist this week came out with its review of The Age of Cryptocurrency, saying, essentially, that its a serious book worth reading, one that digs deep into the reasons that bitcoin is significant as a topic, beyond all the manic stuff you read in the media.

Heres a clip, though wed recommend reading the whole thing:

For any book on bitcoin to be worth reading, though, it has to delve further: into the crypto-currencys ideological and technical roots, for instance, or what it adds to the narrative of money, or even what its economic and political impact may be. The currencys dollar price may be three-quarters down on its peak, but the underlying technology also provides plenty of intellectual fodderand is unlikely to go away. So there is plenty to write about if you are serious.

Paul Vigna and Michael Casey, two journalists at the Wall Street Journal, are certainly serious.

The tone is somewhat dismissive of bitcoin (The rise and fall of the crypto-currency is good news for authors at least), and it treats some of the other bitcoin books out there harshly. But it does highlight many of the big-picture issues we explore: the debate about the nature of money, and where cryptocurrencies lie within that; the potential to bootstrap the unbanked into the modern world, a slow-rolling revolution in finance. All in all, its a very positive review and were really pleased to get our first notice from such an august name.

Mike and I both received our first copies of the U.K. version of our book in the mail today, from our publisher The Bodley Head.

Our editor at Bodley Head, Stuart Williams, cut the title down to simply Cryptocurrency, (you can see the Random House page here) but otherwise its the same book. And, yes, that is a bullet on the cover. They really went for a statement with the title and imagery, which we like.

Weve seen a couple of the galleys of our U.S. edition, but this is the first actual copy Ive had in my hands. We put in an awful lot of work between the day we signed the contract and today. It feels very good to have the book arrive, to see the culmination of all that work here sitting next to me.

Here is the book on Amazons U.K. site. One nice little touch on the dust jacket is that they priced it in pounds, and bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency is available in the U.K. beginning Jan. 29 (and Jan. 27 here in the U.S.)

Publishers Weekly gave The Age of Cryptocurrency a starred review; heres what they had to say:

While many readers understandably have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept of non-government-backed currency, journalists Casey (Ches Afterlife) and Vigna, who blog about cryptocurrency at the Wall Street JournalsMoneyBeat blog, here use their considerable expertise to make the Bitcoin phenomenon accessible.

They take a thorough, multidisciplinary approach to the topic, including a fascinating examination of the origin of money. The authors are appropriately cautious, warning that despite increased public awareness of Bitcoin, it remains a niche product, and the jury is still out on how far and how quickly it and other digital currency will spread.

However, newcomers will gain a better understanding of the revolutionary potential of digital currency, especially for the roughly 2.5 billion people from Afghanistan to Africa to even America who have been shut out of the modern finance system. And the explication of the non-currency applications of the concepts behind Bitcoinsuch as tamper-proof records of verified informationwill be valuable to any reader. Agent: Gillian McKenzie, Gillian McKenzie Agency. (Jan.)

Anyone who doubts that bitcoin and its imitators are at the early stage of altering fundamentally the global payments systemif not the nature of money itselfwill find it difficult to resist Michael Casey and Paul Vignas admirably clear and judicious account. If the word blockchain makes you want to call a plumber, or if you think Satoshi is some kind of raw fish, you need to read The Age of Cryptocurrency today. If youre already a bit-convert, youll still learn a lot. Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money

Anyone who views bitcoin as a voodoo concept must read this totally comprehensible narrative outlining the history of money and how bitcoin might become a new and better currency. For those confused by bitcoin concepts, this clearheaded and readable book sets forth credible reasons why bitcoin might or might not be an evolving economic miracle. Arthur Levitt, 25th Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission

An invaluable book: a fascinating field guide to the phenomenon in which three of the most powerful forces shaping our world todaythe reform of finance, technological innovation, and the rejection of traditional politicsmeet. Felix Martin, author of Money: The Unauthorized Biography

The Age of Cryptocurrency not only demystifies and explains bitcoin, but also shows where it fits into the cultural zeitgeist and where its pointed, and what that may mean for our financial system. John Mauldin, New York Times bestselling author of Endgame

The thought-provoking Age of Cryptocurrency was a pleasure to read. The authors have successfully demystified cryptocurrencies like bitcoin so that even a traditionalist like myself can understand them and embrace their potential. And the references to money were so spot-on, they even taught this old dog some new tricks. Edmund C. Moy, 38th Director of the United States Mint, 2006-2011

Vigna and Casey unlock the mysteries of cryptocurrencies and their implications for the future of financial transactions in an engaging, lucid, and thought-provoking account. The technological developments described in this book will someday affect every one of us and I can think of no better guide to what the future holds. Eswar Prasad, author of The Dollar Trap

Even to a bitcoin skeptic like myself, Vigna and Caseys book is a fascinating journey into the cast of characters and oddballs behind the movement into the digital currency realm. Barry Ritholtz, CIO, Ritholtz Wealth Management

Thorough, multidisciplinary approach to the topic, including a fascinating examination of the origin of money newcomers will gain a better understanding of the revolutionary potential of digital currencyAnd the explication of the non-currency applications of the concepts behind Bitcoinsuch as tamper-proof records of verified informationwill be valuable to any reader. PublishersWeekly, starred review

Original post:
The Age of Cryptocurrency | How Bitcoin and Digital Money ...

On Wednesday night, Feb. 11, we were part of a special night at the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street, a discussion on digital currency and the future of finance featuring former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers that took a look at the ways in which bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are going to effect, and be absorbed and adapted by, the financial system.

Nearly 300 people (the event sold out very quickly) filled the museums main exhibition hall to hear Summers, us, and a panel of experts talk about the future of finance, and digital currencys place in that future.

The museum occupies the old Bank of New York headquarters, a grand old Greek revival building on the corner of Wall and Williams street, a block away from Federal Hall and the New York Stock Exchange. That location and history made for a dramatic backdrop to what was decidedly a 21st century night of questions and discussions.

The media coverage ranged from the mainstream New York Times, which took a very straightforward angle with this write-up of Summers comments, to this decidedly cynical take from Animal New York. On Wednesday night, the Establishment wasnt afraid, Peter Yeh wrote. It was excited. Its members swarmed the CEOs after the panel ended to exchange business cards. Nothing is more traditional finance than that.

There was something to that take. This was one of the first times, if not the first, that the upstart cryptocurrency world met the staid traditional finance world on its own turf, and engaged it on its own terms. The night was less about disruption and more about evolution, and it seemed to us at least that at some point soon, theres going to be something in the museum to represent bitcoin, something that extends the line of history just one step further.

Continue reading

Publication Day!

Jan. 27 has arrived, and with it, the publication of The Age of Cryptocurrency (and a massive blizzard thats about to dump two feet of snow on the east coast, but thats another story). We are extremely excited to have finally made it to this day. The reception so far has been really quite positive, and were anxious to see how the book does now that its on bookshelves.

Our weekend essay in the Wall Street Journal is a good primer on the promise of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, if you havent read the book yet. It will give you a taste of the direction were going in.

Also over the weekend, the Washington Post gave the book a very strong review. To their ample credit, Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey, veteran Wall Street Journal reporters, resist the common temptation to hype their trendy subject, the finance writer Daniel Gross said. Theyve written a reported explainer that patiently documents bitcoins rise, acknowledges its flaws and highlights its promise. Smart and conscientious, The Age of Cryptocurrency is the most thorough and readable account of the short life of this controversial currency.

Heres an excerpt from our Journal essay:

No digital currency will soon dislodge the dollar, but bitcoin is much more than a currency. It is a radically new, decentralized system for managing the way societies exchange value. It is, quite simply, one of the most powerful innovations in finance in 500 years.

If applied widely to the inner workings of our global economy, this model could slash trillions in financial fees; computerize much of the work done by payment processors, government property-title offices, lawyers and accountants; and create opportunities for billions of people who dont currently have bank accounts. Great value will be created, but many jobs also will be rendered obsolete.

Continue reading

The book doesnt arrive for another two weeks, but today we published our trailer on YouTube. For this, we performed a relatively simple experiment: we went out into Times Square, and asked people, what is bitcoin? You can see for yourself what they said.

Yes, that is Mike Casey making an ever so brief cameo toward the end.

The Economist this week came out with its review of The Age of Cryptocurrency, saying, essentially, that its a serious book worth reading, one that digs deep into the reasons that bitcoin is significant as a topic, beyond all the manic stuff you read in the media.

Heres a clip, though wed recommend reading the whole thing:

For any book on bitcoin to be worth reading, though, it has to delve further: into the crypto-currencys ideological and technical roots, for instance, or what it adds to the narrative of money, or even what its economic and political impact may be. The currencys dollar price may be three-quarters down on its peak, but the underlying technology also provides plenty of intellectual fodderand is unlikely to go away. So there is plenty to write about if you are serious.

Paul Vigna and Michael Casey, two journalists at the Wall Street Journal, are certainly serious.

The tone is somewhat dismissive of bitcoin (The rise and fall of the crypto-currency is good news for authors at least), and it treats some of the other bitcoin books out there harshly. But it does highlight many of the big-picture issues we explore: the debate about the nature of money, and where cryptocurrencies lie within that; the potential to bootstrap the unbanked into the modern world, a slow-rolling revolution in finance. All in all, its a very positive review and were really pleased to get our first notice from such an august name.

Mike and I both received our first copies of the U.K. version of our book in the mail today, from our publisher The Bodley Head.

Our editor at Bodley Head, Stuart Williams, cut the title down to simply Cryptocurrency, (you can see the Random House page here) but otherwise its the same book. And, yes, that is a bullet on the cover. They really went for a statement with the title and imagery, which we like.

Weve seen a couple of the galleys of our U.S. edition, but this is the first actual copy Ive had in my hands. We put in an awful lot of work between the day we signed the contract and today. It feels very good to have the book arrive, to see the culmination of all that work here sitting next to me.

Here is the book on Amazons U.K. site. One nice little touch on the dust jacket is that they priced it in pounds, and bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency is available in the U.K. beginning Jan. 29 (and Jan. 27 here in the U.S.)

Publishers Weekly gave The Age of Cryptocurrency a starred review; heres what they had to say:

While many readers understandably have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept of non-government-backed currency, journalists Casey (Ches Afterlife) and Vigna, who blog about cryptocurrency at the Wall Street JournalsMoneyBeat blog, here use their considerable expertise to make the Bitcoin phenomenon accessible.

They take a thorough, multidisciplinary approach to the topic, including a fascinating examination of the origin of money. The authors are appropriately cautious, warning that despite increased public awareness of Bitcoin, it remains a niche product, and the jury is still out
on how far and how quickly it and other digital currency will spread.

However, newcomers will gain a better understanding of the revolutionary potential of digital currency, especially for the roughly 2.5 billion people from Afghanistan to Africa to even America who have been shut out of the modern finance system. And the explication of the non-currency applications of the concepts behind Bitcoinsuch as tamper-proof records of verified informationwill be valuable to any reader. Agent: Gillian McKenzie, Gillian McKenzie Agency. (Jan.)

Anyone who doubts that bitcoin and its imitators are at the early stage of altering fundamentally the global payments systemif not the nature of money itselfwill find it difficult to resist Michael Casey and Paul Vignas admirably clear and judicious account. If the word blockchain makes you want to call a plumber, or if you think Satoshi is some kind of raw fish, you need to read The Age of Cryptocurrency today. If youre already a bit-convert, youll still learn a lot. Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money

Anyone who views bitcoin as a voodoo concept must read this totally comprehensible narrative outlining the history of money and how bitcoin might become a new and better currency. For those confused by bitcoin concepts, this clearheaded and readable book sets forth credible reasons why bitcoin might or might not be an evolving economic miracle. Arthur Levitt, 25th Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission

An invaluable book: a fascinating field guide to the phenomenon in which three of the most powerful forces shaping our world todaythe reform of finance, technological innovation, and the rejection of traditional politicsmeet. Felix Martin, author of Money: The Unauthorized Biography

The Age of Cryptocurrency not only demystifies and explains bitcoin, but also shows where it fits into the cultural zeitgeist and where its pointed, and what that may mean for our financial system. John Mauldin, New York Times bestselling author of Endgame

The thought-provoking Age of Cryptocurrency was a pleasure to read. The authors have successfully demystified cryptocurrencies like bitcoin so that even a traditionalist like myself can understand them and embrace their potential. And the references to money were so spot-on, they even taught this old dog some new tricks. Edmund C. Moy, 38th Director of the United States Mint, 2006-2011

Vigna and Casey unlock the mysteries of cryptocurrencies and their implications for the future of financial transactions in an engaging, lucid, and thought-provoking account. The technological developments described in this book will someday affect every one of us and I can think of no better guide to what the future holds. Eswar Prasad, author of The Dollar Trap

Even to a bitcoin skeptic like myself, Vigna and Caseys book is a fascinating journey into the cast of characters and oddballs behind the movement into the digital currency realm. Barry Ritholtz, CIO, Ritholtz Wealth Management

Thorough, multidisciplinary approach to the topic, including a fascinating examination of the origin of money newcomers will gain a better understanding of the revolutionary potential of digital currencyAnd the explication of the non-currency applications of the concepts behind Bitcoinsuch as tamper-proof records of verified informationwill be valuable to any reader. PublishersWeekly, starred review

Original post:
The Age of Cryptocurrency | How Bitcoin and Digital Money ...