Exploring Cryptocurrency

Blockchain Myths: The Semantics of Hacking (feat. recommended resource: Maurice Kenny)

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Tue, 7 May 2019 15:54:00 -0700

Hi all,

A colleague recently launched his long-anticipated YouTube channel, offering education and counsel to enterprise and commercial interests as they pertain to blockchain solutions. Maurice Kenny has proven himself a unique professional in the space - he clearly understands this stuff and how impactful it can be for businesses and the diverse array of applications therein.

Here is the first episode of his new podcast:

I thought this episode was a very pragmatic and concise introduction to some of the most outstanding misconceptions about blockchain architectures. Maurice touches on something very few individuals account for: the nature of hacking. There's a sort of semantic disconnect when discussing hacking, particularly in business or the media. What is largely determinant in assessing a system's vulnerability is the nature of exploits thereof. For example, we often hear about the "major security issues" of a blockchain such as 51% attacks, or account takeovers.

Maurice notes the impracticality of a 51% attack while doing his due diligence by acknowledging that it is a possibility that must be accounted for. We see an inverse correlation between a 51% attack and the scalability of the given network (or more specific and low-level, the number of nodes and the ease of operating them). The more nodes, the more complex (and therefore impractical) a forced hard-fork. This is intriguing when we consider things such as block size, alternative data structures, segregated witness, et cetera.

Second, Maurice makes mention of "hacking" incidents that have occurred, namely those causing great concern among analysts, economists, and reporters whose expertise in blockchain technologies is largely peripheral. Accounts are often compromised due to a lack of education about private key management and cryptographic security measures. Something as simple as two-factor authentication can comprise the difference between a compromised wallet and a secured wallet. My point is that many of the "hacks" we have seen are not exploits of intrinsic system vulnerabilities, but of sociological vulnerabilities spawned by the complex nature of these systems.

If a technology is complex and without accessible resources for proper usage, users will inevitably fall victim to tactics such as phishing, social-engineering, and corporeal theft (like an unlocked mobile phone running the Binance app being stolen from one's person). A lot of the system vulnerabilities called "hacks" are really just people mismanaging their information - and this is a symptom of the purveyors of those systems. I'm getting at something about which I've been long-impassioned: educating the layman on the proper usage of technologies such as wallet softwares.

In the context of business/enterprise interests, this semantic oversight can cause unnecessary panic. However, the onus does not rest upon the users, but us. Again, as purveyors of this technology, and moreover as champions of its adoption, we have a responsibility to educate others about best practices in this emergent space. I've said this many, many times and I will forever stand by it (it's probably my mantra by now).

Many in the crypto space blame the ignorance of media outlets or laggard, demurring "experts" who love to hate these technologies...and I understand this; I'm not always immune to this sentiment, either. But how do you combat disinformation? You educate people, and you do it using empirical, data-driven research and intelligence that is born from pragmatism as opposed to idealism. We don't need to be crypto-ideologues or zealots to challenge misinformation; we merely need to offer qualitatively sound information. And we need to make this tech more inviting and accessible to everyone. In short, zealotry is alienating. Let's stick to the facts.

Anyway, I commend Maurice for pointing this out far more concisely than I just did. But hey, I wanted to rant and this is a blog. I suppose that's what such a medium is for. Be sure to check out Maurice Kenny.

Until next time,
Matthew

Update: Summer 2019

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Tue, 7 May 2019 15:07:00 -0700

Howdy all,

Please excuse my absence as of late; I recently relocated across the States and have been quite busy with some pressing affairs. That said, I do intend to return to the EC platform with a renewed vigor, offering even more research and insights into blockchain-based technologies and the projects that are bringing them into the purview of the public at-large.

This Summer, I want to explore various macro-concepts in the crypto-financial space. We'll be looking at overviews of crypto-financial regulation and law (incl. ICOs versus STOs), layer 2 solutions and amendments to projects with which we are familiar, and even futurist estimations of some of the most radical potential use cases in blockchain technology.

Furthermore, I will be resuming the weekly Q&A episodes, albeit on an admittedly protean basis - namely due to the aforementioned affairs. Nevertheless, I will do my best to accommodate any and all questions insofar as they abide by my long-standing criterion: I do not provide investment advice. You are always welcome to email me your questions (in fact, I encourage this); I can answer your questions prior to my recording the respective Q&A episode (i.e. you won't have to wait).

Last, I have been publishing many of my articles on the Medium platform, as it affords me a larger audience than Blogger. To be candid, the association of my name with the information I disseminate is pretty negligible - I sincerely just want to offer information to as many people as is possible. In other words, I don't have much interest in scaling my name or platform so much as I am passionate about offering empirically-driven, impartial education in the crypto space. If someone else's platform will allow me to do that, I'll gladly use it. So, be sure to find me there.

Best,
Matthew

Opinion: Tron Isn't a Scam - Here's Why (and other musings on being a responsible crypto representative)

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 19:46:00 -0700

In light of the Tron / Tesla debacle today (which has since the recording of this video been resolved, but leaves lingering questions), I decided to chime in on why I think calling TRON a scam is entirely irrational from an objective point-of-view. I’ve never once seen an actual citation or argument for WHY TRON is a scam, just ad hominem attacks and emotionally-driven outbursts, primarily on Reddit. So let's assess the notion that TRON is a scam using Occam's Razor.

This unedited, stream-of-consciousness rant further goes into our socio-cultural responsibilities as purveyors of crypto technology, why the “hate” of TRON and Justin Sun is nothing but counterproductive to the crypto space as a whole, the recent TRON “scandals”, and challenges the anti-TRON camp to actually engage in civil, productive discourse instead of fallacy-laden groupthink.

These are my personal opinions. Feel free to disagree - there’s nothing wrong with that, despite what some people nowadays may think. There is no correct answer. BUT there IS due-diligence, the scientific method, proper and ethical practice, and thoughtful consideration of the potential ramifications of what we post on the internet.

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09: EOS Explained!

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 13:42:00 -0700

Today, everything EOS! We’ll be learning all about project and cryptocurrency EOS, one of the major Ethereum contenders and decentralized applications (DApps) platform. We’ll learn about the history of EOS, its issuance model and ICO, its governance, and its unique implementation of the delegated proof-of-stake consensus model.

We’ll also take a look at the concerns surrounding EOS, from the “Tragedy of the Commons” to the “Nothing at Stake Problem”. These perspectives will allow us to look at EOS objectively, and furthermore better understand the varieties of consensus mechanisms (e.g. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work vs. Ethereum’s imminent hybrid PoW and PoS model, etc) and their implications on a blockchain network, its scalability, and security.

We now have a Twitter page @ECryptoPodcast! Be sure to follow for updates on new episodes and news in the crypto space. You can also submit questions for the weekly Q&A here.

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exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 12:21:00 -0700

Research Profile: Mimblewimble, Grin, and Beam

We have an upcoming episode that's all about the ground-breaking Mimblewimble privacy protocol as well as crypto-assets Grin and Beam, both of which run on Mimblewimble. To accompany this episode, I've compiled a full research profile that outlines what Mimblewimble is, how it functions, and how tokens Grin and Beam operate on this protocol.

It's a technical read, but as always, no stone is left unturned. Enjoy!

08: Nano / Raiblocks, XRB, Block-lattice, and Directed Acyclic Graph

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Thu, 7 Mar 2019 11:13:00 -0800

Today, we’ll be learning all about the cryptocurrency project Nano (previously known as Raiblocks): the Nano network, the XRB token, and how it all works. We’ll delve into the unconventional and creative consensus mechanism behind Nano - a modified form of delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS), the usage of block-lattices and multiple blockchains, and directed acyclic graph (DAG), all of which combine to make Nano a formidable peer-to-peer payment solution that rivals Bitcoin.

All of these technologies and concepts combined make Nano one of the fastest payment systems in existence - processing transactions at a fraction of a second - and incredibly secure…all while giving the user autonomy and control over their XRB tokens.

For a Nano speed test, check out nanospeed.live. Special thanks to Nano community member and representative rockmsockmjesus for providing resources that made this episode possible. You can learn more about their project by visiting nanocenter.org.

NOTE: The Nano community was kind enough to point out a few slip-ups that I want to clarify:
At 5:30 I said that the only two parties needed to validate a transaction are the sender and receiver. For confirmation, the network still needs to vote on the block. At 13:30 I mention UDP. Note that Nano will be switching to TCP soon for better bandwidth throttling and other advantages. At 14:15 I used the OLD ticker, XRB. With the rebranding, the ticker has been changed to NANO. Thanks!
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Opinion: 'Crypto Bashing'

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Thu, 7 Mar 2019 00:16:00 -0800

One of the remarkable phenomenon you see when you follow so very closely the cryptocurrency community and the somewhat insulated news sources and culture(s) therein is this concept of 'crypto bashing'.

And I mean this in a unique context, qua - like I said - the crypto community. This isn't a more macrocosmic context, such as JPM Chase publicly chastising Bitcoin and blockchain for years only to develop their own proprietary token asset that runs on a permissioned blockchain, or Warren Buffet (in my opinion, the most antiquated and therefore overrated investor alive) despising cryptocurrencies because he self-admittedly can't understand them...the solution to which, in his expired mind, is deeming them "worthless".

No, I'm not talking about all the hate our community receives from the mainstream world, a world that largely doesn't even know what a consensus algorithm is and yet takes up the mantle in admonishing crypto investors, developers, and users. (And by the way, these same people don't even realize half the institutions they use are already running a blockchain or otherwise distributed system that wouldn't exist without Bitcoin and Nakamoto's white paper...)

I'm talking about hate within our own community, and I'm moreover referring to two specific projects: Ripple and TRON.

Many in the cryptocurrency community - especially those on Reddit (but then again, Reddit is for the most part a consortium of video game-fixaed 20-something white males who each have a PhD in Arguing on the Internet), incessantly moan and complain about how Ripple is evil for working with banks and how TRON is a giant "s**tcoin" or scam project.

I can't even enumerate the myriad reasons these sentiments are absurd. Let's get TRON out of the way:

How would an Sun, who graduated from billionaire business magnate Jack Ma's private business school (which has an application process more difficult than Harvard and Yale combined, requires one to have founded and run a business with millions in annual revenue just to apply, and accepts something like a mere 40 students per year) be a scammer? How does that make sense? Build an entire mainnet, open international offices, develop two development standards, and host international conferences...that's an even bigger front than Bernie Madoff! I mean, Madoff just had a reputation as an investor...Sun has a reputation plus all these things.

Let's remember that Sun is a businessman, a marketer, not a computer scientist before we complain about TRON's "partnerships" (which is an A-freakin-plus for adoption efforts, by the way). He's a businessman, and that's why he has a massive, transparent team of developers et al who have worked very hard to build TRON into one of the most creative, forward-thinking crypto projects in existence. They have more DApps than Ethereum and EOS combined and they have more users of DApps than any other network. Their mainnet is incredible, interesting, fun, and affords autonomy to up-and-coming devs and rewards community/network participants.

Should we discredit that because a Chinese-English speaker and volunteer translated the TRX white paper by using translation tools and copying generalized statements? Really, check out what was plagiarized: not technical specs, not infrastructure, but vague catch-all, SEO-optimized abstracts.

And what about Ripple?

Are we truly so arrogant as to think that cryptocurrency is going to get anywhere without SEC regulation? Without corporate interest? Did we think that banks would just sit back and let blockchain technology remain in the Wild West and not partake? Ha! At least Ripple took the initiative to open a dialogue with these people, to create a connection between our community and the centralized world. This is invaluable.

What about remittance payments, pre-funded Nostro accounts, and forex issues? It's easy for those of us who are fortunate enough to reside in developed countries like the United States, Britain, Germany, etc to forget that XRP is immeasurably valuable to people in developing "third world" countries. These people don't have access to banks (30% of the human population, to be precise). If they do, they have access to corrupt banks, or banks that don't have these aforementioned Nostro accounts and thus require massive fees and wait-periods sometimes weeks long in order to process remittance payments. This is the money being sent home so someone's family can eat. This is what XRP facilitates.

But maybe you disagree, or perhaps none of that matters to you. Then I ask you this: what about the fake ICOs? What about the fact that BitConnect happened? What about the thousands of blatant ETH investment scams, ponzi schemes (purchasable trading bots much?), fake projects?

My point today - as I rant, as I commit my thoughts to the page in brilliant vernacular form(lessness) - is that the energy we spend "bashing" legitimate projects could be better utilized focusing on actual threats and plagues to our community.

You don't have to like Ripple or TRON; you don't have to believe they're going anywhere or worth one IOTA (ha!). But is the energy expended on perpetuating FUD about these projects properly allocated when someone new to this space - someone we should have been available to instead of bickering on Reddit - just lost 10 ETH to a scam project? On that note, this person will now vow to never use crypto again, and tell everyone they know how awful it is. Great.

This is why I support all legitimate projects. I don't care which one is going to make me money. Hell, personally I couldn't care less about video games, and yet I support multiple platforms that deal exclusively with gaming. This is because everyone is a node, a part of a larger dialogue that is about finding that killer app, finding that perfect consensus mechanism, increasing adoption, increasing use-cases. Sure, I have my personal investment choices, but you won't hear me shaming any legitimate project that is actively contributing to this space. I leave my feelings out of it.

Just some thoughts to consider.

07: Bitcoin Cash, BCHSV, BCHABC, and The Hash Wars!

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Tue, 5 Mar 2019 12:03:00 -0800

Today’s episode is a strange one, a curious one, a bizarre saga of resource warring, imposters, and a crypto community in disarray.

We will learn everything there is to know about Bitcoin Cash by reviewing this odd saga of hard forks in the Bitcoin network, the scalability argument that began way back in 2009, block size limitations in the blockchain, and the recent transition into BCHSV and BCHABC.

You’ll learn what these cryptocurrencies are, why they exist, what makes them different from Bitcoin as we go down a rabbit hole of the bemusing story of Craig Wright aka The “Real” Satoshi Nakamoto and Roger Ver.

Today’s episode also features a quick news flash about the goings on in Venezuela, where hyperinflation has caused the emergence of a government supported remittance program for Bitcoin and Litecoin…which may very well become the first instances of decentralized cryptocurrencies becoming a sort of “official” currency of a nation!

We now have a Twitter page @ECryptoPodcast! Be sure to follow for updates on new episodes and news in the crypto space. You can also submit questions for the weekly Q&A here. Our podcast is also on iTunes here.

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Weekly Q&A 01: Ethereum Price Prediction, RLPx encoding, Ponzi Schemes?

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Mon, 4 Mar 2019 11:21:00 -0800

On our first weekly Q&A we answer listener questions ranging a variety of cryptocurrency and blockchain related topics, namely cryptocurrency investing:

Will the bear market end in 2019? Where is Ethereum’s price headed? Why does Ethereum infrastructure use RLPx encoding instead of protobuf? Is Bitcoin a ponzi scheme?! Many great questions, some silly questions, all serious and thorough answers.

Exploring Cryptocurrency publishes our weekly Q&A every Monday. All listeners are invited to ask a question (or questions) which we will address the following week. All we ask is that questions are kept civil and are relevant to crypto and blockchain technology, investing, culture, news, etc. Any questions regarding how to perform illicit activities will not be addressed.

You can submit questions on our blog at ExploringCryptocurrency.blogspot.com OR by emailing Matthew directly at exbotanical@gmail.com.

We now have a Twitter account @ECryptoPodcast! Be sure to follow for updates on new episodes and news in the crypto space. You can also submit questions for the weekly Q&A here.

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Opinion: The Crypto Winter, HODLer Culture, and Our Responsibility Within the Cryptocurrency Community

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Mon, 4 Mar 2019 01:56:00 -0800

Since early 2018, the cryptocurrency market has seen a considerable bear trend that is unlike any market correction or bearish environment we (namely those of us who have been involved in this market long enough to see such corrections and volatile fluctuations) have witnessed.

We saw the outcome of the Mt. Gox hack, we've seen dramatic market corrections, we've endured long bear trend markets. "We're used to it", we say; "this is what the cryptocurrency market does, the FUD on the part of newcomers is unwarranted"! We tell ourselves, "This is just another typical crypto bear market; things will recover on their own."

But the stark reality here is that the market won't recover on its own. This is because this isn't just another market correction, or another volatile downtrend that will invariably be followed by new ATHs. The irony in all of this? It's the very people who are engaging in FUD that have created this perpetuated bear market.

Consider the inflated valuations of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in December 2017 and January 2018. Bitcoin, as we all know, hit an unprecedented ATH of nearly 20,000 USD and alt-coins followed suit, conforming to the inferable standard that the valuations of alt-coins are inextricably tethered to that of Bitcoin (with a few exceptions).

The increased media coverage of this incredible bull run appealed to the speculative minds of millions who had either never heard of Bitcoin et al, or had heard of cryptocurrencies but possessed no vested interest in them such that they wanted to enter the market. But hype about nearly every cryptocurrency valuation rising astronomically within a remarkably brief timespan - the "sentiment adoption" fueled by a Bitcoin reaching toward 20,000 USD - was ample invitation for these millions of people to enter the market.

And among these millions of people are millions of speculative, neophyte investors who are not equipped with a resilience to crypto-asset volatility. These are people who jumped on the bandwagon, bought in at ATHs, and watched their portfolios crumble to formidable lows in the subsequent weeks, months, and now, in excess of one year.

One can imagine the sentiment here: sell now, get out while you can.

What makes this bear market unique is that it is sustained by the negative sentiments - a sort of shroud of darkness - that loom over the cryptocurrency market. Now that we've millions of uninformed investors in the space, the cryptocurrency market is saturated with an inherited distrust in a suite of technologies that many of these individuals never understood (or really trusted) to begin with. They sell off their assets, and they won't buy in again.

Crypto-asset valuations will never rise per the cyclical trend we veterans had become so accustomed to; we cannot depend on the metrics of the past which dictate that the market will once again rise exponentially. Coupled with the aforementioned massive population of purveyors of negative sentiment and FUD is a world that is more cognizant of cryptocurrencies.

The media, governments, and financial institutions now recognize cryptocurrencies and the mainstream world is trying to establish and determine their place among finance and technology. This is a point of no return; this is the adoption we've wanted.

Despite so much (quite recent) wonderful news and adoption and applications and use cases of cryptocurrencies and blockchain implementations, the market remains in a perpetuated bearish trend because these accomplishments are obfuscated by the speculative investor. As long as we want prices to go up, as long as we see Bitcoin et al as merely a means to profit, we will be party in perpetuating what has been aptly dubbed the "Crypto Winter".

Henceforth, crypto-asset valuations will be contingent on the technologies themselves, their applications, their products, their relationships to law, regulation, and mainstream institutions. It is only by using cryptocurrencies and supporting their intended use cases and applications that we will once again see a bull market (but this time, a healthy bull market). It is only by paving the necessary infrastructure inversion that we will see a healthy cryptocurrency market. The only way to do this is to cooperate with regulation, support necessary and reasonable legal arbitration, and foster education.

Valuations can no longer be over-inflated; speculation is no longer met with reward. We are now in the new era of the cryptocurrency space: this isn't a speculation-compatible market anymore.

The cryptocurrency community is analogous to the dawn of the internet, the dot-com bubble, and the subsequent survivalism of tech-giants like Apple, Google, and Amazon. We have this emergent, radical, disruptive technology that will see a "pruning" many times over. We have a community and global discourse founded on a technology that will see an extensive genealogy of applications. Projects will come to fruition, contribute to this dialogue, and fade away as a concise composite of blockchain-based technologies and a decentralization of societal utilities slowly emerges.

We are but a small link in the chain (I wish I had rendered this pun intentionally, but alas, I did not); we are trailblazers, executors of the greatest technological innovation of our time. Vested in us is this responsibility as arbiters, and to abuse this responsibility is a defiance of the very tenets of our own alchemy. Allowing real-world application of this technology to be superseded by the "HODL" diaspora and the memesis of speculation (or more aptly, gambling) is not within the best interest of the cryptocurrency heritage, but a self-serving disposition with a definitively unprofitable ending.

Thus we are given a choice: do we abuse this incredible innovation as a means to prospectively consolidate wealth, or do we support the projects therein by enacting their use-cases and doing our part to educate the millions who are drifting, lost in the mire of a broken community?

I choose the latter. I vow to support this technology in the interest of progress and not personal gain.
I commit to impart upon others what knowledge I have, and to maintain always a modicum of humility, that I can acquire more such knowledge so I may then relay it to these others.

There's nothing wrong with investing in cryptocurrencies - this is, after all, a valid and in many instances an intended use case. But if you are wholly and exclusively engaged in the "HODL" ethos, if you have never taken advantage of the utilities of the tokens you've invested in, if you collude within cryptocurrency and blockchain communities to exclude outsiders and newcomers, I implore you to consider and re-evaluate the role you are playing within the community-at-large. I challenge you to give back to a community that has granted you access to one of the most exciting moments in technological innovation.

And again, the irony here is that by choosing the latter, you will contribute to the finale of the "Crypto Winter". But more important, you will contribute to a cause, a movement, to progress. Isn't that worth more than money?

06: Ripple, XRP, and xRapid

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Sat, 2 Mar 2019 07:19:00 -0800

Today, we look at Ripple and their native token XRP, a unique cryptocurrency that is being utilized to facilitate cross-border transactions in a lightning fast, extremely cost-effective ecosystem.

You’ll learn all the basics necessary to understand what XRP is and how it works, including their revolutionary and highly demanded xRapid technology as well as the proprietary consensus algorithm that affords the Ripple network high scalability and such speed that it rivals that of the entire VISA network.

Also, just a quick crypto news update on a recent ICO scam - just friendly warning to listeners who are actively or thinking about investing in cryptocurrencies, some advice on identifying scams and how to take measures to avoid them.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share if you enjoy this podcast so more people can learn about these exciting technologies!

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05: Ethereum, Ether, Smart Contracts, and DApps

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Fri, 1 Mar 2019 10:00:00 -0800

Ethereum! Yes, we’re going to learn all about Ethereum today! This is probably the most revolutionary cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in the history of the space, and we’ll be learning every aspect of it: from smart contracts and decentralized applications - or DApps - to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and the ERC20 token standard.

As always, “Exploring Cryptocurrency” episodes come with the guarantee of never leaving a stone unturned: we promise that you’ll understand what all of these terms mean throughout this episode. No technical jargon, no Master’s in computer science and programming required.

Even if you’re experienced in the crypto and alt-coin space, we recommend checking this one out, as it’s a thorough outline of Ethereum.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share if you enjoy this podcast so more people can learn about these exciting technologies!

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04: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Mining

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 18:29:00 -0800

Today we're going over Bitcoin! What is Bitcoin? How does Bitcoin - the world's first global, digital, and decentralized currency - work? What is bitcoin mining and how does that work? And what are some of the potential problems with the Bitcoin network?

All of these questions answered and made simple in this episode of "Exploring Cryptocurrency". In this episode, we make Bitcoin simple and explain the technology without all the confusing jargon and over-complication you may encounter when trying to understand it. You'll also learn what Bitcoin-specific terms mean, such as mining, proof-of-work, and blockchain really mean.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share if you enjoy this podcast so more people can learn about these exciting technologies!

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03: TRON Foundation, TRX, and BTT

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 14:27:00 -0800

In this episode, we'll be learning all about TRON! We'll discuss the history and background of The TRON Foundation, the TRX token, how TRX works, and the controversy surrounding TRON.

We'll also be taking a dive into the inner-workings of this unique cryptocurrency, learning how its delegated-proof-of-stake (DPOS) consensus algorithm works, and how it is used to create a democratic network of voting for and electing "Super Representatives" using the TRX token and "TRON Power".

Last, we'll take a look at TRON's acquisition of the BitTorrent Network, the BTT token, and how TRON stacks up against competitors Ethereum and EOS.

If you're a total beginner, don't fret! Our first two episodes break down this technology into simple terms. Nevertheless, this episode is easy to understand and informative for newcomers and the experienced alike.

Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast to help inform more people about cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies and their use cases.

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02: Bitcoin and Blockchain for Beginners

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 15:13:00 -0800

In episode 2 of Exploring Cryptocurrency, we're going to learn how Bitcoin and the blockchain work. Using a simple analogy, even someone with no background in computer science, finance, or technology will be able to understand the Bitcoin protocol and the creative, revolutionary blockchain technology it utilizes.

This episode is great for both complete newcomers to the crypto space, as well as the experienced user/investor who may want to polish up on some Bitcoin and blockchain basics. Check it out and acquire a working knowledge of this curious technology that everyone's talking about! 

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01: The History of Money

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 00:11:00 -0800

Episode I: The History of Money

a gateway to understanding cryptocurrency

In our first podcast episode, we will be discussing the history of this curious technology called "money". We'll learn how money is a system for expressing value and acquire a clear understand of this abstract, incorporeal, and often confounding concept.

Evaluating and surveying this history will illustrate how cryptocurrency plays a natural role in the progression of money as a technology and will establish an important baseline understanding of currency that will allow us to move forward into upcoming episodes where we will discuss Bitcoin, the blockchain technology on which it operates, and eventually other cryptocurrencies and types of blockchains, such as permissioned distributed systems, centralized and distributed hybrid systems, ERC20, the Hyperledger project, et al.

And don't worry - if you have no idea what those aforementioned technologies are, you'll learn all about them in their respective episodes.

This podcast episode is intended for all audiences, regardless of computer science or finance foreknowledge.

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Welcome!

exbotanical@gmail.com (Exploring Cryptocurrency) — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:47:00 -0800

Welcome to Exploring Cryptocurrency

Hi all,

Welcome to "Exploring Cryptocurrency"! This is a platform for both new and experienced users of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to learn and keep up-to-date with current events in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Discourse is also encouraged; don't hesitate to leave a comment with your input, questions, and/or topics you'd like to learn more about.

Exploring Cryptocurrency is about more than just cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology - it is a place for exploring new, emergent, and disruptive technologies and ideas. One of our primary goals is to contribute to the crypto community by educating every day, often non-tech savvy folks about this exciting and powerful technology. In that interest, you will find many podcasts and articles that investigate these technologies from a layman's perspective, making complex ideas easy to understand by way of real-world use-cases, analogies, and ongoing discourse.

About the Author:

I'm not an expert; my knowledge isn't preeminent. I am merely a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast and passionate adherent of futurist ideologies. I was introduced to blockchain tech in 2012 while in University when I stumbled upon a curious research paper on the dark web. This research paper was Satoshi Nakamoto's original Bitcoin white paper. Given my prior acquaintanceship with distributed systems and a burgeoning interest in cryptography, I was blown away - here was a solution-driven technology that had the potential to change the world, not just finance! I was excited about this peer-to-peer, decentralized protocol standard that could potentiate a network of immutability, consensus and trust. The applications were and are immeasurable.

I subsequently casually followed Bitcoin, then Ethereum, then the ERC20 standard and smart contracts. In 2016, I fully realized the potential of blockchain technology as a means of creating and fostering global markets, trans-nationalism, automated technology, as well as incredible theoretical ideas, such as automating things like personal finance and corporate management, things that we have until now envisioned as inextricably intertwined with person-hood. e.g. The Internet of Things, AI financial autonomy, algorithmic corporations and non-profits

The Responsibilities of the Cryptocurrency Community:

Many individuals first made their foray into the crypto space when Bitcoin's valuation reached an all-time-high in December 2017. Thereafter, another market correction happened (something early crypto adopters are accustomed to), leaving millions of new users disenfranchised with what they saw as only a means to acquire capital gains by way of speculative investing. This created a rift in the cryptocurrency space, wherein the valuations of token assets seemingly inversely reflects (and unfortunately, obfuscates) the success of blockchain implementations and the ever-growing use-cases of various tokens: while a bear market has endured, blockchain technology has flourished. Thus, one of my goals here is to educate new cryptocurrency users and investors about how important it is to actively engage in and use these technologies, not to just see them as ways to make money.

As someone who has spent countless hours across over two years researching these technologies, I owe the community a didactic, accessible, and welcoming platform for learning about them. Please do not hesitate to comment so as to ask questions, which I will answer as best as I can. Please keep dialogue civil and remain cognizant that we, the cryptocurrency community, have a responsibility to make this space accessible to those who either have a difficult time understanding this technology, or otherwise are not well-versed in computer science and/or finance. In order to see widespread adoption, it is imperative that we become less insular.

Best,

Matthew