bitcoin for humans
Post on 13-Apr-2017
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What is money?
A no-bullshit intro to Bitcoin
How is it different from other currencies?
Fresh numbers from the Bitcoin economy
Thoughts on the future?
Agenda
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What is money?Medium of exchange, unit of account
7 properties of good money:
Durable, portable, acceptable, scarce, divisible, stable, uniform
Countries are creating, backing (?) and giving legal status to currencies
Money and the financial system are extremely political
Money is one of the most successful human experiments in history
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Created in 2008 by an anonymous entity
It’s not purely “an app”, but you can imagine it’s “an app” if it helps you
It’s has (almost) all the properties of good money
It offers instant, near-zero-cost transfers worldwide
Bitcoin has several interesting properties, but only one is real magic
Bitcoin is an electronic cash system
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Account #1 Itai 10 HKD
Account #2 Karen 50 HKD
Account #3 Sean 100 HKD
Account #4 Daniel 50 HKD
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The real magic: decentralized network
Wallet #1 Itai 10.00000000 BTC
Wallet #2 Karen 20.00000000 BTC
Wallet #3 Sean 10.00000000 BTC
Wallet #4 Daniel 10.00000000 BTC
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Other propertiesIt was born anonymous and unregulated
There is no political authority behind the asset- less vulnerable (like gold)
Or the network- very difficult to shut down
No one can increase money supply- production schedule is predictable
Cost of transaction is nearly zero- hello micropayments
Cost of onboarding is 0- good in a world where 60% are underbanked
Transaction history is completely public8
Fresh numbers (Dec 2016) 1 BTC = 775 USD (0.05 BTC = 40 USD)
0.5m Bitcoin wallets
16m Bitcoins in circulation, market cap 12.5b USD
Macro:
● China: ~80% of volume, ~80% of computers in network● 13x increase in media interest since 2009● 641 other currencies, 15 with market cap >20m USD
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Bitcoin was just the beginningLots of brainpower & funding (1.1b USD), some view it as “the new internet”
2 camps (1) betting on the currencies (2) betting on the tech (“blockchain”)
Examples: banks (R3), Colu, BitMEX, Ripple
2 years: smart contracts (renting a car)
5 years: capital markets (distributed hedge funds)
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Bitcoin has its challenges: regulations, trust, usability, bad PR.
But think about it: the internet is killing the world’s most powerful mediators, slowly but surely.
I believe that Bitcoin and the ideas around it have the potential to change to our economy- in radical ways.
Closing thoughts
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Getting startedNews: CoinDesk (UK)
Meetups: Bitcoin Association (HK)
Exchange: Gatecoin (HK)
Wallet: CoinBase (US)
Merchant services: BitPay (US)
Questions? Talk to me: i@itai.com
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Send me some Bitcoin
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