Blockchain & Bitcoin

with Lennard Mulder

Decentralised Database Mining

WHAT IS A BLOCKCHAIN?

Mining

Money Verifiable Data

Smart Contracts

Bitcoin Factom Ethereum

Applications

First blockchainAnonymous inventor(s)Fast, BorderlessCheapDigital gold

HoneypotsBig data storage/audits“Anchored” in Bitcoin

Unstoppable programsEVMSmart contracts

Responsible use of Blockchain

Volatility

Scams

Security

CONCLUSION

• Many disruptive fields(finance / data storage / contracts)

• Early stages• Potential to change the world

• - Financial sovereignty, privacy• - Banking for the unbanked• - Transparent governance, governments• - Data integrity

CONCLUSION

Thank you

Q&A

1. other cryptocurrencies

There are many, and most are variants of main ones like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

There is risk investing in these projects.Do background checks, see if the people running the project have solid

verifiable backgrounds.There are many scams, so beware.

More info:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency

2. exchanges: how to trust?

Exchanges have risk; they keep the key to your stored valueYou are not in control of your money on an exchange, this makes quick

trading possible, but also makes it a “honey pot” for hackers who may be able to hack an exchange to get access to user’s stored value

Do a background check on the exchange you plan to use; in particular their security measures: “90% Cold Storage Multi-Signature” is preferred.

Larger exchanges may have more trustworthiness, since they have more at stake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_currency_exchange

3. what is the ‘network’ between cryptocurrency holders?

There’s no Bitcoin “company”: you have people with computers trading value on a network; you have other people running nodes, which keep a copy the ledger of all trades; and, you have miners who process the ledger transactions into immutable blocks of fully verified transactions.

These are real people who volunteer to run “nodes” in return, they’re rewarded with transaction fees and getting bonus coins, for “proof of work” (literally working to solve a math problem) to verify blocks.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node_(networking)The network of nodes (people running the blockchain software)Every user is a node, but not every user runs a Full Node (a full copy of the

transaction ledger)Some Full Node operators also “Mine” (confirming and adding blocks to the chain)(there was a longer discussion of how nodes / network operate)

4. speed of transaction confirmation issues

Bitcoin transaction confirmations are 3 per second (10 min. lag) on averageVisa® Credit Card transaction confirmations are 1000’s per second.Characteristics of cryptocurrencies have major advantageous over traditional

transaction methods, but they are not perfected yet.As time goes by, people who operate cryptocurrency nodes, which support

their functionality, periodically disagree about software functionality improvement strategies; this may result in a consensus to initiate a “fork”, (a split, like “a fork in the road”) into two chains ( having the same past, but different future). On 1 August 2017 Bitcoin “forked”.

In the future, we can expect improvements as engineers solve problems to serve market demands; for sure transaction speeds will be included.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_scalability_problem#Soft_fork

5. Should I buy and holdBitcoin longterm?

If you believe in the technology, understand it, and think that demand will grow, then a hold position would be what you would think of.

The speaker thinks Bitcoin has characteristics that make it advantageous, and he is is a long-term holder.

The speakers and HATCH! cannot make investment recommendations.

You agree to use resources your own risk: HATCH! VENTURES does not necessarily agree with, nor endorse, any viewpoints or investment advice contained in any of the following resources, they are presented for educational or entertainment purpose only.

6. will cryptocurrency become a standard currency?

The technology is new, and it is hard to predict the future, but it has characteristics that make it have potential.

Some governments around the world are now experimenting with cryptocurrency versions of state currencies.

At the moment, cryptocurrencies should be thought of as experimental alternatives, and you should study and understand anything you buy or invest in.

7. is Bitcoin / cryptocurrency like gold and exchangeable to other money?Acceptance is limited at this time, but as time goes by it is becoming

increasingly popular.“wirex” is one exchange service we know about.Use these tools at your own risk, be skeptical of every service you use,

and do your own research and due-diligence.

8. would you recommend a cryptocurrency to buy?

We can’t make investment advice.Many high-volume, high-value projects are “pumped” as a result of hype

and are extremely risky.You should study every project you are thinking of investing in.The market is irrational, so you have to do your own fundamental

research into the technology and the people working on each project.

9. is the “network” the miners, or all devices?

The “network” is all of the people running a Bitcoin client, includes different types of interactions, wallet apps, nodes, and miners.

Wallet - people who simply send/receive transactionsFull Node - people who volunteer to keep a current copy of the

distributed ledger for verification purposesMining - people who also process transactions into blocks in return for

fees and token rewards (at this time, a mining “rig” (computer) investment cost is higher than the average person could afford)

10. do all the devices on the network contain all the records?

SPV connects (wallet) - does not contain the ledger, it only broadcasts and receives its own, peer-to-peer transaction records

Full Node - software which downloads and maintains a full copy of the ledger

Full Node + Miner - people who also participate in the mathematical processing work to add blocks to the blockchain

11. can a government or a big company affect the price of a cryptocurrency?Any entity which holds a lot of tokens can affect the price if/when they

buy/sell a large amount.These people are called “whales” and they are de-incentivized to do this

because people generally avoid markets with extreme price swings.

12. segwit, and other arguments about project governance

To upgrade the bitcoin network (make it better), you can’t just upgrade it on your own, since it is a consensus and distributed system. For this reason there’s a lack of governance. Any upgrade requires all people to agree to upgrade. If there’s a disagreement and a group of people want to “fork” split off and run a new version of the software, then the project splits. The split projects have the same past but a different future (having different software, one new and one original).

Recently with Bitcoin there has been debate about “segwit” = segregated witness (to speed up transactions), and block size increases (to add more functionality by allowing larger blocks).

The market usually finds ways to deal with these matters.

13. security of value of Bitcoin vs. other cryptocurrencies

What if someone invents a new cryptocurrency in the future that is much better than Bitcoin, or other popular currencies that exist today?

Bitcoin is first and biggest, it would take time for people to shift over to a new project, but it is possible.

The risk of people shifting puts pressure on the Bitcoin community to solve their problems of governance, transaction speed, and security.

Whichever coins do best will win and become more popular, and thus “secure”.

14. where to find market data history?

www.coinmarketcap.com

15. what is drivingthe price of Bitcoin?

Many factors, such as news and hype, can drive a price.

Hyperinflation occurring in some countries has driven people to seek alternatives to fiat currency for storing value, such as gold or Bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s unique characteristics are mainly what cause it to increase in value.

16. how to exchange VNDwith cryptocurrency?

bitcoin.vn - fee-based broker of VND/BTC exchanges

vbtc.vn - cryptocurrency trading platform (free to bid, fee to take)

Bitcoin ATM (BTM) - one in HCMC (one in Hanoi coming soon), deposit VND for Bitcoin; sell Bitcoin for VND.

Above services are licensed and regulated. Beware of, and avoid unlicensed traders / exchangers: you can get scammed!

18. what does a “fork” of a coin mean to me?

Typically it means you end up with 2 different coins. When a coin forks, you’d end up with the same value you held in the original project, in the new project.

However, in some cases where value is kept on exchanges, the exchange may or may not release the value in the new project (remember exchanges control your value by proxy). For this reason people have been advised to use “cold storage” for storing value of a coin that’s not being actively traded.

ResourcesYou agree to use resources your own risk: HATCH! VENTURES does not necessarily agree with, nor endorse, any viewpoints or investment advice contained in any of the following resources, they are presented for your educational and entertainment purposes only.

Licensed Vietnam resources for trading / exchanging:bitcoin.vn - exchange; vbtc.vn - trading

Popular international exchanges: Poloniex, Bittrex, Bitfinex, Kraken

Popular YouTubers: Quickfingers Luc and High Altitude Investing

Some useful explainer videos:How Cryptocurrencies Work Blockchain 101 - A Visual Demo Bitcoin (Khan Academy 9 video series)