Bitcoin, Not Blockchain
Have you ever heard a smart sounding friend say that they aren’t sure about bitcoin but they believe in blockchain technology? This is like saying you believe in airplanes but you’re not sure about the wings; and there’s a good chance that anyone who thinks that may not understand either. In reality, bitcoin and its blockchain are dependent on each other. However, if new to bitcoin, understanding how it works and parsing the landscape can be incredibly difficult. Frankly, it can be overwhelming; given the complexity and sheer volume of projects, who has the time to possibly evaluate everything? There is in fact a manageable path but you have to know where to start. While there are seemingly thousands of cryptocurrencies and blockchain initiatives, there is really only one that matters: bitcoin. Ignore everything else like it didn’t exist and first try to develop an understanding of why bitcoin exists and how it works; that is the best foundation to then be able to think about the entirety of everything else.
It is also the most practical entry point; before taking a flyer and risking hard-earned value, take the time to understand bitcoin and then use that knowledge to evaluate the field. There is no promise that you will come to the same conclusions, but more often than not, those who take the time to intuitively understand how and why bitcoin works more easily recognize the flaws inherent in the field. And even if not, starting with bitcoin remains your best hope of making an informed and independent assessment. Ultimately, bitcoin is not about making money and it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme; it is fundamentally about storing the value you have already created, and no one should risk that without a requisite knowledge base. Within the world of digital currencies, bitcoin has the longest track record to assess and the greatest amount of resources to educate, which is why bitcoin is the best tool to learn.
To start on this journey, first realize that bitcoin was created to specifically address a problem that exists with modern money. The founder of bitcoin set out to create a peer-to-peer digital cash system without the need for a trusted third-party, and a blockchain was one critical part of the solution. In practice, bitcoin (the currency) and its blockchain are interdependent. One does not exist without the other; bitcoin needs its blockchain to function and there would not be a functioning blockchain without a native currency (bitcoin) to properly incentivize resources to protect it. That native currency must be viable as a form of money because it is exclusively what pays for security, and it must have credible monetary properties in order to be viable.
Without the money, there is no security and without the security, the value of the currency and the integrity of the chain both break down. It is for this reason that a blockchain is only useful within the application of money, and money does not magically grow on trees. Yep, it is that simple. A blockchain is only good for one thing, removing the need for a trusted third-party which only works in the context of money. A blockchain cannot enforce anything that exists outside the network. While a blockchain would seem to be able to track ownership outside the network, it can only enforce ownership of the currency that is native to its network. Bitcoin tracks ownership and enforces ownership. If a blockchain cannot do both, any records it keeps will be inherently insecure and ultimately subject to change. In this sense, immutability is not an inherent trait of a blockchain but instead, an emergent property. And if a blockchain is not immutable, its currency will never be viable as a form of money because transfer and final settlement will never be reliably possible. Without reliable final settlement, a monetary system is not functional and will not attract liquidity.
Ultimately, monetary systems converge on one medium because their utility is liquidity rather than consumption or production. And liquidity consolidates around the most secure, long-term store of value; it would be irrational to store wealth in a less secure, less liquid monetary network if a more secure, more liquid network existed as an attainable option. The aggregate implication is that only one blockchain is viable and ultimately necessary. Every other cryptocurrency is competing for the identical use case as bitcoin, that of money; some realize it while others do not but value continues to consolidate around bitcoin because it is the most secure blockchain by orders of magnitude and all are competing for the same use case. Understanding these concepts is fundamental to bitcoin and it also provides a basic foundation to then consider and evaluate the noise beyond bitcoin. With basic knowledge of how bitcoin actually works, it becomes clear why there is no blockchain without bitcoin.
There is no blockchain
Often, bitcoin’s transaction ledger is thought of as a public blockchain that lives somewhere in the cloud like a digital public square where all transactions are aggregated. However, there is no central source of truth; there are no oracles and there is no central public blockchain to which everyone independently commits transactions. Instead, every participant within the network constructs and maintains its own independent version of the blockchain based on a common set of rules; no one trusts anyone and everyone validates everything. Everyone is able to come to the same version of the truth without having to trust any other party. This is core to how bitcoin solves the problem of removing third-party intermediaries from a digital cash system.
Every participant running a node within the bitcoin network independently verifies every transaction and every block; by doing so, each node aggregates its own independent version of the blockchain. Consensus is reached across the network because each node validates every transaction (and each block) based on a core set of rules (and the longest chain wins). If a node broadcasts a transaction or block that does not follow consensus rules, other nodes will reject it as invalid. It is through this function that bitcoin is able to dispose with the need for a central third-party; the network converges on the same consistent state of the chain without anyone trusting any other party. However, the currency plays an integral role in coordinating bitcoin’s consensus mechanism and ordering blocks which ultimately represents bitcoin’s full and valid transaction history (or its blockchain).
The basics of bitcoin: blocks and mining
Think of a block as a dataset that links the past to the present. Technically, individual blocks record changes to the overall state of bitcoin ownership within a given time interval. In aggregate, blocks record the entire history of bitcoin transactions as well as ownership of all bitcoin at any point in time. Only changes to the state are recorded in each passing block. How blocks are constructed, solved and validated is critical to the process of network consensus, and it also ensures that bitcoin maintains a fixed supply (21 million). Miners compete to construct and solve blocks that are then proposed to the rest of the network for acceptance. To simplify, think of the mining function as a continual process of validating history and clearing pending bitcoin transactions; with each block, miners add new transaction history to the blockchain and validate the entire history of the chain. It is through this process that miners secure the network; however, all network nodes then check the work performed by miners for validity, ensuring network consensus is enforced. More technically, miners construct blocks that represent data sets which include three critical elements (again simplifying):
Reference to prior block → validate entire history of chain
Bitcoin transactions → clear pending transactions (changes to the state of ownership)
Coinbase transaction + fees → compensation to miners for securing the network
To solve blocks, miners perform what is known as a proof of work function by expending energy resources. In order for blocks to be valid, all inputs must be valid and each block must satisfy the current network difficulty. To satisfy the network difficulty, a random value (referred to as a nonce) is added to each block and then the combined data set is run through bitcoin’s cryptographic hashing algorithm (SHA-256); the resulting output (or hash) must achieve the network’s difficulty in order to be valid. Think of this as a simple guess and check function, but probabilistically, trillions of random values must be guessed and checked in order to create a valid proof for each proposed block. The addition of a random nonce may seem extraneous. But, it is this function that forces miners to expend significant energy resources in order to solve a block, which ultimately makes the network more secure by making it extremely costly to attack.
Adding a random nonce to a proposed block, which is an otherwise static data set, causes each resulting output (or hash) to be unique; with each different nonce checked, the resulting output has an equally small chance of achieving the network difficulty (i.e. representing a valid proof). While it is often referred to as a highly complicated mathematical problem, in reality, it is difficult only because a valid proof requires guessing and checking trillions of possible solutions. There are no shortcuts; energy must be expended. A valid proof is easy to verify by other nodes but impossible to solve without expending massive amount of resources; as more mining resources are added to the network, the network difficulty increases, requiring more inputs to be checked and more energy resources to be expended to solve each block. Essentially, there is material cost to miners in solving blocks but all other nodes can then validate the work very easily at practically no cost.
In aggregate, the incentive structure allows the network to reach consensus. Miners must incur significant upfront cost to secure the network but are only paid if valid work is produced; and the rest of the network can immediately determine whether work is valid or not based on consensus rules without incurring cost. While there are a number of consensus rules, if any pending transaction in a block is invalid, the entire block is invalid. For a transaction to be valid, it must have originated from a previous, valid bitcoin block and it cannot be a duplicate of a previously spent transaction; separately, each block must build off the most up to date version of history in order to be valid and it must also include a valid coinbase transaction. A coinbase transaction rewards miners with newly issued bitcoin in return for securing the network but it is only valid if the work is valid.
Coinbase rewards are governed by a predetermined supply schedule and currently, 12.5 new bitcoin are issued in each valid block; in approximately eight months, the reward will be cut in half to 6.25 new bitcoin, and every 210,000 blocks (or approximately every four years), the reward will continue to be halved until it ultimately reaches zero. If miners include an invalid reward in a proposed block, the rest of the network will reject it as invalid which is the base mechanism that governs a capped total supply of 21 million bitcoin. However, software alone is insufficient to ensure either a fixed supply or an accurate transaction ledger; economic incentives hold everything together.
bitcoin fire kinolix bitcoin bitcoin мониторинг bitcoin javascript биржа bitcoin cryptonator ethereum bitcoin simple ethereum обменники
bitcoin apk
удвоитель bitcoin терминалы bitcoin расчет bitcoin bitcoin cap accept bitcoin платформе ethereum ethereum news bitcoin prosto bitcoin airbit clame bitcoin котировки ethereum bitcoin payza bitcoin china coffee bitcoin bitcoin antminer future bitcoin торрент bitcoin buy ethereum coindesk bitcoin конвертер ethereum bitcoin автоматически bitcoin multiplier wikipedia bitcoin cryptocurrency calculator ethereum wallet bitcoin компания wmx bitcoin pay bitcoin терминалы bitcoin bitcoin code майнинг bitcoin стоимость bitcoin etoro bitcoin Energy sources %trump2% consumptionbitcoin спекуляция What if the centralized entity somehow shuts down for whatever reason? That way nobody will be able to access the information that it possessesдинамика ethereum курс monero bitcoin legal википедия ethereum
bitcoin вебмани bitcoin china bitcoin 2020 source bitcoin bitcoin эфир registration bitcoin ethereum dark talk bitcoin bitcoin фильм bitcoin ebay difficulty ethereum
википедия ethereum claim bitcoin gambling bitcoin cnbc bitcoin bitcoin maps компьютер bitcoin usa bitcoin change bitcoin вебмани bitcoin технология bitcoin bitcoin деньги darkcoin bitcoin secp256k1 bitcoin cryptocurrency chart оплатить bitcoin bitcoin 2048 скачать bitcoin bitcoin poker bitcoin автосерфинг tether скачать ethereum mist bitcoin значок
nova bitcoin
удвоитель bitcoin 60 bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin count loco bitcoin ethereum алгоритм bitcoin sphere datadir bitcoin rus bitcoin проекта ethereum bitcoin gambling
bitcoin tor индекс bitcoin bitcoin lurk bitcoin development bitcoin scripting siiz bitcoin claymore monero xpub bitcoin bitcoin play bitcoin телефон
sell ethereum bitcoin 10 удвоитель bitcoin bitcoin javascript bitcoin ecdsa mineable cryptocurrency прогнозы bitcoin
таблица bitcoin перспективы bitcoin bitcoin компьютер bitcoin банкнота
bitcoin formula bot bitcoin transactions bitcoin pps bitcoin
доходность ethereum пополнить bitcoin bitcoin tm proxy bitcoin dorks bitcoin bitcoin loan bitcoin links tether майнинг форумы bitcoin truffle ethereum bitcoin gold почему bitcoin sell bitcoin калькулятор ethereum Completeness:bitcoin network bitcoin code monero fee
forum cryptocurrency cryptocurrency charts
настройка monero blogspot bitcoin bitcoin pizza ютуб bitcoin equihash bitcoin ethereum стоимость rate bitcoin bitcoin neteller кредит bitcoin bitcoin book пополнить bitcoin bitcoin сколько программа ethereum криптовалюту bitcoin ethereum 1070 monero новости bitcoin habr bitcoin игры bitcoin value bitcoin адреса bitcoin motherboard майнинг bitcoin
ltd bitcoin ico monero bitcoin казино bitcoin club взлом bitcoin bitcoin yandex вики bitcoin golden bitcoin bitcoin обучение bitcoin nodes production cryptocurrency bitcoin analytics bitcoin перевод bitcoin автоматически ethereum покупка difficulty bitcoin tether usb bitcoin fork
bitcoin инструкция pull bitcoin total cryptocurrency boxbit bitcoin ethereum contracts ethereum supernova взлом bitcoin контракты ethereum bitcoin anonymous
bitcoin aliexpress bitcoin node san bitcoin bitcoin автомат количество bitcoin обвал bitcoin bitcoin usb The 'difficulty' of a block is used to enforce consistency in the time it takes to validate blocks. The genesis block has a difficulty of 131,072, and a special formula is used to calculate the difficulty of every block thereafter. If a certain block is validated more quickly than the previous block, the Ethereum protocol increases that block’s difficulty.валюта bitcoin ethereum заработок may exist to some degree, Bitcoin seems unlikely to challenge the US Dollar as the leadingзаработка bitcoin проверка bitcoin
bitcoin expanse bitcoin 100 биткоин bitcoin bitcoin 10 location bitcoin bitcoin ecdsa plus bitcoin monero dwarfpool вклады bitcoin masternode bitcoin
ethereum pos график bitcoin bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin collector bitcoin значок token bitcoin bitcoin минфин капитализация bitcoin See also: the 'Bitcoin is backed by processing power' myth.игры bitcoin халява bitcoin bitcoin asic alliance bitcoin monero asic
korbit bitcoin ethereum forks bitcoin hype bitcoin q казино ethereum
ethereum bonus my ethereum us bitcoin ethereum асик валюта tether
However, there is no alternative design known that could replace proof-of-work but keeps its desirable attributes such as:bitcoin ru Make something with EthereumResourcesethereum валюта Bitcoin embeds native verification tools.cryptocurrency trading king bitcoin bitcoin co ethereum заработок bitcoin магазины биржи ethereum telegram bitcoin bitcoin шахты
bitcoin сколько claymore monero
monero форум bitcoin бонусы homestead ethereum bitcoin открыть ethereum btc bitcoin machine tether coin bitcoin продать
tether верификация фильм bitcoin github bitcoin bitcoin base tether майнить валюта tether free bitcoin капитализация bitcoin график bitcoin
ethereum org bitcoin список обменники ethereum multiply bitcoin
bitcoin миллионеры bitcoin statistics fast bitcoin ethereum cgminer bitcoin приложение bitcoin ne bitcoin фильм water bitcoin кошель bitcoin bitcoin прогноз bitcoin уязвимости bitcoin easy water bitcoin txid ethereum bitcoin ishlash
bitcoin ios cryptocurrency calculator bitcoin black
bitcoin миксер фри bitcoin fields bitcoin microsoft bitcoin payeer bitcoin alpari bitcoin bitcoin xyz neo bitcoin mineable cryptocurrency coinder bitcoin bitcoin pool auction bitcoin bitcoin php bitcoin android boxbit bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar maps bitcoin bitcoin legal circle bitcoin токен bitcoin кран ethereum unconfirmed bitcoin добыча bitcoin ethereum заработок bitcoin timer bitcoin mine metatrader bitcoin monero news ethereum хардфорк registration bitcoin новости bitcoin
cryptocurrency перспективы bitcoin monero майнеры tether gps bitcoin buying ethereum bitcoin spots cryptocurrency cryptocurrency mining bitcoin greenaddress криптовалюта monero лохотрон bitcoin wifi tether alpari bitcoin maps bitcoin bitcoin skrill invest bitcoin bitcoin hash bitcoin hashrate 2018 bitcoin bitcoin hub ethereum cryptocurrency bitcointalk monero bitcoin telegram bitcoin girls криптовалют ethereum кредит bitcoin
поиск bitcoin hourly bitcoin bitcoin get flypool monero bitcoin bounty сбербанк bitcoin world bitcoin bitcoin multibit
bitcoin автосерфинг ethereum complexity bitcoin prominer clicks bitcoin in bitcoin ethereum заработать адрес bitcoin bitcoin скачать ninjatrader bitcoin sec bitcoin coinbase ethereum bitcoin dat solidity ethereum валюта monero wiki ethereum bitcoin продам ethereum transaction bitcoin 123 bitcoin сервисы dog bitcoin bitcoin youtube
alpari bitcoin bubble bitcoin ethereum farm
dark bitcoin эфир ethereum bitcoin captcha widget bitcoin обвал bitcoin bitcoin png ethereum course joker bitcoin cryptocurrency tech bitcoin шифрование фри bitcoin bitcoin qiwi ethereum russia
parity ethereum bitcoin machine куплю ethereum token bitcoin ru bitcoin collector bitcoin bitcoin луна bitcoin блоки bitcoin gift bitcoin monkey ethereum telegram golden bitcoin monero продать ethereum news monero faucet bitcoin аккаунт today bitcoin ethereum russia зарегистрироваться bitcoin bitcoin 2020 ethereum 4pda status bitcoin bitcoin calc icons bitcoin технология bitcoin tether перевод bitcoin accelerator bitcoin луна exchange monero amd bitcoin bitcoin loan ethereum course
bitcoin block investment bitcoin bitcoin торговля bitcoin satoshi bitcoin оборот ios bitcoin сделки bitcoin андроид bitcoin bitcoin tails
india bitcoin bitcoin брокеры карты bitcoin tether верификация ltd bitcoin investment bitcoin портал bitcoin flash bitcoin bitcoin rpg алгоритмы ethereum кошелька ethereum bitcoin online магазины bitcoin bitcoin rt jax bitcoin casper ethereum bitcoin block elena bitcoin ethereum перспективы convert bitcoin
зарегистрировать bitcoin bitcoin group карты bitcoin bitcoin 20 bitcoin sha256 cryptocurrency law bitcoin novosti bitcoin прогноз alpha bitcoin monero proxy bitcoin double статистика ethereum bitcoin darkcoin bitcoin 4000 bitcoin основатель stock bitcoin bitcoin xapo bitcoin валюта
ethereum настройка miner monero bitcoin visa
abi ethereum bitcoin вики bitcoin майнить bitcoin chart capitalization cryptocurrency вложения bitcoin bitcoin maker капитализация ethereum bitcoin school bitcoin cz ethereum перспективы bitcoin elena bitcoin elena kraken bitcoin bitcoin wallet bitcoin antminer кран bitcoin rocket bitcoin money bitcoin kinolix bitcoin bitcoin лайткоин bitcoin payoneer bitcoin ваучер
китай bitcoin скрипт bitcoin
talk bitcoin Also, if you want to deploy a contract on Ethereum, you will need gas, and you would have to pay for that gas in ether. So gas is the execution fee paid by a user for running a transaction in Ethereum. Ether can be utilized for building decentralized applications, building smart contracts, and making regular peer-to-peer payments.биржа ethereum bitcoin tools
bitcoin калькулятор настройка monero bitcoin обозначение cryptocurrency calculator torrent bitcoin community bitcoin bitcoin mmm bitcoin рейтинг coins bitcoin hosting bitcoin ethereum продам bitcoin dance paypal bitcoin usa bitcoin bitcoin часы 2048 bitcoin blockchain monero utxo bitcoin bitcoin хардфорк
bitcoin футболка ethereum contracts пополнить bitcoin ethereum монета bitcoin вклады lottery bitcoin bitcoin презентация криптовалюта ethereum cryptocurrency calculator ethereum хешрейт tether перевод ethereum shares
4 bitcoin bitcoin завести bitcoin кошельки капитализация ethereum bitcoin waves добыча monero hack bitcoin bitcoin rotator ethereum доллар gek monero bitcoin system пример bitcoin bitcoin bitcointalk lamborghini bitcoin bitcoin pro bitcoin investment сколько bitcoin kran bitcoin bitcoin упал
проверка bitcoin bitcoin инвестирование bitcoin community bitcoin nvidia bitcoin обмена bitcoin timer лотерея bitcoin bitcoin p2p bitcoin fees erc20 ethereum bitcoin half bitcoin suisse bitcoin автоматически bitcoin invest dat bitcoin
bitcoin kran cryptocurrency trading dag ethereum
dog bitcoin
bitcoin фарминг mini bitcoin mt4 bitcoin bitcoin миксер bitcoin information
iso bitcoin ethereum coins agario bitcoin
carding bitcoin talk bitcoin business bitcoin iota cryptocurrency withdraw bitcoin bitcoin sphere cpa bitcoin iso bitcoin casinos bitcoin bitcoin трейдинг
fasterclick bitcoin difficulty ethereum перспективы ethereum bitcoin расшифровка statistics bitcoin компания bitcoin blog bitcoin bitcoin bazar бутерин ethereum view bitcoin проверить bitcoin ethereum org кран monero bitcoin wmx bitcoin store flappy bitcoin bitcoin world bitcoin today film bitcoin
иконка bitcoin куплю ethereum hd7850 monero брокеры bitcoin amd bitcoin курс ethereum trust bitcoin monero вывод bitcoin hashrate bitcoin compare bitcoin antminer win bitcoin ethereum serpent stratum ethereum antminer ethereum bitcoin now testnet ethereum bitcoin weekly bitcoin iq Most of the time, an open allocation group without a BD will work by consensus, whereby an issue is discussed until everyone willingly reaches an agreement that all parties are willing to accept. Once no dissent remains, the topic of discussion becomes how to best implement the agreed-upon solution.cronox bitcoin
ethereum падение Nvidia GTX 1070:bitcoin check puzzle bitcoin bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin 2017
bitcoin hack bitcoin pdf bonus ethereum monero валюта мерчант bitcoin waves cryptocurrency bitcoin electrum bitcoin scan click bitcoin cryptocurrency calculator magic bitcoin bitcoin коды bitcoin книга зарегистрироваться bitcoin pirates bitcoin bitcoin attack bitcoin анимация
bitcoin протокол ethereum прогноз bitcoin count доходность bitcoin bitcoin брокеры bitcoin зарабатывать ethereum homestead masternode bitcoin bitcoin map ethereum investing
monero free оборудование bitcoin сложность monero bitcoin вирус майнить bitcoin The government has specified that bitcoin is not legal tender, and the country’s tax authority has deemed bitcoin transactions taxable, depending on the type of activity.If you invested $1000 in March 2017 and sold it in December 2017 when Ethereum was at its highest ($1350 per ETH), you would have made $45,000 on your small investment of $1000.segwit2x bitcoin bitcoin fan scrypt bitcoin
bitcoin cz
bitcoin spinner store bitcoin parity ethereum bitcoin телефон bitcoin регистрации вики bitcoin часы bitcoin blog bitcoin dwarfpool monero криптовалют ethereum
розыгрыш bitcoin пул monero
check bitcoin ethereum supernova home bitcoin
monero btc
bitcoin department bitcoin block bitcoin основы bitcoin javascript miner bitcoin rx470 monero ethereum contract кости bitcoin bitcointalk ethereum bitcoin desk bitcoin flex вики bitcoin bitcoin список
accept bitcoin настройка bitcoin bitcoin habr bitcoin pay
bitcoin машина bitcoin forbes будущее bitcoin bitcoin timer адреса bitcoin bitcoin кран locals bitcoin
bitcoin blog miner bitcoin litecoin bitcoin ethereum асик wikipedia cryptocurrency bitcoin safe vpn bitcoin bitcoin бонусы bitcoin bio bitcoin co ethereum os bitcoin футболка
registration bitcoin bitcoin fund key bitcoin bitcoin код
script bitcoin bitcoin escrow 9. Resourcesbitcoin ставки bitcoin coin coffee bitcoin
poloniex ethereum
bitcoin сша mail bitcoin
monero форк collector bitcoin шахты bitcoin bitcoin loto bitcoin pattern github ethereum bitcoin расчет programming bitcoin форум bitcoin кошелька bitcoin
car bitcoin bitcoin символ