Humanists Take on the World

5 Bitcoin, Crypto, and Blockchain

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This week we talk about what Bitcoin is, how it works in theory, how it works in practice, and what the criticisms are.

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    • Crypto
    • Disclosure – I own 0.00666 Bitcoins
    • What is a block chain
    • What’s a transaction
      • On chain
      • Off chain
      • Why is cryptocurrancy a thing?
        • Decentralized – No one entity owns it
        • Universal – Not tied to fiat currencies
        • Private – Can’t be tracked and tied to your personal identity
        • How’s that worked?
          • As of April 3, 2022 the top 10,000 addresses or about 0.03% (0.0277794%) own about 60% (59.16%) meaning the remaining 99.97% own the remaining 40%
          • Until China banned mining in 2021 60-70% of all mining was in China
          • Universal – Can get around sanctions
          • Private – KYC
          • Fees on transactions can easily match Paypal, Stripe, or Credit Cards
          • Criticisms
            • Volatility – It’s gambling
            • It’s insecure – By 2017 data breaches resulted in about 1 million bitcoin being stolen from exchanges
            • An estimated 20% of bitcoin have been lost due to people losing their private keys
            • Crime – Estimated to be about 3%, but transcations still happen between KYC exchanges and Russian black market exchanges
            • Climate

              • Sources

              – https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/bitcoin-who-owns-it-who-mines-it-whos-breaking-law
              – https://bitinfocharts.com/
              – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin#Design
              – https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/09/20/bitcoins-impacts-on-climate-and-the-environment/
              – https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952

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                  Humanists Take on the WorldBy Dustin Williams, Lauren Studley