In order to truly understand why Bitcoin works, we must understand a fundamental tool that operates at basically every level of the system. The hash function. And using the hash function, we can build one of the most important elements of the game theory that keeps the system honest, Proof of work. This is the second episode of the Bitcoin Basics series: Hashes & Proofs of Work

To play around yourself with the hashing tools discussed you can:

- open a Terminal window on your Mac or Linux computer and type... 

shasum -a 256 [insert file]

Replacing [insert file] with the file path of whatever you wish to hash (you can usually drag and drop)

- On Windows open the "command prompt" and type...

Get-FileHash -Path [insert file]

To verify my Proof of Work done in the episode:

echo -n "H18" | shasum -a 256

(this works on Mac & Linux, but unfortunately the process on Windows was too complicated to go through the trouble of confirming it)

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"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model, that makes teh existing model obsolete." – R. Buckminster Fuller

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