Crypto Nomads

The crypto nomads interview Alejandro Machado, a Venezuelan national and programmer/product designer who is currently building cryptocurrency based products and services to help Venezuelans store and move value amidst hyperinflation.

Why does privacy matter? How can you best protect your data as an average citizen? The crypto nomads discuss these questions and more with Adi Kamdar, a Harvard Law graduate and former activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The crypto nomads do a deep dive on Monero, a privacy coin with a truly decentralized community.

Resources:
https://cypherperro.blogspot.com/2018/04/an-introduction-to-private.html

The Bitcoin network uses more energy than all of Ireland and is only increasing. The crypto nomads discuss whether or not this extreme usage is a problem.

CrytpoNomads E04 - Adi Kamdar on Privacy and Identity in Our Brave New Digital World by CryptoNomads

The cryptonomads provide a comprehensive introduction Monero, a leading privacy-centric cryptocurrency. Think Bitcoin but completely anonymous! We cover the history of Monero, the four technological pillars that make Monero private for the sender, recipient, and all IP addresses involved in a transaction, and the key technological differences between Monero and Bitcoin.

Selected Links:

In-depth Monero Overview: https://cypherperro.blogspot.ca/2018/04/an-introduction-to-private.html

CryptoNote Protocol Whitepaper (the protocol which Monero is based upon):

https://cryptonote.org/whitepaper.pdf

MimbleWimble Protocol Whitepaper (a privacy protocol that is complementary to Monero):

https://scalingbitcoin.org/papers/mimblewimble.txt

Bitcoin Overview, including a description of blocks and how they're created:

https://cypherperro.blogspot.ca/2018/04/an-introduction-to-bitcoin-for.html

Update: Since we recorded the episode, the Monero community discovered that ASICs were indeed mining their currency and have since hard-forked to make those ASICs incompatible. You can read more about the story here. 

https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-kill-switch-monero-going-war-big-miners/

Project Coral Reef - project to increase mainstream adoption of Monero 

https://www.projectcoralreef.com

In this episode, the crypto nomads discuss why the ability to transact privately matters. Join us for a philosophical deep dive into privacy, the history of private currencies, why bitcoin is not actually private, and a rundown of the pros and cons of several leading privacy-centric coins.

Selected Links: 

A Brief History of Digicash (predecessor of Bitcoin) - https://tedium.co/2017/11/27/digicash-ecash-bitcoin-history/

David Chaum’s1998 “white paper” for untraceable payments (used for Digicash)- http://www.hit.bme.hu/~buttyan/courses/BMEVIHIM219/2009/Chaum.BlindSigForPayment.1982.PDF

Chainalysis government deal to track Bitcoin users - http://www.hit.bme.hu/~buttyan/courses/BMEVIHIM219/2009/Chaum.BlindSigForPayment.1982.PDF