Why should I care about Bitcoins or the Blockchain? | Mao Lal

1. Why should I care about Bitcoins or the Blockchain? Mao Lal 1

2. Bitcoins & Blockchain in the news • There is a lot going on in the news about Bitcoins & the Blockchain. • If you search on Google for the word “Bitcoin” it will return over 2.5 million responses. • The topic is only a few years old • However, it has captured the passionate attention of people all over the world • Some positive, some negative. 2

3. The Bitcoin Economy is growing • Global Bitcoin adoption • In the first six years over 15.167 million bitcoins have gone into circulation. • Value escalation • The first bitcoin transaction was a pizza for 10,000 Bitcoins. • The price of a single Bitcoin has been over $1,000 USD. 3

4. The Blockchain train is coming – Watch Out! A report published by the World Economic Forum stated that most of the over 800 executives and experts from the information and communications technology sector surveyed believed that by 2027, 10% of global gross domestic product (GDP) will be stored on blockchain technology. Blockchain Searches Worldwide 100 75 50 25 0 January-17 May-17 September-17 February-18 June-18 November-18 March-19 July-19 December-19 April-20 4

5. Global Google Searches A Global Currency Ghana Ukraine Indonesia India Brazil Singapore United Kingdom Philippines Spain Japan South Africa Australia Russia Italy Hong Kong Sweden Germany Vietnam Switzerland Canada United States Thailand Netherlands Belgium France Poland 5

6. What is the Blockchain? • A blockchain is a public ledger of all transactions that have ever been executed. Other types of information can also be stored on te Blockchain. • It is constantly growing as ‘completed’ blocks are added to it with a new set of recordings. • The blocks are added to the blockchain in a linear, chronological order. • Each node (computer connected to the network using a client that performs the task of validating and relaying transactions) gets a copy of the blockchain, which gets downloaded automatically upon joining the network. • The blockchain has complete information about the addresses and their balances right from the genesis block to the most recently completed block. 6

7. Financial Instruments, Records, and Models •Currency •Private equities •Public equities •Bonds •Derivatives (futures, forwards, swaps, options, and more complex variations) •Voting rights associated with any of the preceding •Commodities •Spending records •Trading records •Mortgage/loan records •Servicing records •Crowdfunding •Microfinance •Microcharity 7

8. Public Records • Death certificates • Voting • Health/safety inspections • Building permits • Gun permits • Forensic evidence • Court records • Voting records • Nonprofit records • Government/nonprofit accounting/ transparency • Land titles • Vehicle registries • Business license • Business incorporation/dissolution records • Business ownership records • Regulatory records • Criminal records • Passports • Birth certificates 8

9. Private & Semipublic Records • Semipublic Records • Degree • Certifications • Learning outcomes • Grades • HR records (salary, performance reviews, accomplishment) • Medical records • Accounting records • Business transaction records • Genome data • GPS trails (institutional) • Delivery records • Arbitration • Private Records • Contracts • Signatures • Wills • Trusts • Escrows • GPS trails (personal) 9

10. Physical Asset Keys & Intangibles • Physical asset keys • Home/apartment keys • Vacation home/timeshare keys • Hotel room keys • Car keys • Rental car keys • Leased cars keys • Locker keys • Safety deposit box keys • Package delivery (split key between delivery firm and receiver) • Betting records • Fantasy sports records • Intangibles • Coupons • Vouchers • Reservations (restaurants, hotels, queues, etc.) • Movie tickets • Patents • Copyrights • Trademarks • Software licenses • Videogame licenses • Music/movie/book licenses (DRM) • Domain names • Online identities • Proof of authorship/proof of prior art 10

11. What is a Cryptocurrency? A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. A cryptocurrency is difficult to counterfeit because of this security feature. A defining feature of a cryptocurrency, and arguably its most endearing allure, is its organic nature; it is not issued by any central authority, rendering it theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation. 11

12. Crypto Currency Markets • Summary • $11,545,422,125 Global Market Cap Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Name (Symbol) Bitcoin (BTC) Ethereum (ETH) Ripple (XRP) Litecoin (LTC) Ethereum Classic (ETC) 1.46% Steem (STEEM) Dash (DASH) NEM (XEM) MaidSafeCoin (MAID) Nxt (NXT) % Global Cap 80.05% 8.38% 1.89% 1.52% • Over 800 currencies • Currencies have different: • Technical properties • Functional properties • Uses and applications 1.39% 0.62% 0.46% 0.34% 0.26% 12

13. Risks •Like having cash under the mattress (hacking or loss) •Money laundering •Tax evasion •Criminal uses •Scalability •51% attack 13

14. What is the Blockchain ecosystem? • Open Source Communities • Blockchain.info • Industry Associations • • • International Blockchain Real Estate Association Chamber of Digital Commerce Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) • Commercial Companies • • • Technology - IBM, Microsoft, Oracle – The Big Ones Financial Institutions Startups – Massive global investments • Universities & Research Centers • • NIST MIT • Miners • Exchanges & Wallets • Coinbase • Huboi Merchants Users & Investors Mining Pools • • • 14

15. What are governments doing? • Ghana – Putting land records on the Blockchain • England • China • Russia Governments USA – Federal • Congress • Hearings • Legislation • Agency oversight • Bitcoin ATM • Accepting donations Agencies • Investigating & Exploring • Prosecuting crimes USA – States Issuing regulations Issuing licenses 15

16. Thank You 16