University of Edinburgh 14th november 2016
Centre for Interdisciplinary MethodologiesUniversity of Warwick
an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof
(Nakamoto, 2008)
a purist and egalitarian creation by nature of its architecture and implementation
(Boase, 2013)
a computer software that implements a 'traditional' electronic currency and a security protocol that secures anonymous trading of it
(Karlstrøm, 2014)
a currency living in the world of computer code
(Newsweek, 2014)
a kind of Money-like Informational Commodity
(Bergstra & Weijland, 2014)
'gold without gold, money without state, credit without debt'(Bjerg, 2016)
Designed (scarcity)
A specter is haunting the modern world, the specter of crypto anarchy(Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, 1992)
We cannot expect governments, corporations, or other large, faceless organizations to grant us privacy out of their beneficence. It is to their advantage to speak of us, and we should expect that they will speak(Cypherpunks Manifesto, 1993)
"[John Gilmore] expected a guarantee -with physics and mathematics, not with laws- that we can give ourselves real privacy of personal communications" (Levi, 1996)
Genesis block
Algorithmic governance and institutional replacement
"There is no way to kill this technology, we can only criminalize people for using it"(Lawrence Lessing, talking about torrenting and p2p filesharing)
"Yes, but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years.Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own"(Satoshi Nakamoto, to the comment "You will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography")
Benefits
protecting critical infrastructure against cyberattacks
reducing operational costs and tracking eligibility for welfare support, while offering greater financial inclusion
transparency and traceability of how aid money is spent
creating opportunities for economic growth, bolstering SMEs and increasing employment
reducing tax fraud
"The key message is that, by fully understanding the technology, government and the private sector can choose the design that best fits a particular purpose, balancing security and central control with the convenience and opportunity of sharing data between institutions and individuals."
Pablo R. Velasco González
Centre for Interdisciplinary MethodologiesUniversity of Warwick