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> Who uses Bitcoin for peer-to-peer payments? And the cryptocurrency ecosystem as it exists right now, far from allowing people to transact without third partie

> Who uses Bitcoin for peer-to-peer payments? And the cryptocurrency ecosystem as it exists right now, far from allowing people to transact without third parties Bitcoin may not be what it set out to be, but how is that a bad thing? The market decided whatever it should be. What bitcoin did is inspire creation of many, genuinely interesting currencies, some even learning from bitcoin's failings: Stellar.org that aims to form a new kind of backbone for instant worldwide asset transfers; Monero that enables anonymous payments; and MakerDAO that makes it possible to transact across borders with a stable digital-currency, DAI. Banks (like eco, onjuno, dharma) and other financial instruments on the Ethereum network (like curve, aave, compound) are a reality today. The space is far more than just currencies. Besides, networks like Cosmos, Polkadot are going to enable an even richer crossover among various currency networks that today is exclusive to Ethereum altcoins via uniswap, mdex et al. I agree that mining seems like a lot of waste but Delegated Proof of Stake and other advances aim to address those issues.

dr_kiszonka 6y ago
Is there an accessible introduction, a YouTube video perhaps, to crypto instruments beyond Bitcoin? I have a basic understanding of how bitcoin works from SecurityNow and would like to learn just a bit more to test the waters.
- ignoramous 6y ago
  > Is there an accessible introduction, a YouTube video perhaps, to crypto instruments beyond Bitcoin? I take you're specifically interested in what's known as "DeFi" (decentralised finance)? Multiple things going on on that front, but you could start here: https://archive.is/bJQt4 https://archive.is/bJQt4 (coincentral); this video's a pretty good overview on Ethereum's DeFi ecosystem https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/k9HYC0EJU6E https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/k9HYC0EJU6E and this one on what's happened in just 2020 https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/qFBYB4W2tqU https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/qFBYB4W2tqU DeFi, today, is poised to grow beyond Ethereum. Check out cross-chain networks like Polkadot (https://archive.is/GZVlM https://archive.is/GZVlM) and Cosmos (https://archive.is/1pWHF https://archive.is/1pWHF). matic.network (now Polygon) is another interesting side-chain network that seeks to take Ethereum tokens cross-chain. If you're looking to build a DeFi product on Ethereum, docs at 0x.org, aave.com are good places to start (since they integrate out of the box with decentralised exchanges like Uniswap, Balancer etc). Circle.com, Sendwyre.com, Simplex.com, and Nowpayments.io are some of the leading providers for fiat <-> crypto-currency transfer. I am sure Binance has some offering in this space too.
  - dr_kiszonka 6y ago
    Great! Thanks for the links!
- Siira 6y ago
  The real meat of any the cryptocurrencies is in their consensus algorithm, which can be difficult to understand. Chia has these resources listed: > We have academic papers and presentations that give detail about our new consensus algorithm and blockchain software. In 2019 we revealed our Green Paper outlining the construction of Proofs of Space and Time and illustrating many of the design choices of Chia. > > We have updated our consensus algorithm and you can review and commment on our working document. > > There is also a 2019 talk from Mariano Sorgente at MIT on how to achieve Nakamoto consensus with Proof of Space and VDFs. > > Bram Cohen presented at Stanford on February 2018 on Proofs of Space. Our advisors, Dan Boneh, Benedikt Bünz, and Ben Fisch published a survey of VDFs which are the underlying technology of Proof of Time. Lipa Long published an explanation of class groups that our Proofs of Time is based on. Bram presented Beyond Hellman’s Time-Memory Trade-Offs with Applications to Proofs of Space at BPASE ‘18 in January 2018 based on the academic paper and these slides by Hamza Abusalah. Ben Fisch gave a talk at BPASE 2018 in January 2018 on Verifiable Delay Functions. Bram spoke at Blockchain at Berkeley (which starts about 20:00) in March 2018 with slides. Bram gave a talk at BPASE 2017 in January 2017 on removing waste with Proofs of Space and Time (slides). > > Bram gave a talk at SF Bitcoin Devs Seminar about data structures for scaling Bitcoin with slides and Merkle Set code. Bram gave a talk at SF Bitcoin Devs Seminar about removing waste from cryptocurrencies.
  - dr_kiszonka 6y ago
    Thank you.

dr_kiszonka 6y ago

Is there an accessible introduction, a YouTube video perhaps, to crypto instruments beyond Bitcoin? I have a basic understanding of how bitcoin works from SecurityNow and would like to learn just a bit more to test the waters.

ignoramous 6y ago
> Is there an accessible introduction, a YouTube video perhaps, to crypto instruments beyond Bitcoin? I take you're specifically interested in what's known as "DeFi" (decentralised finance)? Multiple things going on on that front, but you could start here: https://archive.is/bJQt4 https://archive.is/bJQt4 (coincentral); this video's a pretty good overview on Ethereum's DeFi ecosystem https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/k9HYC0EJU6E https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/k9HYC0EJU6E and this one on what's happened in just 2020 https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/qFBYB4W2tqU https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/qFBYB4W2tqU DeFi, today, is poised to grow beyond Ethereum. Check out cross-chain networks like Polkadot (https://archive.is/GZVlM https://archive.is/GZVlM) and Cosmos (https://archive.is/1pWHF https://archive.is/1pWHF). matic.network (now Polygon) is another interesting side-chain network that seeks to take Ethereum tokens cross-chain. If you're looking to build a DeFi product on Ethereum, docs at 0x.org, aave.com are good places to start (since they integrate out of the box with decentralised exchanges like Uniswap, Balancer etc). Circle.com, Sendwyre.com, Simplex.com, and Nowpayments.io are some of the leading providers for fiat <-> crypto-currency transfer. I am sure Binance has some offering in this space too.
- dr_kiszonka 6y ago
  Great! Thanks for the links!
Siira 6y ago
The real meat of any the cryptocurrencies is in their consensus algorithm, which can be difficult to understand. Chia has these resources listed: > We have academic papers and presentations that give detail about our new consensus algorithm and blockchain software. In 2019 we revealed our Green Paper outlining the construction of Proofs of Space and Time and illustrating many of the design choices of Chia. > > We have updated our consensus algorithm and you can review and commment on our working document. > > There is also a 2019 talk from Mariano Sorgente at MIT on how to achieve Nakamoto consensus with Proof of Space and VDFs. > > Bram Cohen presented at Stanford on February 2018 on Proofs of Space. Our advisors, Dan Boneh, Benedikt Bünz, and Ben Fisch published a survey of VDFs which are the underlying technology of Proof of Time. Lipa Long published an explanation of class groups that our Proofs of Time is based on. Bram presented Beyond Hellman’s Time-Memory Trade-Offs with Applications to Proofs of Space at BPASE ‘18 in January 2018 based on the academic paper and these slides by Hamza Abusalah. Ben Fisch gave a talk at BPASE 2018 in January 2018 on Verifiable Delay Functions. Bram spoke at Blockchain at Berkeley (which starts about 20:00) in March 2018 with slides. Bram gave a talk at BPASE 2017 in January 2017 on removing waste with Proofs of Space and Time (slides). > > Bram gave a talk at SF Bitcoin Devs Seminar about data structures for scaling Bitcoin with slides and Merkle Set code. Bram gave a talk at SF Bitcoin Devs Seminar about removing waste from cryptocurrencies.
- dr_kiszonka 6y ago
  Thank you.