Is There a Scarcity in the Internet?

Today we are re-sharing our Hash Power documentary. This series was originally released in September 2017 when 1 Bitcoin hovered around $4000 US Dollars. While so much has changed in the years since - these episodes are a great introduction into the technology, the power of decentralization, Bitcoin, Ethereum, ICO's, cryptography, and hashing. You will hear from a variety of industry experts throughout these episodes - please enjoy.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Original Intro (09.26.17)

Welcome to the first episode of Hash Power, an audio documentary that explores the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies with leaders in the field like Naval Ravikant, Olaf Carlson-Wee, Fred Ehrsam, & Ari Paul. Hash Power is meant to be an introduction, but really, it is an invitation to explore this emerging world on your own. 

We will cover the technology, the power of decentralization, bitcoin, Ethereum, ICOs, cryptography and hashing. We will spend time with the leading active hedge fund managers in the field, and with outside investors who are both optimistic and skeptical. Episode one covers the big picture, and answers the question: what is blockchain and why might it significantly affect our world?

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Show Notes:

[00:03:25] – CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Concept of Blockchain

[00:04:30] – Jeremiah Lowin explains how blockchain is like a database

[00:05:46] – Owning a digital asset

[00:07:14] – Naval Ravikant, CEO of Angelist on how blockchains can help to create personal networks and organize humans

[00:11:01] – How blockchains represent a way to coordinate global activity through tokens

[00:13:33] – New coins popping up around data storage and utility needs like solar panels

[00:14:57] – Permission vs permissionless networks

[00:16:37] – Protocols and the introduction of scarcity

[00:18:13] – Keeping track of scarcity and the introduction of tokens

[00:18:49] – Societal structures and how blockchains will change them again

[00:21:55] – The role of blockchains in the informational age and the rise of more individual sovereignty

[00:23:29] – Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase, on the increasing shift to digital worlds led by incentive structures

[00:27:48] – CHAPTER 2 – Blockchain Technology

[00:31:53] – Charlie Noyes, Pantera Capital, explains how SHA-256 was developed and what makes it so special

[00:35:48] – How miners create new blocks and the incentives to do so

[00:40:22] – The nonce field

[00:43:48] – The incentives that exist for miners and the arms race to build more powerful systems to mine

[00:45:20] – The development of mining pools

[00:46:54] – Ethereum, the “spiritual successor” to bitcoin

[00:48:36] – How the Ether network is an ecosystem in which other tokens can sit

[00:50:51] – Naval Ravikant on alternative coins or tokens

[00:51:37] – How the protocol creators are the ones getting wealthy

[00:52:43] – Blockchain as an experiment in distributed government

[00:54:10] – How cryptocurrency is more than just technology, it’s a movement

[01:00:07] – Peter Jubber, of Fidelity, on how huge institutions, like theirs, are getting into the cryptocurrency game

[01:03:34] – The notion of cooperation in an open-source project or protocol

[01:04:39] – Olaf Carlson-Wee, the first employee at Coinbase and the founder of Polychain, on the early excitement for cryptocurrency

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