Hash Power – Ep. 1 - Understanding Blockchains
Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Using Hash Power to Add a Chain to a Block
The difficulty of guessing so many numbers is the proof of work. This is miners trying to combine pieces that fit into an agreed upon shape. While it's incredibly hard to randomly generate that magic number, once the miner has it, he can send it around and it's very easy for everyone else to verify.
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.
In the coming weeks, 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?
If you enjoy what follows, you’ll still be very early in understanding this field. Most don’t. So help me spread it like wildfire, because the more people that understand blockchain, the better its impact might become. Please enjoy episode one, and stay tuned next week for episode 2, which explores investing in cryptocurrencies.
Hash Power is presented by Fidelity Investments
For comprehensive show notes on this episode go to http://investorfieldguide.com/hashpower
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
To get involved with Project Frontier, head to InvestorFieldGuide.com/frontier.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Books Referenced
The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
Links Referenced
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
The BitCoin Model for Crowdfunding
Show Notes
CHAPTER 1 – Understanding the Concept of Blockchain (3:25)
4:30 – Jeremiah Lowin explains how blockchain is like a database
5:14 – Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
5:46 – Owning a digital asset
7:14 – Naval Ravikant, CEO of Angelist on how blockchains can help to create personal networks and organize humans
13:33 – New coins popping up around data storage and utility needs like solar panels
14:57 – Permission vs permissionless networks
18:13 – Keeping track of scarcity and the introduction of tokens
18:51 – The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
21:55 – The role of blockchains in the informational age and the rise of more individual sovereignty
23:29 - Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase, on the increasing shift to digital worlds led by incentive structures
CHAPTER 2 – Blockchain Technology (27:48)
29:09 - Reddit User jav_rddt
30:43 - SHA-256 Calculator
31:53 - Charlie Noyes, Pantera Capital, explains how SHA-256 was developed and what make its so special
35:48 – How miners create new blocks and the incentives to do so
46:54 – Ethereum, the “spiritual successor” to bitcoin
48:36 – How the Ether network is an ecosystem in which other tokens can sit
50:51 - Naval Ravikant on alternative coins or tokens
50:50 - The BitCoin Model for Crowdfunding
52:35 – Fat Protocols
53:22 – Blockchain as an experiment in distributed government
54:47 – How cryptocurrency is more than just technology, it’s a movement
54:50 – Nostalgia for the Absolute
57:27 - #cryptotwitter
1:00:58 - Peter Jubber, of Fidelity, on how huge institutions, like theirs, are getting into the cryptocurrency game
1:05:21- Olaf Carlson-Wee, first employee at Coinbase and the founder of Polychain, on the early excitement for cryptocurrency
1:06:56– Closing thoughts from Patrick
Looking to work in this space - hashpowerdeveloper@gmail.com
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag
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