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What is the best platform for smart contracts? What makes Ethereum interesting to you? So far, most of the platforms experimenting with smart contracts, besides Ethereum, are either still in the roadmap or early testing phases of development (i.e. federated sidechains and drivechains). Most of the so-called “third generation” blockchains have not been able to differentiate sufficiently from the first and second generation blockchains. We cannot draw very accurate conclusions without being able to compare them at scale.
When I speak about Ethereum, I am speaking more broadly than the ETH token and blockchain, but rather virtual machine-based, Turing complete, programmable blockchain for smart contracts. During the maturation of this technology, there are going to be a lot of governance missteps and security vulnerabilities because they are choosing flexibility over security in the tradeoff. Ethereum can’t do what bitcoin does. Having a robust, simple script language and conservative, reliable development is a strong differentiating factor. The biggest challenge for both bitcoin and Ethereum moving forward is privacy.
This is a question from the patron-only live Q&A which took place on December 16th 2017. If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop
RELATED:
The Lion and the Shark: Divergent Evolution in Cryptocurrency – https://youtu.be/d0x6CtD8iq4
Ethereum, ICOs, and Rocket Science – https://youtu.be/OWI5-AVndgk
Forkology: A Study of Forks For Newbies – https://youtu.be/rpeceXY1QBM
Programmable Money, Smart Contracts and DAOs – https://youtu.be/_0jxX84mzts
The Killer App: Engineering the Properties of Money – https://youtu.be/MxIrc1rxhyI
Hardware, Software, Trustware – https://youtu.be/Etyjc1JdmFU
bitcoin: “Failing to Scale” – https://youtu.be/bFOFqNKKns0
Impact of smart contracts on law and accounting – https://youtu.be/K-TRzuPwJCc
DIrected acyclic graphs (DAGs) and IOTA – https://youtu.be/lfgMnbb5JeM
Altcoins and the scaling debate – https://youtu.be/slbpdW-H3yk
Altcoins and specialisation – https://youtu.be/b_Yhr8h6xnA
Layered scaling and privacy – https://youtu.be/4w-bjUhpf_Q
Scaling complex systems – https://youtu.be/dm9m1oQr6Ks
Unstoppable code – https://youtu.be/AQx3E3F8Kz4
Cultural differences between bitcoin & Ethereum – https://youtu.be/3UNC1AKc3Qk
Governance trade-offs in decentralised systems – https://youtu.be/dtwaW79Fj7c
TheDAO – Why failure is a necessity for learning – https://youtu.be/2KZTx8IYc9s
We all started as critics – https://youtu.be/-jvefuVRwYA
Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.
Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/
He is the author of two books: “Mastering bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.
THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Money-collection-Andreas-Antonopoulos/dp/1537000454/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/194791006X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
MASTERING bitcoin: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042
[NEW] MASTERING bitcoin, 2nd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388
Subscribe to the channel to learn more about bitcoin & open blockchains!
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Overpriced cryptocurrencies owe their diminishing credibility to an over-hyped technology
Predictions that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will fail typically elicit a broader defence of the underlying blockchain technology. Yes, the argument goes, more than half of “initial coin offerings” to date have already failed, and most of the 1,500-plus cryptocurrencies also will fail, but blockchain will nonetheless revolutionise finance and human interactions generally.
In reality, blockchain is one of the most . For starters, blockchains are less efficient than existing databases. When someone says they are running something on a blockchain, what they usually mean is that they are running one instance of a software application that is replicated across many other devices.
bitcoin is the first, and the biggest, “cryptocurrency” – a decentralised tradeable digital asset. Whether it is a bad investment is the big question. bitcoin can only be used as a medium of exchange and in practice has been far more important for the dark economy than it has for most legitimate uses. The lack of any central authority makes bitcoin remarkably resilient to censorship, corruption – or regulation. That means it has attracted a range of backers, from libertarian monetarists who enjoy the idea of a currency with no inflation and no central bank, to drug dealers who like the fact that it is hard (but not impossible) to trace a bitcoin transaction back to a physical person.
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An initial coin offering (ICO) is when a new cryptocurrency company offers a portion of its tokens for sale all at once to jumpstart trading, raise funds for continued development and earn a return on investment for its founders.
If you’ve spent much time at all on these pages, you know that my favorite hobby-horse for several years now has been the Federal Reserve’s policy of paying interest on (banks’) excess reserves (IOER) at an above-market rate. By adopting that policy in October 2008, the Fed replaced the operating system that had seen it through the with a “floor”-type system in which banks are kept awash in excess reserves, and monetary policy is conducted by adjusting the Fed’s IOER rate.
Although I’ve criticized various aspects of the floor system in numerous posts here, as well as in several op-eds and in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, I realized some time ago that the workings of the floor system, and especially the subtle ways in which it tends to undermine the Fed’s ability to combat recession and control inflation, call for a more systematic exposé.
And so, my new Cato book, FLOORED!: How a Misguided Fed Experiment Deepened and Prolonged the Great Recession, and Why the Fed – or Congress – Ought to End It. Among other things, FLOORED! explains how the Fed’s new operating system
intensified an already severe economic downturn by serving as the means by which the Fed maintained an excessively tight monetary policy;
led to a sustained collapse in the interbank market for federal funds, thereby destroying the Fed’s traditional means of monetary control;
dramatically reduced the effectiveness of open-market operations, so that even massive Fed asset purchases might not supply the stimulus to investment and spending that much smaller purchases would once have achieved;
undermined productivity by substantially increasing the Fed’s role in allocating scarce credit; and
made it more difficult for the Fed to reach its 2 percent inflation target.
Although FLOORED! is scheduled for publication as a proper book later this spring, we’re releasing it , so as to elicit comments and criticism from readers like yourself, and also from others with an interest in the subject. So please let me have your reactions, and pass the link on to anyone you know who may have thoughts to share with me on its subject.
So what are you waiting for?
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