BROADCASTS.com

b'

Blockchain, the necessity of regulation, and the regulatory challenges posed by truly global technologies.

Show Notes

Blockchain and the associated currencies and techniques derived from it have been in the news a lot for the last few years. And it\\u2019s an incredibly interesting technology, which basically only has benefits for individual users \\u2013\\xa0but has some profoundly distortive effects at scale, on everything from economics to energy consumption. So what do we do about it?

Links

\\n

• Cryptokitties

\\n

• Chinese Bitcoin Miners getting relocated to\\u2026 Canada.

\\n

• ICOs (\\u201cinitial coin offerings\\u201d) explained

\\n

• \\u201cSmart Contracts\\u201d

\\n

• current regulatory approaches

  \\n
  \\n

  • in Europe

  \\n

  • in South Korea, including the latest as of the show\\u2019s publication

  \\n

  • related: the relationship between trade agreements and regulation

  \\n
\\n

• Blockchain and triple-entry accounting

  \\n
  \\n

  • that\\u2019s exactly what it is!

  \\n
  • that\\u2019s not what it is
  \\n
\\n

• Bitcoin will use 0.5% of the world\\u2019s electricity by the end of 2018

\\n

• Terrorists have (unsurprisingly) already been using cryptocurrencies

\\n

• Bitcoin in your (rural!) neighborhood

\\n

• On the basically-asymptotic difficulty of \\u201cmining\\u201d:

  \\n
  \\n

  • \\u201cIs the asymptotic performance of bitcoin O(n) relative to the block chain length?\\u201d

  \\n

  • \\u201cHow many bitcoins will there eventually be?\\u201d

    \\n

    \\n

    Every block introduces 50 new coins in the system. This quantity (50) halves every 210,000 blocks. So, getting the limit of coins it is possible to generate is quite easy: it\\u2019s the sum of a geometric series.

    \\n

    \\n

    The total number of bitcoins that can ever be created is 21,000,000.

  \\n
\\n

We also discussed the importance of regulation in some detail in a couple episodes in season 5:

\\n
• 5.09: Regulate All the Things - on regulations and the open internet
\\n
• 5.11: Fences, Neighbors, Etc. \\u2013 on vaccinations and the application of force
\\n

Music

\\n
• \\u201cHeavy Eyes\\u201d by Palm Ghosts. Used by permission.
\\n
• \\u201cWinning Slowly Theme\\u201d by Chris Krycho.
\\n

Sponsors

Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month\\u2019s sponsors:

\\n
• Andrew Fallows
\\n
• Kurt Klassen
\\n
• Jake Grant
\\n
• Jeremy W. Sherman
\\n

If you\\u2019d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash.

Respond

We love to hear your thoughts. Hit us up via Twitter, Facebook, or email!