Blockchain at Berkeley
blockchain.berkeley.edu
Blockchain at Berkeley
1–10 of 63 posts
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#2Tangential: is "blockchain" a Proper Noun? This page can't seem to decide.
I always thought this phenomenon came from journalists writing about blockchains not understanding that a blockchain is a data structuture and not a singular proper entity, but I give Berkeley more credit. So what's up?
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#3Tangential: is "blockchain" a Proper Noun? This page can't seem to decide. I always thought this phenomenon came from journalists writing about blockchains not understanding that a blockchain is a data structuture and not a singular proper entity, but I give Berkeley more credit. So what's up?
Blockchain @ Berkeley is a student-led group, so maybe that's why.
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#4Tangential: is "blockchain" a Proper Noun? This page can't seem to decide. I always thought this phenomenon came from journalists writing about blockchains not understanding that a blockchain is a data structuture and not a singular proper entity, but I give Berkeley more credit. So what's up?
blockchain is a concept. It can refer to the actual implementation seen in bitcoin, ethereum and others. Or it can refer more generally to the algorithmic backing of crypto-currencies.
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#5'Blockchain' is literally the least interesting part of cryptocurrencies and their applications. its a boring flat file structure that is an artifact of needing many clients independently deriving a shared ledger, nothing more and nothing less. the interesting part is how you can bootstrap issuance of a new asset by incentivizing participants to assist in maintaining a specified computer network in exchange for cryptographically-{verifiable|enforced} units.
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#6'Blockchain' is literally the least interesting part of cryptocurrencies and their applications. its a boring flat file structure that is an artifact of needing many clients independently deriving a shared ledger, nothing more and nothing less. the interesting part is how you can bootstrap issuance of a new asset by incentivizing participants to assist in maintaining a specified computer network in exchange for crypt…
My layman understanding is that blockchain is literally singly linked list, except of "nextNode" you have "parentNode" pointer (which actually checks that parent is valid for "parenting" :)
The important part is how blocks get added over network, and decentralized consensus of the addition. (Well, socioeconomic phenomenon of adding monetary value to all that jazz is pretty cool too!)
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#7'Blockchain' is literally the least interesting part of cryptocurrencies and their applications. its a boring flat file structure that is an artifact of needing many clients independently deriving a shared ledger, nothing more and nothing less. the interesting part is how you can bootstrap issuance of a new asset by incentivizing participants to assist in maintaining a specified computer network in exchange for crypt…
My layman understanding is that blockchain is literally singly linked list, except of "nextNode" you have "parentNode" pointer (which actually checks that parent is valid for "parenting" :) The important part is how blocks get added over network, and decentralized consensus of the addition. (Well, socioeconomic phenomenon of adding monetary value to all that jazz is pretty cool too!)
There's a bit more to it. Proof of work hashing and ledger consensus rules and difficulty targets and fee schedules and forks.
It's still all standard bachelor's degree algorithms, and I agree with the gp that it's not the interesting part. The interesting part is using these algorithms for social consensus on value.
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#8Honestly, it just looks like a group of students piggybacking on Berkeley's reputation to make some money doing blockchain consulting
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
My layman understanding is that blockchain is literally singly linked list, except of "nextNode" you have "parentNode" pointer (which actually checks that parent is valid for "parenting" :) The important part is how blocks get added over network, and decentralized consensus of the addition. (Well, socioeconomic phenomenon of adding monetary value to all that jazz is pretty cool too!)
There's a bit more to it. Proof of work hashing and ledger consensus rules and difficulty targets and fee schedules and forks. It's still all standard bachelor's degree algorithms, and I agree with the gp that it's not the interesting part. The interesting part is using these algorithms for social consensus on value.
This. Seriously I was talking to a neighbor just the other day about how the most interesting aspect is the application!
Re: Blockchain at Berkeley
#10'Blockchain' is literally the least interesting part of cryptocurrencies and their applications. its a boring flat file structure that is an artifact of needing many clients independently deriving a shared ledger, nothing more and nothing less. the interesting part is how you can bootstrap issuance of a new asset by incentivizing participants to assist in maintaining a specified computer network in exchange for crypt…
My layman understanding is that blockchain is literally singly linked list, except of "nextNode" you have "parentNode" pointer (which actually checks that parent is valid for "parenting" :) The important part is how blocks get added over network, and decentralized consensus of the addition. (Well, socioeconomic phenomenon of adding monetary value to all that jazz is pretty cool too!)
It's more of a tree with single root and a function returning the longest tip by some distance method. Bitcoin uses amount of work proved as the distance. Bitcoin ignores other tips unless/until one of them becomes longer than the current tip but some systems like Ethereum leverage stagnant branches for their length function.
But yes, dynamic-membership multi-party signature schemes and their use for creating permissionless systems is the real innovation.