Post on 20-Sep-2020
Be Your Own Bank
John Light | @lightcoin | lightco.inBitcoin: Be Your Own Bank | @BitcoinBYOB | bitcoinbyob.com
What is Bitcoin?
“A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution…
What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party.”
- Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
Source: “What is Bitcoin? v2”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc2en3nHxA4
Bitcoin
● Decentralized (no “trusted third party”)
● Digital currency (“electronic cash”)
● Payment system (“peer-to-peer”)
Bitcoin Wallets
● Store, send, and receive bitcoin
● Use public addresses to receive, private key to spend
● Show address balances and transaction history
Mobile wallet apps
Source: www.bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
Desktop wallet apps
Hardware wallets
Acquiring Bitcoin
Easy ways to acquire bitcoin
● Earn bitcoin
● Buy bitcoin online
● Buy bitcoin in person
Earn bitcoin
● Sell goods and services for bitcoin - bitpay.com
● Sell through a bitcoin marketplace - openbazaar.org
● Find an employer who pays bitcoin - coinality.com
● Convert paychecks into bitcoin - bitwage.com
… and ask people to pay you back for lunch with bitcoin!
Buy bitcoin online
● Circle - www.circle.com
● Coinbase - www.coinbase.com
● itBit - www.itbit.com
… and other Bitlicense-compliant brokers/ exchanges.
Buy bitcoin in-person
● Local Bitcoins - localbitcoins.com
● Mycelium Local Trader - wallet.mycelium.com
● Bitcoin ATMs - coinatmradar.com
… and from people you know and trust who have bitcoin.
Bitcoin and Anonymity
● Bitcoin is not anonymous, it is pseudonymous
● All Bitcoin transactions are public and traceable
● It can be easy to link your identity to your addresses
● Breaking the link to your identity is difficult
Source: S. Nakamoto, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”, 2008
● If the person/company who sold you bitcoins knows your ID
● If you buy something with bitcoin and give the seller your ID
● If you publish your bitcoin address(es) with an account linked to your ID
● If you send bitcoin to or receive bitcoin from an address linked to your ID
You can hurt your anonymity
Current:
● Wallet + Tor
● Cash purchases○ LocalBitcoins○ LocalTrader
○ Bitcoin ATMs
● JoinMarket Tumbler
Anonymity solutions
Future:
● CoinShuffle
● TumbleBit
● Lightning network
● Anonymous sidechains
More info
Anonymous Bitcoin by Kristov Atlas
www.anonymousbitcoinbook.com
Advanced Use
Multisignature addresses
● Require multiple keys to complete a transaction
● Control funds collectively to ensure accountability
● Protect against loss if minority of wallets are lost or hacked
e.g. CoPay
Source: https://bitpay.github.io/copay/
● Raise funds for a business or nonprofit
● “Kickstarter” without the middleman
● Transaction completes when a pre-set balance is reached
● Cancel any time before the transaction completes
e.g. Lighthouse
Crowdfunding
Source: J. Light, “Bitcoin: Be Your Own Bank”, 2015, (Lighthouse desktop app)
● Create new digital currencies
● Issue securities to raise funds for a business
● Track the ownership of property digitally
e.g. Coinprism
Note: this is experimental and probably illegal
Colored coins
Source: www.coinprism.com
● Register a domain name on the blockchain
● Link the domain name to an IP address and TLS cert
● Use the blockchain ID to log in to apps and websites
e.g. Blockstack
Decentralized DNS + PKI
Source: www.onename.com/lightcoin
Cool Bitcoin Apps
● Bitmarkets - www.bitmarkets.org
● OpenBazaar - www.openbazaar.org
● Bitsquare - www.bitsquare.io
● Blockstack - www.blockstack.org
● Coinprism - www.coinprism.com
● 21 - www.21.co
… and many more - go exploring!
Thanks for listening!
Questions?
John Light | @lightcoin | lightco.in
Bitcoin: Be Your Own Bank | @BitcoinBYOB | bitcoinbyob.com