Rock’n’roll history of Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency

EliasAhonen

FutureBlockchainSummitWorldTradeCentre,Dubai

17October2021

Public Key Cryptography- 1976

“Everycompany,everycitizennowhadroutineaccesstothesortsofcryptographictechnologythatnotmanyyearsagorankedalongsidetheatombombasasourceofpower.”

StevenLevy,1994TheCypherpunkmovementdevelopedamongprivacy-focusedprogrammersontheUSwestcoastinthemid-1980’s.Forthese“cryptoanarchists”,anonymousdigitalcashbecameanideologicalgoal.TheymadeseveralattemptsHashcash(AdamBack,1997),B-Money(WeiDai,1998)

TheCypherpunkmovementdevelopedamongprivacy-focusedprogrammersontheUSwestcoastinthemid-1980’s.Forthese“cryptoanarchists”,anonymousdigitalcashbecameanideologicalgoal.Theymadeseveralattempts:•  Hashcash(AdamBack,1997)•  B-Money(WeiDai,1998)•  BitGold(NickSzabo,1998/2005)•  Bitcoin(SatoshiNakamoto,2008)–realidentityunknown

“Havinganalyzedpre-civilizedsocieties,Szabofoundthatpeopleacrossculturestendedtocollectscarce,easy-to-carryobjects,of-tentomakejewelleryoutofthem.Itwastheseobjectsthatservedasmoney”

-AaronVanWirdum

www.ahonen.caTwitter:@eahonen