A few notes on Blockchain

Posted 2021-04-29 黄小佳的英文纪事

A few months ago, my husband came back home elatedly and said:

"Honey, I wanna raise a cat."

Me: "Sure, what kind of breed you prefer, A Persian? American Shorthair? Or perhaps Scottish Fold? Anything that have in mind?"

"I wanna have a Ethercat."

Me: "A what?"

"A Ethercat, a kind of virtual cat. "

Me: "With life? Does that exist in a machine? Like tamagotchi, the Japanese version of digital pet that was quite a hit back in the 90s?"

"No, not like that. The Ethercat is cryptokitty in a virtual game based on the technology of blockchain, which is also the layer infrastructure of Bitcoin. You can buy, sell and even breed your cat, and your cat will be the only one of its kind. "

Blockchain, layer infrastructure, Bitcoin, his lingo has already puzzled me.

Yet he continued excitedly:

"To buy a crypokitty, we need to own some Ether, the cryptocurrency, similar to Bitcoin, but far less expensive than it at the time being. Its valuation has been up since first came out though. So, we probably can earn a small sum by raising a cryptokitty. But more than anything else, we can have fun trying such a novelty. "

My husband is a senior computer engineer who is currently working on these cutting edge technology, so his suggestion, beyond any doubt, was passed agreeably.

However, I still feel overwhelmed by those new technological concepts. These days, transforming ideas and advancement creep into our lives just as the spring rain creep into the nights bringing new hope and expectation. But only a handful of experts and professionals know the mechanisms and how to make the best use of them in the first place. Among the popular concepts, My husband explains, Bitcoin is without doubt the most enthralling product recently that has managed to stir up feelings of investors and opportunists because of its skyrocketing value that could make anyone who hold it become million/billionaire overnight. Its layer infrastructure—block chain, though lesser known, is by no means less significant. After his explanation and my browse on related articles, I grasp a few points.

The designer of blockchain is called Nakamoto (No one knows yet is this one person or a group of genius guys or even a mystical organization). This mechanism was first put into use by creating Bitcoin. Some of the underlying beauty in my eyes are:

First, decentralizing and trust. We have long relied on centralized authorities to verify we are who we say we are and we do what we claim we do. Banks take record, bureaus take record. But this has a potential risk. Take a radical example, what if the bank was burned to the ground or hacked one day and your data all gone? The evidence of your transactions would thus disappear into thin air and no one could testify. Decentralizing means that there is no longer such agencies as intermediary. Once a transaction is made (from anyone),  it is broadcasted to the network. Transactions are then gathered by on-line miners who later sent those data to a broader net in the form of a block. Blocks congregate and become blockchains. No one can steal or break the chain. Whatever happens, your transactions stay. Agency gone. Trust issues solved. Bravo!

Then it comes all digital. Once the cryptocurrency came out people see the possibility that it could eventually replace our existing currency. More migically as I imagine, like the scenes in a surreal sci-fi movie, in the future, once swiping your card (or any gadget), all your info will be presented. There is no need to take cash or any cards to show your identification or credit history.  It is like an all-inclusive personal ID that records and contains every transaction you have made in life.

Mining. I personally think this is the most genius mindset. Nakamoto is so smart that he utilizes people to maintain willingly the blockchain themselves by letting the mechanism automatically offer rewards, like a quick-answer game. Those miners who manage to gather transactions broadcasted on the network and successfully crack the complex computational questions will receive the exclusive right to register that block into the ledger. The system gets to be maintained. As a reward, miners will be paid with some valuable coins. That’s why the mining companies have sprung up these days. Big money to make!

Back to the Ethercat my husband has mentioned. The Cat is one application that people put the blockchain mechanism into real use. Blockchain technology does feel promising that no wonder countries are making blueprints and advocate it vehemently . But more revolutionary use is yet to come. How far would it go? That will depend on professionals like my hubby to figure out.