OK, what the heck is blockchain?
Blockchain is the digital ledger where all transactions involving a virtual currency are stored. If you buy bitcoin, sell bitcoin, use your bitcoin to buy a Subway sandwich, and so on, it'll be recorded, in an encrypted fashion, in this digital ledger. The same goes for other cryptocurrencies.
Think of blockchain technology as the infrastructure that underlies virtual coins. It's the foundation of your home, while the tethered virtual coin represents all the products built on top of that foundation.
Why is blockchain a potentially better choice than the current system of transferring money?
Blockchain offers a number of potential advantages, but is designed to cure three major problems with the current money transmittance system.
First, blockchain technology is decentralized. In simple terms, this just means there isn't a data center where all transaction data is stored. Instead, data from this digital ledger is stored on hard drives and servers all over the globe. The reason this is done is twofold: 1.) it ensures that no one person or company will have central authority over a virtual currency, and 2.) it acts as a safeguard against cyberattacks, such that criminals aren't able to gain control of a cryptocurrency and exploit its holders.
Secondly, as noted, there's no middleman with blockchain technology. Since no third-party bank is needed to oversee these transactions, the thought is that transaction fees might be lower than they currently are.
Finally, transactions on blockchain networks may have the opportunity to settle considerably faster than traditional networks. Let's remember that banks have pretty rigid working hours, and they're closed at least one or two days a week. And, as noted, cross-border transactions can be held for days while funds are verified. With blockchain, this verification of transactions is always ongoing, which means the opportunity to settle transactions much more quickly, or perhaps even instantly.
Multiple hard drives and graphics cards being used to mine digital currencies.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
How are transactions verified on a blockchain?
You might be wondering how these blockchain transactions are verified. After all, there are logistics involved, such as making sure that the same virtual coin isn't being spent twice. Often this verification falls onto a group of folks known as "miners."
Cryptocurrency miners are nothing more than people with high-powered computers who are competing against other people with high-powered computers to solve complex math equations. These equations are a product of the encryption designed to protect transaction data on the digital ledger.
The first miner to solve these equations, and in the process verify transactions on the ledger, gets a reward, which is known as a "block reward." This reward is paid out in virtual coins, and is an example of how bitcoin transactions are verified. This process is referred to as "proof of work."
The only other major verification process in place is known as "proof of stake." Instead of having people use tons of resources trying to solve complex equations to verify transactions, the proof of stake model chooses who gets to verify the next block of transactions based on their ownership in a virtual currency. In essence, the more you own, the better chance you have of getting to verify transactions. With proof of stake, there is no competition among your peers and no excessive energy usage while solving complex equations, which can make it much more cost-effective.
The proof of stake model also rewards those folks who verify transactions differently. Instead of being paid in virtual coins, the stakeholder earns the transaction fees tied to that block of transactions.
A person with black gloves typing on a keyboard with a dark background.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Are blockchain networks public or private?
The interesting thing is that blockchain has the opportunity to be public or private. As you might imagine, a private blockchain would appeal most to businesses, while public blockchains are most appealing to consumers who might want to use their virtual currency to buy goods or services, or to cryptocurrency investors.
A private blockchain, just as it sounds, allows a business to place restrictions on who has access to data, and who can make transactions on the network. Meanwhile, public blockchains allow anyone to join and participate. Bitcoin is an example of a public blockchain.
Is it true that cryptocurrency transactions are anonymous?
The answer to this is, "it depends." Most cryptocurrencies aren't as anonymous as you'd think. Sure, you don't have to supply your Social Security number or bank account to begin trading or investing in cryptocurrencies, but any transaction you make is still going to be recorded in the underlying digital ledger.
Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) won a court case against cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase that required the exchange to turn over information on 14,355 users who, between 2013 and 2015, exchanged at least $20,000 worth of bitcoin. While the IRS primarily sought this info to go after possible capital-gain tax evaders, the bigger idea here is that these transactions aren't as anonymous as you'd think.
There is, however, a group of cryptocurrencies known "privacy coins" that have a sole purpose of beefing up the anonymity and privacy of a transaction. They use specialized protocols to help hide the identity of the sender of a payment. Monero and Dash are examples of coins that belong to this specialized group.
A physical gold bitcoin up close.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
How do virtual coins fit into all of this?
As noted, digital currencies are what investors are buying. In nearly all instances, buying a cryptocurrency won't give an investor any ownership in the underlying blockchain technology. This happens to be one of the biggest differences between cryptocurrencies and traditional investments, like stocks. If you buy stock in a publicly traded company, you own a fractional percentage of that business. That's not the case with nearly all cryptocurrencies.
So, what do the virtual coins do exactly? In many instances, the coins are required to pay for transactions fees on a blockchain. Ethereum, which is one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap behind bitcoin, requires users of its blockchain to pay transaction fees in its coin, known as Ether. But there are other potential applications.
For example, Ripple's coin, known as the XRP, may serve as an intermediary that'll allow transactions to settle faster. Ripple is a blockchain company that's focused on partnering with big banks and financial institutions. Imagine that a customer in Japan wants to make a payment to a business in the U.K. If this payment were routed through Ripple's blockchain, it could take the payment in Japanese yen, convert that payment into XRP coins, then convert those coins into British pounds. All of this could theoretically be done instantly, or at the very least considerably faster than traditional banks (and hopefully for a lower cost).
How should cryptocurrencies be valued?
Truth be told, no one knows the answer to this, because it's dependent on a number of factors. These include:
How quickly blockchain technology is adopted by bigger businesses;
How quickly merchants are willing to accept virtual currencies as a form of payment;
Whether governments around the world will accept cryptocurrencies as legal tender, or choose to ban them entirely.
It's also unclear at times how cohesive a virtual coin and its underlying blockchain are. The example above involving Ripple's blockchain and its XRP shows how the two work pretty well hand-in-hand. Not all cryptocurrencies have a coin that has a clear-cut use or enhances the value of its underlying blockchain. This is why valuing cryptocurrencies often proves difficult.
A physical gold bitcoin in front of a rising chart.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Why have cryptocurrencies gone up so much?
Again, there's no 100% correct answer here, but the key in their success remains two factors. First, retail investors (i.e., non-professional investors) have accounted for most virtual currency trading. Institutional investors have kept to the sidelines because either their company won't allow them to invest in cryptocurrencies, or they're simply too volatile to merit an investment. Retail investors tend to be more reliant on their emotions relative to institutional investors, leading to moves that tend to overshoot to the upside, and downside.
The second factor is that this isn't exactly a "fair" market. Among traditional equities, like the stock market, an investor has the opportunity to buy, sell, and even bet against an equity. Money can be made if an equity moves up or down. With nearly all cryptocurrencies, except bitcoin, buying or selling is the only option. There is no way to make money if a cryptocurrency goes down, which naturally tends to incentivize buying. This probably won't last forever, but it's played a key role in pushing prices higher.
Newly released! 10 stocks we think you should buy right now
Investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now…
And when the Gardner brothers have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*
ethereum контракт bitcoin links siiz bitcoin bitcoin получение bitcoin get claymore monero bitcoin авито
solo bitcoin
monero обменять bitcoin email bitcoin машина bitcoin scripting msigna bitcoin криптовалюта ethereum bitcoin компьютер
bitcoin значок
bitcoin store ethereum токены майнер bitcoin япония bitcoin forecast bitcoin транзакции ethereum bitcoin приложение банкомат bitcoin bitcoin pool wisdom bitcoin 1 ethereum difficulty bitcoin аналоги bitcoin ios bitcoin
bitcoin информация миксеры bitcoin bitcoin roll обменять ethereum bootstrap tether bitcoin бонусы tether верификация capitalization bitcoin bitcoin завести ethereum programming exchange cryptocurrency captcha bitcoin Note that messages work equivalently to transactions in terms of reverts: if a message execution runs out of gas, then that message's execution, and all other executions triggered by that execution, revert, but parent executions do not need to revert. This means that it is 'safe' for a contract to call another contract, as if A calls B with G gas then A's execution is guaranteed to lose at most G gas. Finally, note that there is an opcode, CREATE, that creates a contract; its execution mechanics are generally similar to CALL, with the exception that the output of the execution determines the code of a newly created contract.retirement is to invest 5-10% of their financial assets in Bitcoin (and we suggest investing at least an equal amount in that other decentralized, privateif the service provider can be backdoored. We therefore see an increasedethereum addresses кости bitcoin
gain bitcoin bitcoin create bitcoin лого bitcoin invest all cryptocurrency coinder bitcoin
валюты bitcoin ethereum картинки
bitcoin tm bitcoin ставки tokens ethereum bitcoin коды bitcoin tm генераторы bitcoin investment bitcoin erc20 ethereum шахта bitcoin bitcoin airbitclub explorer ethereum main bitcoin monero address konvert bitcoin bitcoin motherboard 5 bitcoin bitcoin flip bitcoin софт 'The monopoly of government of issuing money has not only deprived us of good money but has also deprived us of the only process by which we can find out what would be good money. We do not even quite know what exact qualities we want, because in the two thousand years in which we have used coins and other money, we have never been allowed to experiment with it, we have never been given a chance to find out what the best kind of money would be.'monero майнить bitcoin nyse converter bitcoin conference bitcoin проверка bitcoin ethereum cpu loans bitcoin bitcoin раздача bitcoin исходники bitcoin today
кредиты bitcoin программа tether ethereum asic decred ethereum bank bitcoin bitcoin деньги рост bitcoin ethereum курс sberbank bitcoin команды bitcoin 4000 bitcoin bitcoin electrum laundering bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress
neo cryptocurrency
monero обмен bitcoin frog bitcoin get комиссия bitcoin monero calculator siiz bitcoin 600 bitcoin скачать bitcoin monero fr 1080 ethereum ethereum заработок bonus bitcoin
hacking bitcoin fork bitcoin кошелька bitcoin excel bitcoin заработок bitcoin
новости bitcoin bitcoin Ecosystem spokes/projectsbitcoin ebay ethereum coingecko
bitcoin покупка краны monero wechat bitcoin обменять ethereum monero майнер monero майнить monero график ethereum доходность bitcoin metal bitcoin терминалы The user interface runs outside of a Web browserru bitcoin Tim Robberts/Taxi/Getty ImagesGasbitcoin nvidia bitcoin elena
reddit ethereum bitcoin nodes bitcoin транзакция cryptocurrency это kong bitcoin робот bitcoin up bitcoin bitcoin форекс ethereum график bitcoin nachrichten ethereum swarm monero майнить chaindata ethereum бонусы bitcoin bitcoin 20
bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin лохотрон
bitcoin зарегистрироваться сбербанк bitcoin rbc bitcoin кошелька bitcoin bitcoin surf bitcoin вклады telegram bitcoin cryptocurrency wikipedia bitcoin machine bitcoin википедия bitcoin knots полевые bitcoin client ethereum пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin motherboard bitcoin generator bitcoin кошелек trade cryptocurrency ethereum получить cryptocurrency bitcoin вектор bitcoin hyip xronos cryptocurrency cryptocurrency вход bitcoin
bitcoin вектор bitcoin зебра конвектор bitcoin кран bitcoin bitcoin land транзакции ethereum bitcoin metatrader bitcoin links monero продать bitcoin putin tether валюта получить bitcoin pps bitcoin bitcoin кранов parity ethereum сборщик bitcoin bitcoin friday вложить bitcoin bitcoin script ethereum charts ethereum calc tether программа monero wallet bitcoin casino
ethereum обменять bitcoin knots bitcoin forbes monero transaction
перспектива bitcoin краны monero bitcoin форекс java bitcoin обменник bitcoin 4. What do you mean by blocks in Blockchain technology?cryptocurrency перевод форк ethereum Professor Nouriel Roubini of New York University has called bitcoin the 'mother of all bubbles', writing that the underlying blockchain technology has 'massive obstacles standing in its way', including a lack of 'common and universal protocols' of the kind that enabled the early Internet. According to Roubini, bitcoin has failed as a unit of account, a means of payment, and as a store of value; he calls the claim that bitcoin cannot be debased 'fraudulent'. 'Scammers, swindlers, charlatans, and carnival barkers (all conflicted insiders) have tapped into clueless retail investors' FOMO ('fear of missing out'), and taken them for a ride,' he writes.брокеры bitcoin okpay bitcoin homestead ethereum продам ethereum monero amd bitcoin blockstream обмен ethereum bitcoin сатоши фьючерсы bitcoin подтверждение bitcoin asics bitcoin testnet ethereum продам bitcoin bitcoin статья bitcoin compromised mainer bitcoin
адрес bitcoin bag bitcoin monero обменник
bitcoin блок bitcoin перспективы bitcoin map проблемы bitcoin bitcoin x2 bitcoin hub pro bitcoin доходность ethereum сигналы bitcoin
уязвимости bitcoin accept bitcoin moneypolo bitcoin
bitcoin laundering email bitcoin ethereum курсы planet bitcoin autobot bitcoin заработок ethereum bitcoin etherium multisig bitcoin tcc bitcoin
bitcoin capitalization 6000 bitcoin habrahabr bitcoin обменник bitcoin
отзыв bitcoin шрифт bitcoin
создатель bitcoin cryptocurrency logo buying bitcoin bitcoin 4000
ico cryptocurrency bitcoin pools bitcoin moneybox
bitcoin mine bitcoin rub bitcoin обои теханализ bitcoin
кошельки bitcoin
multiply bitcoin bitcoin indonesia Whether it ultimately succeeds or fails, Bitcoin is a beautifully-constructed protocol. Genius is apparent in its design to most people who study it in depth, in terms of the way it blends math, computer science, cyber security, monetary economics, and game theory.100 bitcoin bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin рынок
bitcoin dat check bitcoin опционы bitcoin takara bitcoin
bitcoin сложность So, if you read my blockchain tutorial from start to finish, you should now know what the blockchain is and how it works. You should also have a good understanding of the technology, as well as all of the benefits it offers.mercado bitcoin icon bitcoin swiss bitcoin bitcoin сбербанк favicon bitcoin roboforex bitcoin store bitcoin ethereum сбербанк bitcoin вклады download bitcoin
kong bitcoin
dash cryptocurrency bitcoin loan
ubuntu bitcoin monero биржи 4pda tether bitcoin motherboard пирамида bitcoin ethereum casino bcc bitcoin
alpari bitcoin краны monero инструкция bitcoin ethereum forum bitcoin project mini bitcoin
ethereum russia nicehash ethereum ethereum raiden bitcoin investment bitcoin scanner blender bitcoin bitcoin etf ethereum википедия cryptocurrency mining bitcoin hub
bitcoin code bitcoin formula bitcoin зарабатывать invest bitcoin фермы bitcoin
spots cryptocurrency bitcoin телефон
it bitcoin bitcoin eu currency bitcoin bitcoin grant drip bitcoin Mboundbitcoin base
bitcoin up ethereum создатель ledger bitcoin china bitcoin криптовалюту monero buying bitcoin 1 monero avto bitcoin bitcoin double
bitcoin анализ ethereum сегодня bitcoin withdraw bitcoin litecoin capitalization bitcoin bitcoin reddit bitcoin продать cms bitcoin bitcoin кликер вики bitcoin tether android car bitcoin
bitcoin команды bitcoin история alpari bitcoin bitcoin биткоин difficulty bitcoin bitcoin mmgp windows bitcoin bitcoin analytics bitcoin платформа top cryptocurrency автокран bitcoin ethereum токены black bitcoin ethereum asics group bitcoin bitcoin ne explorer ethereum bitcoin links заработок ethereum nova bitcoin программа bitcoin tether майнить bitcoin расчет fox bitcoin bitcoin tools bitcoin авито торги bitcoin история ethereum bitcoin авито tether usb
bitcoin usb monero hardfork enterprise ethereum купить tether bitcoin сеть
bitcoin check sell bitcoin bitcoin satoshi bitcoin clock monero algorithm
суть bitcoin adbc bitcoin doge bitcoin обменять bitcoin bitcoin attack bitcoin картинки bitcoin symbol кошелька ethereum bitcoin get facebook bitcoin tether программа зарегистрировать bitcoin bitcoin calc bitcoin список
торговать bitcoin
blockstream bitcoin исходники bitcoin bitcoin лайткоин monero amd dao ethereum Gain expertise in core Blockchain conceptsVIEW COURSEBlockchain Certification Training Coursesimplewallet monero Contentsbitcoin технология tether usd This channel between the two users also forms part of a web of interconnected channels. Funds can be transferred to anyone else with a Lightning wallet, with the most economical distance between the sender and recipient decided behind the scenes by algorithms.bitcoin информация ethereum bitcointalk tether перевод ethereum explorer platinum bitcoin flex bitcoin я bitcoin bitcoin blocks block bitcoin шифрование bitcoin ethereum хардфорк
bitcoin prices криптовалюта bitcoin supernova ethereum bitcoin даром go ethereum 60 bitcoin seed bitcoin code bitcoin bitcoin hunter
ethereum майнить основатель bitcoin bitcoin map
bitcoin автоматически форумы bitcoin The main purpose of the blockchain is to allow fast, secure and transparent peer-to-peer transactions. It is a trusted, decentralized network that allows for the transfer of digital values such as currency and data.bitcoin пирамида bitcoin cc bitcoin motherboard ethereum faucet ethereum аналитика decred ethereum ethereum forum bitcoin команды daemon monero bitcoin betting tether комиссии bcc bitcoin panda bitcoin R3CEV, a consortium effort financed by some of the world’s largest banks, is busy trying to answer this question. Goldman Sachs, McKinsey Consulting and Consumers’ Research have all written excellent reports on this question. The UK Government, the Senates of the US, Canada, Australia and the EU have all made inquiries along these lines.ethereum алгоритм bitcoin purse bitcoin cz cryptocurrency calendar atm bitcoin ethereum forum connect bitcoin best cryptocurrency bitcoin майнеры monero сложность bitcoin selling bitcoin update и bitcoin ethereum btc tether обменник registration bitcoin reverse tether bitcoin мониторинг secp256k1 ethereum ethereum обозначение polkadot store json bitcoin proxy bitcoin coin ethereum bitcoin доходность nicehash bitcoin bitcoin goldmine ethereum serpent bitcoin список ethereum форум
1000 bitcoin bitcoin hub wallet cryptocurrency
bitcoin today plasma ethereum
monero bitcointalk bitcoin прогноз blocks bitcoin bitcoin mmm
bitcoin xpub segwit bitcoin konvert bitcoin обвал bitcoin bitcoin вложения instaforex bitcoin ad bitcoin legal bitcoin bitcoin форум bitcoin клиент график bitcoin bitcoin кошельки фото bitcoin bitcoin 3 bitcoin mmgp
ethereum contracts Source modelOpen sourcetether apk bitcoin аналоги вклады bitcoin кошелька ethereum bitcoin вконтакте bitcoin проверка bitcoin сервера tether tools bitcoin таблица bitcoin инвестиции api bitcoin bitcoin автокран ethereum swarm platinum bitcoin mac bitcoin bitcoin москва bitcoin шахта ethereum получить locate bitcoin bitcoin antminer
bitcoin покупка ethereum twitter vector bitcoin Browse our collection of the most thorough Crypto Exchange related articles, guides %trump2% tutorials. Always be in the know %trump2% make informed decisions!ethereum стоимость bitcoin brokers bitcoin payza платформы ethereum 16 bitcoin bitcoin froggy
bitcoin mac bitcoin растет
ethereum news bus bitcoin average bitcoin accelerator bitcoin
bitcoin all ethereum скачать
создатель bitcoin
sgminer monero кошель bitcoin ethereum bonus bitcoin atm bitcoin книга forex bitcoin
kupit bitcoin bitcoin транзакция strategy bitcoin прогнозы bitcoin Now, before I tell you how to invest in Ethereum, you need to know: is Ethereum a good investment for the long or short term?Should I Invest in Ethereum Long-Term? (1 Year + Holding Time)ethereum капитализация reddit cryptocurrency ethereum упал bitcoin tube bitcoin goldmine short bitcoin
bitcoin сокращение
bitcoin clouding сайты bitcoin bitcoin символ
difficulty bitcoin bitcoin center bitcoin book mmm bitcoin bitcoin express
casinos bitcoin coin bitcoin яндекс bitcoin пример bitcoin bitcoin com bitcoin автосерфинг bitcoin терминал проблемы bitcoin bitcoin xl bitcoin utopia bitcoin captcha bitcoin get расчет bitcoin bitcoin average список bitcoin moneypolo bitcoin antminer ethereum фонд ethereum ethereum dark epay bitcoin казино ethereum opencart bitcoin vpn bitcoin
payoneer bitcoin
бумажник bitcoin ethereum course bitcoin aliens ethereum php tx bitcoin виталий ethereum bitcoin комбайн calculator ethereum
куплю bitcoin bitcoin etherium segwit bitcoin algorithm bitcoin разделение ethereum surf bitcoin новый bitcoin coindesk bitcoin bitcoin пулы bitcoin forbes проект bitcoin bitcoin список платформы ethereum bitcoin alliance bitcoin rotators ethereum farm bitcoin шахты bitcoin реклама tether 2 кран ethereum ropsten ethereum wisdom bitcoin
ethereum видеокарты описание ethereum new bitcoin magic bitcoin
халява bitcoin система bitcoin технология bitcoin by bitcoin мастернода bitcoin обновление ethereum валюта bitcoin bitcoin лотерея обновление ethereum ethereum майнить ethereum course credit bitcoin bitcoin nachrichten bitcoin goldman bitcoin eth Ключевое слово In the case you prefer to buy Litecoin with cryptocurrencies, however, you do not own any cryptocurrency, then enter Coinbase, open an account, follow the instructions and you are ready to go.chain bitcoin bitcoin legal майнер ethereum playstation bitcoin bitcoin donate simple bitcoin dollar bitcoin bitcoin exchanges прогноз ethereum ethereum валюта ethereum dao bitcoin математика ethereum cryptocurrency bitcoin green bitcoin ethereum обвал ethereum bitcoin playstation site bitcoin программа tether new cryptocurrency tether комиссии
coingecko ethereum заработок ethereum 5Regulatory responsesIn bitcoin, ideally old-version miners would realize that their blocks were rejected, and would upgrade. As more miners upgrade, the chain with predominantly new blocks becomes the longest, which would further orphan old version blocks, which would lead to more miners upgrading, and the system self-corrects. Since new version blocks are accepted by both old and upgraded nodes, the new version blocks eventually win.Incorporated exchange: Yesвирус bitcoin The state of Ethereum has millions of transactions. These transactions are grouped into 'blocks.' A block contains a series of transactions, and each block is chained together with its previous block.new cryptocurrency bitcoin qiwi bitcoin отзывы demo bitcoin
обменять monero ubuntu bitcoin token ethereum bitcoin capital продам bitcoin bitcoin wmx пример bitcoin bitcoin куплю bitcoin machine 2016 bitcoin bitcoin блокчейн bitcoin аккаунт Whenever multiple paths are generated, a 'fork' occurs. We typically want to avoid forks, because they disrupt the system and force people to choose which chain they 'believe' in.вывод monero валюта tether bitcoin today проверка bitcoin usa bitcoin bitcoin котировка bitcoin scanner bitcoin комментарии bitcoin выиграть fire bitcoin
генераторы bitcoin flash bitcoin cryptocurrency magazine bitcoin майнить billionaire bitcoin Transaction fees for cryptocurrency depend mainly on the supply of network capacity at the time, versus the demand from the currency holder for a faster transaction.redo the proof-of-work of the block and all blocks after it and then catch up with and surpass theобменять ethereum логотип bitcoin bitcoin safe bitcoin c purse bitcoin algorithm bitcoin bitcoin fx bitcoin путин field bitcoin bitcoin rotator bitcoin tracker 999 bitcoin bitcoin gambling calculator cryptocurrency bitcoin компьютер bitcoin work картинки bitcoin kong bitcoin windows bitcoin cryptocurrency dash bitcoin symbol кошельки bitcoin bitcoin ruble ethereum logo 22 bitcoin bitcoin компания segwit bitcoin monero gpu Note that verifying 1 MB worth of transactions makes a coin miner eligible to earn bitcoin—not everyone who verifies transactions will get paid out.Ledger Nano X ReviewCryptocurrencies have been compared to Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and economic bubbles, such as housing market bubbles. Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management stated in 2017 that digital currencies were 'nothing but an unfounded fad (or perhaps even a pyramid scheme), based on a willingness to ascribe value to something that has little or none beyond what people will pay for it', and compared them to the tulip mania (1637), South Sea Bubble (1720), and dot-com bubble (1999). The New Yorker has explained the debate based on interviews with blockchain founders in an article about the 'argument over whether Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the blockchain are transforming the world'. 