I’ve been interested in learning about blockchain for a while, especially on what it means for the finance industry. Starting today, my friends and I will be starting MIT’s Blockchain and Money course by Gary Gensler, who is the current chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Thanks to…

Each week, I will be posting my notes from MIT’s Blockchain and Money course to keep myself accountable for my learning. History of Money Characteristics of “good” money are: Durable Portable Divisible Uniform In the past, many countries were using non-metal money. Ethiopia used salt bars Nigeria used cowrie shells England used tally…

Each week, I will be posting my notes from MIT’s Blockchain and Money course to keep myself accountable for my learning. Design features of Bitcoin This lecture will cover the following 5 features of Bitcoin. There are more to come on another lecture. Cryptographic hash functions (a cryptographic primitive is an algorithm that protects…

Each week, I will be posting my notes from MIT’s Blockchain and Money course to keep myself accountable for my learning. Design features of Bitcoin continued This lecture will cover the following elements in the context of Bitcoin: Proof of work Native currency Network Byzantine Generals Problem is a famous problem that asks: how do…

Each week, I will be posting my notes from MIT’s Blockchain and Money course to keep myself accountable for my learning. A transaction in Bitcoin involves input and output. The inputs are essentially historic transactions that prove your current balance (block ID and a unique transaction ID within that block)…

Each week, I will be posting my notes from MIT’s Blockchain and Money course to keep myself accountable for my learning. The Buterin Trilemma, coined by Viltalik Buterin (founder of Ethereum), describes the current challenges of blockchain technology and trade-offs one must make when optimising against these challenges. Many of…

Each week, I will be posting my notes from MIT’s Blockchain and Money course to keep myself accountable for my learning. Is more regulation in the cryptocurrency space needed? In public policy, there are 3 main guard rails around its framework: Guarding against illicit activities. Although definitions vary by jurisdiction…

Each week, I will be posting my notes from MIT’s Blockchain and Money course to keep myself accountable for my learning. What is permissioned blockchain? Current challenges with decentralised blockchain are scalability and privacy. Many commercial use-cases currently favours permissioned systems for this reason. Permissioned blockchain (private) differs from permissionless…

Financial institutions are intermediaries of financial assets and liabilities. Their functions include investments (store of value), credit (borrowing of value), risk transfer and advising on these matters. Ledgers are critical to finance, as they record economic activities and financial relationships. Payment and settlement systems are just the means of amending…

Each week, I will be posting my notes from MIT’s Blockchain and Money course to keep myself accountable for my learning. In the famous letter to Jamie Dimon (CEO of JPMorgan Chase), the author Adam Ludwin (founder of chain.com) points out that comparing cryptocurrencies to fiat or other traditional securities…