Author: Ming Guo
The author of this article, Ming Guo, is the co-founder of the block chain star project Soteria.
Soteria is developing a holistic solution to solve some of the pressing problems of the current generation of blockchains, such as performance bottlenecks, while providing an adequate feature set for the decentralized economy it envisions, such as BlockDAG-based Scalable throughput and chain data storage, equal mining through memory, private computing and highly expressive non-Turing-complete, non-GAS light chain heavy application smart contracts.
Author: Ming Guo
The author of this article, Ming Guo, is the co-founder of the block chain star project Soteria.
Soteria is developing a holistic solution to solve some of the pressing problems of the current generation of blockchains, such as performance bottlenecks, while providing an adequate feature set for the decentralized economy it envisions, such as BlockDAG-based Scalable throughput and chain data storage, equal mining through memory, private computing and highly expressive non-Turing-complete, non-GAS light chain heavy application smart contracts.
Ten years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, deliberately embedded a message in the genesis block: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks" (January 3, 2009, Chancellor of the Exchequer is on the brink of a second bank bailout.), in response to the Great Depression triggered by the financial crisis, and heralds the beginning of a movement to end the centralized system that has existed since the dawn of civilization.
On the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin, we don't need to discuss the technical details of Bitcoin, because you can find exhaustive information about it on the Internet. Since its inception, Bitcoin has attracted more and more passionate and loyal followers. Bitcoin has become so commonplace over the past few years that when aliens descend on Earth, it probably won't be able to avoid being bombarded with news about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
When I first encountered Bitcoin, I had no idea how it was made. Bitcoin is both a "substance" and an idea. It's an alien-like idea unlike anything we've known before. Bitcoin is like something out of this world, with a higher dimension and a different "shape", and I still have this feeling over the years.
Of all the "forms" of the Bitcoin concept, I most appreciate "decentralization", "censorship resistance" and "trustless consensus"; of course, some people will say that the latter two are the natural results of the former.
"Decentralization" is an underexplored concept. The idea is so subtle that it feels like a zero-dimensional "meta-concept". Most people, it seems, "understand" it quite naturally, and use it to explain things, yet it doesn't need to be explained itself. Behind it lies a whole new world. And, it might really be our future. But let's get back to Bitcoin first.
Since Bitcoin was created, it has gradually gained fame and received widespread attention. People raced to replicate this great and sacred idea, and as a result, we witnessed the first cryptocurrency industry boom.
In the midst of this boom, Bitcoin is like Helen of Troy, and the cryptocurrencies that replicate Bitcoin are like 1,000 warships being dispatched. This boom ended up bringing the world some joy, and many tears. Just in 2013, many people witnessed a 100-fold increase in the price of Bitcoin, followed by a chain crash.
Until 2017, we once again experienced the second cryptocurrency boom driven by Ethereum. In the second half of 2017, the price of Bitcoin soared from $2,000 to $20,000, a 10-fold increase in just a few months. Many different types of cryptocurrencies developed on the Ethereum platform have also been caught up in this speculative frenzy. In 2018, however, their values have plummeted, dropping as much as 90% or more.
In the spring of 2019, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency industry (of which Bitcoin accounts for a large share) was only about a quarter of the market capitalization of large technology companies such as Apple or Microsoft. As the market cools, people's heads start to cool down. Now, it's time for us to sit down, think and summarize, instead of riding the emotional roller coaster to chase the endless "FOMO" (Fear of Missing Out, fear of missing opportunities, a typical pathology of speculative addiction).
In thinking about Bitcoin’s two major trajectories—boom and bust—we cannot help noticing an apparent dualism: the moral enlightenment of decentralization vs. the decadent addiction of speculation. It’s this wondrous dualism that makes Bitcoin a potentially forge-or-shatter world force. In order to build a new world, we need both of these forces, because their struggle drives human progress.
Bitcoin has been with us for over a decade, and it's time for a reality check on this phenomenon. What have we learned? Maybe the question is too broad and vague. Obviously, we learned a lot from it. Every cryptocurrency that has been designed (even the worst ones) deserves a serious study as a case study of the cryptocurrency industry represented by Bitcoin.
How Bitcoin Changes Us The answer to this question may shed light on how we shape the future.
Since the early days of Bitcoin, two factions have emerged: idealists and pragmatists. There is of course a third faction: those who support both camps, which may include Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.
Idealists are more concerned about the social impact that Bitcoin may bring: decentralization, censorship resistance, trustless consensus, and also hope to use it as an effective tool to counter those extremely prestigious and far-reaching financial giants.
