Did this end on July 1?

I don't think online currency is a big invention except maybe for efficiency for example diplomas as non fungible tokens or works of arts but I think all the currencies Bitcoin, ethereum, etc. are not very innovative. I have philoscophical and ontological view of money as creative power. You can give power away for example by charity or you can make more by building a factory for example but I don't think digital money is revolutionary.

If you are new to the Wolfram Language but eager to try something elaborate, you can check out Aton Atonov's post on "Cryptocurrencies: correlations, clustering and data analysis"

It is strange that Stephen's article called "A world run with code" doesn't have a line of code in it! At the moment Mathematica does not allow the specification of Blockchain contracts using the WL. Instead one has to use the language Solidity, see for instance in the documentation ref/blockchain/BlockchainTransaction-bloxberg. Also Blockchain is not the only environment where one can specify a computational contract. If you ask a bank or exchange to set up a specialized instrument, in addition to the usual legal requirements which Cryptos don't have, they will also insist upon either a mathematical description or some code or simulation results.

Hi Steph and Leanne

I have worked through the toy Bitcoin examples in the day 2 notebook and am now trying it out on real bitcoin data.

I am attempting to calculate the BlockHash for a block from the "header " Say Block 742266

  BlockchainBlockData[742266, BlockchainBase -> "Bitcoin"] ["BlockHash"]
00000000000000000005d92d33ad5f884036b7b7adf9e519bd2de786589e9681

How would I go about calculating (the mathematica code ) this BlockHash using the "header " eg "Timestamp " ,"PreviousBlockHash" , " "TransactionSummary" and "Nonce"

To get the "TransactionSummary" I need to Hash the TransactionList then Hash all 4 parts of the "Header " to get the BlockHash.

I assume there is a way to extract this "Header " from Block 742266 and just Hash it to get the BlockHash

Wolfram has a guide " Working with Blockchains" but it needs a tutorial on how to integrate these functions to work with blockchains eg Bitcoin.

Thank you, Steph. Great discussion topics. With respect to the second,...

could it be possible to turn some kinds of fraud into a blessing, so that it benefits everyone? I mean some fraudulent activities involving intense problem-solving. By adding incentives for turning them into legal but still highly rewarded tasks. Are there any examples of this take on the problem?

I meant some arrangement in the spirit of Mittnik's career evolution or ( already mentioned by you) the "Ender's game". Also, Mafia's move to some "legal" activities (including politics) that are much safer and even more profitable. It's always an interesting story, and I hoped that there are analogs in the crypto field as well.

Thank you, Steph*. Trying to compare with (natural) diamonds. They are rare and hard to find and mine, both vaguely hinting at the "information content". In addition, they are "forever". What are the analogs (if any) in the valuation of digital currency?

PS: Sorry, there was a typo in your name. I am taking another class with Seth :)

Thank you, Leanne. I use the diamonds as an example of almost opposite do digital, but analogous in labor intensity of mining. Hope that comparison can bring some insights. This is quite a narrow question, about intrinsic value (that's why I did not use a dollar bill as an example), and its relation to the "information content" (I am fascinated with the value being defined by the success in "problem-solving" ), and the "market value". A side thought is that the methodology of valuation based on problem-solving and related gain of information would help to quantify the real value and show an adequate appreciation of the work done by, say, Andrew Wiles or Grigori Perelman. After all, this is also a matter of Justice. So, that's where I decided to start :)

"But how do we measure knowledge, compare it, and standardize it into units?"

That's a great question! Sorry I did not pose it this way. Apparently, this is a kind of question that WR can handle.

Thank you, Leanne.

Rereading this and I may have misinterpreted the question. You're saying, there is some intrinsic information content in Bitcoin based on the process of mining, etc. Can we value it based on this dynamic alone?

To think in more of that direction, I would ask, how can we value things in energy units and not necessarily information content. But I would love to hear you expand more on the question and your own thoughts!

Naturally, mining is highly "negentropic". It produces bitcoins and outputs a high volume of entropy, from the heat to the mess on miners' desks and ... food digestion. What is the relation between the value of the coin and its "negentropic" (information) content? Can the latter provide an objective estimate?

Hi Doug, I will follow up on this question in today's session.

Financial institutions all over the world are already working on a digital version of their currency (e.g. digital Yuan and the Digital Dollar project).

Will you look into these initiatives in this Study Group? How do these currencies compare to blockchain-based currencies and our current physical currency? Bitcoin's fame paved the way for a new digital currency, but the public may conflate the different concepts at its own peril.

I also don't like the term cryptocurrencies specifically the crypto meaning hidden private, etc. I like open, in the clear, everything recorded visible for example Wikipedia everything is available. I can see the entire edit history for a page on Wikipedia for example.

My thoughts on Bitcoin and Etheruem and other cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and online systems is centralization will always exist whether that instance is banks such as Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, or Fifth Third Bank, governmental bodies such as the United States Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union's Internal Market and Consumer Protection. There are also minting bodies that print money Bitcoin is supposed to be decentralized but then you have centralization emerge as people make money, buy more ASICS, mine more money, and get more control with Bitcoin so the structure and economics of cryptocurrency is in the blockchain mining and not in the governmental bodies and banks, for example.

I think economics is interesting because it can be modeled with linear algebra for example the Nobel prize laureate Wassily Leontief constructed a model for the US economy. I think cryptocurrencies weakness is they are not widespread. I think the more diversification there exists in an economy, the better. The more widespread a currency is the more diversification. I think cryptocurrency governance should try to move from making it specific to technology and early adopters to buy groceries, steel, airplane tickets, a house, and other sectors of the economy that are not early adopters of technology (in this case food, steel, aviation, and construction and afforable housing).

Does Wolfram as an organization apply blockchain technology for its own operations?

As already brought forward by Peter Cullen, I could think of a Wolfram-U certificate on the blockchain.

Thanks Steph, I am looking forward. My name in the previous post never got “updated” :)

Sorry that the notification was delayed. The recording is now available.

There was a question today (Day 3) on whether Europe regulates Crypto. The European Commission has created MiCA which is proposed regulation that will fill the legal vacuum surrounding cryptocurrency service providers. It will also determine which currencies are regulated more versus less i.e. whether they be securities, stable coins, or utility coins. There is already some regulation on this (an on local complementary currencies), but this MiCA proposal will significantly update that. MiCA will likely not be enacted until 2024. The latest document I found is from 2021.

The purpose of regulation "is to ensure EU consumers get access to innovative yet safe crypto-assets without compromising market stability." They also plan to put in place a pilot on distributed ledger technology (DLT) and crypto-assets in the financial sector. Perhaps this link offers a summary.

I can vouch that there are many university administrations considering this, especially to validate the credentials of foreign students. I don't know of them personally doing it. I think Wolfram has already given a summer school NFT certificate to its participants. Perhaps someone on this discussion board knows more.

I'll add this link. for background.

I think Bitcoin should use less energy by using a proof of stake model instead of proof of work. I think its crazy Bitcoin miners consume more energy than Finland (I saw this in the New York Times somewhere).

Peter, alas the choice of money or its unit of account is a choice. No matter how scientific and "objective" we are about its measurement, it is the choice of that unit which is in question. What unit is the best unit? There have been centuries of debate on this. I have my own idea of what might be a good international unit, but each country has the right to choose its own, and in the crypto world or in the private currency world, those groups will also choose the unit that they think suits their goals.

Money and monetary policy whether in a small community, a large community, a nation, or internationally, is not something that should be determined from outside, it needs to endogenous to the system if it is to operate in a stable manner.

Hence I believe it is impossible to think that there is some scientific or objective answer to this question.

The 'lottery' in question is quite simple. The miners take as input

1. The current state of the blockchain

2. Their own address (so that rewards can be awarded to them if they 'win')

   (and this is the "lottery" part of it)

3. A randomly chosen guess, or 'nonce' number. It can be any 32-bit number.

These three inputs are then fed into a hashing algorithm (specifically double SHA-256), which returns a (pseudo)random number.

If the result of the hash has a sufficient number of leading zeros, i.e. 0000001a34b16a... then the block can be added to the chain, and the reward is added to the miner's address.

In summary, miners guess random numbers, plug them into double SHA-256, and then repeat that process over and over again until somebody gets one that satisfies the above condition. Computers designed for mining are typically specialized hardware (such as ASICs, Application Specific Integrated Circuits) designed exclusively for running SHA-256 over and over.

The 'number of zeros' is actually variable, and is designed to control the 'difficulty' of mining a new block. More leading zeros required means more guesses required, and the condition automatically adjusts so that on average a block is added to the chain every ten minutes or so.

Fascinating indeed! I should have clarified that in the 1850s it was not optical fiber being laid deep undersea, instead was copper wire. Was there something else to note, Michael?

• Please suggest works ( papers, texts, researchers) that have considered the pros/cons of resorting to software to address social issues?

Yesterday, on Day 1, we had a question on whether there existed 'quantum encryption' on blockchains. I'm going to ping this question over to @Dariia Porechna and see if she can help answer this.

I always find the practical application of prime numbers fascinating.

There's an interesting application of NFTs for digital lidar scans of African sculptures housed in British museums at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61318785