Honey, I minted an NFT!
Recap: Saving private key.
“I am afraid I can’t answer that question,” said Jessica. “No one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is, other than himself, or herself or even themselves.”
“Satoshi who?” asked Amy.
“Satoshi Nakamoto, the person who published the Bitcoin whitepaper. It could be a pseudonym. Rumour has it that Satoshi might be a group of people. Look how perfectly Bitcoin was designed. That person needs to be an advanced programmer, a cryptographer, a good writer, a money expert and even a game theory expert,” Jessica explained.
“Wait, white paper? Like this white paper?” Amy interjected. She pointed to a piece of blank white paper in her hand, “Why would anyone go ahead to publish a white paper? And what is so special about this Bitcoin whitepaper? Is it only me who does not get it?”
“Honey, a whitepaper doesn’t mean a blank piece of white paper. It is a document with details about a topic or a problem you want to solve. Almost like a proposal,” Zack chimed in, “and it is called a whitepaper because government documents are colour-coded and documents on white papers are meant to be accessible by the public.”
“Ah, so, it is a document about anything and everything about Bitcoin,” said Amy, “It must be a very thick and complicated document.”
“Actually, it is only 9 pages long and pretty easy to read,” said Jessica, “The paper is precise and concise. That’s why people think Satoshi is good at writing as well. You should take a look. Let me share the link with you.”
“Not me, you can’t read that, honey,” Amy shook her head.
“Thanks, Jessica. I will read it, but I do wonder if I would comprehend,” Zack forced a smile.
“Hahaha, I am excited every time I talk about Bitcoin. How it came about and how genius is it,” said Jessica, “It revolutionalised how the money system works. With Bitcoin, we do not need a third party to transfer money from one to another through the internet. And it is much faster.”
“How is it different from the internet banking we have now? I can still execute a transfer over the internet and it can be instant,” asked Amy.
“We still need a bank and clearing house as the intermediary if we do an online transfer, especially when it is a cross-border transfer. Am I right, Jessica?” Zack clarified.
“Yes, spot on, Zack. With Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies that came after it, we can do the transfer without a bank. It is a peer-to-peer transfer. Remember how we used to write to each other, Amy?” asked Jessica.
“Of course I do. Those good old days, when I started to wait for your reply right after I post the letter to you,” Amy replied with a big smile on her face.
“Yes, we wrote letters and mailed them via a post office. The post office is the intermediary. Now, we communicate through emails, there is no virtual post office involved. It is all done by the internet protocols. For internet banking, all transfer information will still need to go through banks’ servers. Banks are still the intermediary. Does it make sense to you?”
“I think I get it, or maybe not. Zack, do you get it? You are the money man, you should get it,” Amy was talking to Zack, and then turned to Jessica, “As long as he gets it, that’s good enough.”
When it comes to money matters, Amy is very dependent on Zack. Knowing Amy, Zack chuckled and said, “Yes, it makes total sense to me. Thank you for explaining that. No surprise that Bitcoin was introduced right after the subprime mortgage crisis. People lost their confidence in banks. They need a substitute. I think the idea of a cryptocurrency has always been there but it was high time to introduce it when the banks failed the people.”
“I share the same thought. It is only natural to think that the failure of the banks was the catalyst of the cryptocurrency. That was more than 13 years ago, in January 2009. There have been a lot of changes and improvements since then, to both Bitcoin and blockchain technology,” said Jessica.
“I bet. Ethereum, the coins Amy got for selling her art, is another major cryptocurrency in the market, right? And people are saying that it has much more potential than Bitcoin. Is that so? What do you think, Jessica?” asked Zack.
“Well, I am not sure if it will overtake Bitcoin, but I do agree that it has a lot more potential due to its smart contract technology,” Jessica opined.
“Right, smart contract. That’s another terminology that I heard people tossing it here and there, but no one seems to be able to explain it to me. What exactly is it? Is it enforceable by the law?” asked Zack.
“Stop, you both. I have had too much information for tonight and I am going to call it a night. Feel free to continue the discussion. Jess, I salute you. I do not know how you can understand all this. My limit is up. I will catch up with you again another day, ok? Love you!” said Jessica.
“My mind is quite loaded tonight as well. Let’s call it a night and next time, we talk about the smart contract. Thank you so much, Jessica. You have a good day!” said Zack.
“Anytime, Zack. Rest well, you both. Bye!” Jessica waved at them and left the call.
To be continued …
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