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Economic problems Bitcoin solves and why it could change our lives

(Sole24Ore) What is going to happen in the future if the computer is always becoming smaller? Always less expensive, and always more mobile?

Soon, we’ll need to link these computers together in a way that is different from the past, with less centralization. Here, we explain the birth of distributed systems, that coexist alongside the traditional systems without replacing them.

The inherent problems in verifying access rights to information and their management has hindered the development of distributed networks until the publication of the famous Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Nakamoto solved two economics problems:

Make digital information (for example, a bitcoin) a “rival good;” and, preventing the owner to spend it a second time

Achieving said result with a public register (the blockchain), where the access to information is “not-excludible”, because it is available without intermediaries – it is public and permanent.

The consequences of the adoption of the blockchain is twofold: on one hand it will lower transaction costs; on the other hand, it creates a trust network with a group of people who do not know each other. All ensured thanks to the certainty guaranteed by asymmetric encryption.

With the blockchain, we have found a means for automatically certifying our money transfers, in the case of mathematical coins. In terms of property, with the smart contract first described by Nick Szabo, the blockchain can one day enable patent protection, trusted electronic voting remotely, and even more.

Decentralization has an important effect on transactions. Three areas that benefit are as follows:

Anonymity – if no one knows the identity behind the lists of parties.
Privacy – in the sense that no one knows what you purchased and at what price.
Irreversible – which comes with a lack of monitoring and compensation body.

Now we are able to immortalize forever the information (amounts, documents, debts and credits, etc) and transfer them alone, without intermediaries such as notaries and lawyer. The work to certify these transactions are carried out by the “miners.” They are incentivized by receiving for a small fee (and with the prize of new bitcoins) to cover the fixed costs of specialized equipment and the variable costs of consumed energy.

However, not everything can be fully decentralized. The more mining power is distributed and fragmented, the less risk the network runs into. The power, thus decentralized, is inversely related to corruption.

On this issue, the known Bitcoin popularizer Andreas Antonopoulos, in an incredible article, describes the possible totalitarianism that could happen once someone has taken control of the valuable information that people exchange on the way they spend money.

“If there is control, there is power.”

What innovation can be achieved if you have to ask permission to exchange data?

It is decentralization that creates the conditions that can develop a competition in the offer of services conveyed by the network.

We probably can’t imagine what will happen after the mass adoption of this network for the exchange of information. Just like it was not imaginable what Google and Facebook would come to be before the advent of the Internet. Billions of interdependent people and machines give rise to new business; and when are grouped in federations, thanks to the standard, they create new and completely unexpected ecosystems.

The blockchain is, therefore, a public digital good.

In this field, there is new research in the universities; one of those carried out by an Italian scholar at Harvard known as Primavera De Filippi.

Now you can reverse incentives that led to the infamous “tragedy of the commons”. Because the use of policies based on a blockchain makes it possible to design new systems of incentives, which are certainly more transparent, you can therefore achieve a new form of consent for the self-government of public goods.

Power of intangibles: we now have a (info)structure that does not consume with its use and that we build together.

Author: Massimo Chiriatti, technologist and member of Assob.it

Source: The Future of the Web Looks a Lot Like Bitcoin (http://ow.ly/PqmJF)

Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.

Satoshi

adoption, bitcoin, cryptoeconomics, decentralization, Massimo Chiriatti

19 Jun 0

Italy house of parliament hosts bitcoin believers

Bit-Wallet at Bitcoin Meetup in Rome
Photo by G. Baroncini Turricchia

(CoinDesk) Italian bitcoin enthusiasts gathered at the Chamber of Deputies, the
lower house of the Italian parliament, in Rome on Wednesday with the aim
of informing Italian lawmakers about the economic benefits of bitcoin.

The 11th June event, organised by bitcoin consultancy Coin Capital, featured participation from parliament member Stefano Quintarelli and Senate Vice President of the Treasury and Finance Committee Francesco Molinari, as well as representatives from Italy’s academic and banking sectors.

Coin Capital told CoinDesk that the first two hours saw its partners Sebastiano Scròfina and Guido Baroncini Turricchia, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ telecommunications professor Francesco Vatalaro and investment bank Banca IMI’s Ferdinando Ametrano introducing blockchain technology and its monetary applications.

At the event, Bit-Wallet also unveiled the country’s first domestically produced bitcoin ATM.

Baroncini Turricchia characterized the remainder of the day’s events, stating:

“Risk and opportunity were clearly disclosed in a neutral way. In the second part, [a representative moderated a] discussion between politicians, institutions and business, and [many questions were asked by these participants].”

The events come in the wake of the Central Bank of Italy’s May warning that domestic investors should avoid buying, investing in or using bitcoin as a currency due to price volatility and the lack of consumer protection laws to protect consumers.

Proliferating bitcoin

A second, non-affiliated event, organized by digital payment advocacy group CashlessWay, is set to take place on 26th June. Speakers will include bitcoin banking provider Robocoin CEO Jordan Kelly and parliament member Sergio Boccadutri, who presented a proposal for regulating bitcoin under existing Italian law in January.

Robocoin indicated it is looking forward to the event as a way to help educate an influential government about the nascent technology, stating:

“Italy is full of cultural tastemakers and has a rich history in banking and finance. These all support Robocoin’s goal of helping proliferate bitcoin.”

For more information on the 11th June event, visit Coin Capital’s website.

Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.

Satoshi

bitcoin, Europe, italy, Regulation

30 May 1

The difficulty of getting Bitcoin to catch on in Italy

Italy’s
first Bitcoin ATM was a Lamassu machine, installed in Udine,
a northeastern city nestled between the Alps and the Adriatic
Sea.

(CoinTelegraph) That’s wine country, and you would need plenty of it to wash
down the stuffed gnocchi.

The machine’s owner, Luca Dordolo, is often nearby to assist
anyone who needs help using the machine (it’s located in the hall of his family’s business).
He’s even had the interface translated into the local Friulian language, as
well as Italian.

Dordolo’s vision is to create an Italian hub for Bitcoin, and
his next step at this point is to install more machines around the country.

Obstacles, both legal and cultural, are making this difficult,
though.

Legal Obstacles

First, Dordolo laments the “lack of relevant legislation” in Italy
regarding Bitcoin, forcing him to operate in a grey area with which many
Bitcoin entrepreneurs are familiar.

Before buying that first Lamassu ATM, Dordolo said he had a
pool of attorneys and legal experts advise him on what he could and could not
do. Italy,
they told him, does not regulate Bitcoin itself, nor are there any
know-your-customer regulations, but any transactions above 999.99 EUR need to
be reported.

So, that was the limit he set.

Here is what BitLegal says about Italian legislation:

“The use of electronic
currency is restricted to banks and electronic money institutions — that is,
private legal entities duly authorized and registered by the Central Bank of Italy.
Aside from these developments, Italy
does not regulate Bitcoin use by private individuals, and currently the
implementation of initiatives concerning the use of electronic currencies lies
with the EU.”

Dordolo is not confident Italian law will catch up with the
technology.

“Banca d’Italia is
studying the [Bitcoin] phenomenon, and perhaps — if they were fast — in 10-20
years we could have a law on it.”

Cultural Obstacles

Dealing with murky Italian laws is one thing. Dealing with
local perception is something else entirely, Dordolo said.

“In Italy, we are at the beginning of
Bitcoin’s spreading among the population. There is an interesting Bitcoin
community [in Italy],
but it is still very hard to explain to Italian people the real value that
Bitcoin creates in the economy and the job opportunities it creates.This is because of
misinformation by the national media that actually regard it as a scam or worst
as associated with criminal deeds.Even the local Bitcoin
Foundation is not as active as it should be, so whatever can move this
situation is welcome.”

Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.

Satoshi

adoption, bitcoin, Europe, italy, Regulation

italian

Search Results For: italian

Economic problems Bitcoin solves and why it could change our lives

Italy house of parliament hosts bitcoin believers

The difficulty of getting Bitcoin to catch on in Italy

Legal Obstacles

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