Blockchain - Revealing the Myth

1. 00:00We will start our openHPI course Blockchain: Revealing the Myth
2. 00:04with some remarks about the bitcoin hype.
3. 00:10Here in spring 2021
4. 00:14the value of bitcoins is
5. 00:20around forty thousand dollar, it comes close to fifty thousand dollar
6. 00:26and this shows a very recent development. So, for example in
7. 00:33September 2020, so a half year ago,
8. 00:40we measure the value in euro. It was about nine thousand euro,
9. 00:44then one month later it was
10. 00:48fifty percent more, it was thirteen thousand euro,
11. 00:51then one month more it was more than doubled - it was
12. 00:58thirty three thousand euro.
13. 01:00In february it was forty thousand euro. We'll see how it continues.
14. 01:05So bitcoin that's a new all time high.
15. 01:10This is not only characteristic for bitcoin and the bitcoin prices
16. 01:17which are increasing, it is also true for other cryptocurrencies.
17. 01:22So here if you look for example bitcoin is the most popular one,
18. 01:26it's more than three hundred percent. If you look to
19. 01:30Ethereum this is another very popular cybercurrency, it's a
20. 01:37five hundred percent increase
21. 01:41and similar also to other crypto currencies.
22. 01:45And also the headlines in the newspaper are full of
23. 01:49messages about bitcoin and
24. 01:54cyber currencies and block-chain. Here, your two thousand twenty
25. 01:59one resolution should be buy more block-chain stocks. Or a surprisingly
26. 02:04high proportion of all bitcoin transactions are the result of
27. 02:10deals or massive black outs have hit Iran. The government is blaming bitcoin mining.
28. 02:17So you see all over the world messages which surprise the
29. 02:23bitcoin and block-chain and other which tell that it is a dangerous and connected.
30. 02:29So if we look for example in Germany, as there is also skepticism
31. 02:36against bitcoin so if people were asked there are some negative voices,
32. 02:44for example it is too complicated. Two third of the German citizens think
33. 02:49following a study which was
34. 02:57made by bitcoin, two thirds of German citizens think
35. 03:02bitcoin and other crypto currencies are too complicated
36. 03:07or are only for speculators.
37. 03:11Almost as many believe crypto currencies are only suitable
38. 03:15for a speculators looking to make a quick profit.
39. 03:21There are also positive voices which says it is a safe alternative.
40. 03:28So three out of ten people which were asked say that cryptocurrencies are a safe
41. 03:36alternative to the established monetary system.
42. 03:39Among the younger people between sixteen and twenty nine it is even
43. 03:44forty three percent. Or people say it could be something well for
44. 03:51long term investment. Around one out of four respondents think that
45. 03:57cryptocurrencies are suitable as long term investments.
46. 04:01And the discussion about crypto currency is not only done by
47. 04:07people and bitcoin user and computer scientists which are enthusiastic
48. 04:13about this new possibilities, but also in the traditional financial system.
49. 04:18They discuss how to deal with such currencies.
50. 04:24So there are many many projects and intensive research,
51. 04:30there are a lot of investment going into
52. 04:34such projects which use the blockchain technology for different applications.
53. 04:41So through numerous projects and intensive research blockchain
54. 04:46technology has undergone a rapid development.
55. 04:50Originally it was in the bitcoin system something that work for cryptocurrency,
56. 04:57but now it has many new applications in the context of decentralized registers
57. 05:05of peer-to-peer networks to exchange value
58. 05:09and up to programmable
59. 05:14decentralized trust infrastructures.
60. 05:18So we will go into all the details and we'll understand when we
61. 05:24discuss the
62. 05:27technology behind the blockchain in our course and when we
63. 05:31introduce the many applications. So meanwhile
64. 05:36the beneficiaries of blockchain is the science of course - medical application,
65. 05:43identity management - there are solutions provided by blockchain,
66. 05:48in cloud computing, cloud storage it plays a role,
67. 05:51the internet of things is a very important field of application
68. 05:55of blockchain, technology - so finance industry, insurances, logistic,
69. 06:01retail, energy supply - you can look to whatever
70. 06:07application area you like, blockchain plays a role and
71. 06:15the area applications can be
72. 06:18beneficiaries of block chain technology.
73. 06:21So blockchain technology - there are different use cases.
74. 06:27The most widespread use case today is taking ownership of a digital token.
75. 06:36Currency as in case of bitcoin, art objects, it's also
76. 06:42increasing application in real estate stocks.
77. 06:47So blockchain technology helps to be able
78. 06:52to understand, to track, to prove ownership of a digital token.
79. 06:58And then automatic contracts can be realised with block
80. 07:04chain technology, with block chain technology 2.0
81. 07:09and this automated contracts make blockchain technology
82. 07:14into a kind of world computer. And then identity and reputation systems
83. 07:21can benefit from block chain technology.
84. 07:26So thank you for signing up to our openHPI course. We welcome
85. 07:32you and we want to discuss all this mentioned things with you in that course.
86. 07:38So we want to introduce the ideas, we want to have a closer
87. 07:42look at the technology behind the blockchain applications
88. 07:47and to leave the hype behind and better understanding what
89. 07:53are the pros and what are the cons against
90. 08:00blockchain technology.
91. 08:03So in the next video we start to explore the problem -
92. 08:08why the blockchain technology was developed, we look for the first
93. 08:15application the bitcoin as a crypto currency application,
94. 08:21which was the first cornerstone of the blockchain technology.
95. 08:27This is a complex thing, so we will need almost all the week
96. 08:32the first week of our course to go into details and to understand
97. 08:38the technology and then also to understand a little bit why there
98. 08:44is such an hype. Also we will also see and discuss why many of this application
99. 08:52need to be improved because in the moment there are much too energy,
100. 08:59they need too much energy,
101. 09:03for example providing the blocks in such a chain but let's discuss this in
102. 09:10other clips.

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