Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 12

If Banks Did Not Exist It Would Be Necessary To Invent Them

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B: Try to set aside your long-festering rage at cryptocurrency miners for a moment. The important thing here is that the community of miners are collectively responsible for ensuring that cryptocurrency transactions are legitimate.

A: “Collectively responsible?”

B: No cryptocurrency transaction can be written to the blockchain until enough members of that community vet and approve...

Rage

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A: We took a week off because trying to explain NFTs hurts our poor circular brains.

B: But we’re back, so now I’m going to try to finally explain off-chain transactions.

A: Let’s see what ya got.

B: Well, the way a crypto transaction usually works is that before a transaction is considered valid, it’s written to the blockchain and then verified to ensure it’s legitimate.

A:...

Recurring Themes

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A: If your earlier explanation of “off-chain” transactions was wrong, what’s the right explanation.

B: An off-chain transaction is a transaction that takes place off of the blockchain.

(Silence.)

A: This sounds suspiciously like your “a Non-Fungible Token is a token that is not fungible” explanation from before.

B: If it ain’t broke, hit it again.

Retraction

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A: Try to have a joke ready this time.

B: Nevermind that — we’re really close to actually talking about NFTs. The last piece to understand is “on-chain” and “off-chain” transactions in blockchain.

A: You said that on-chain was something stored directly in the blockchain, and off-chain was when only metadata was stored.

B: Nevermind what I said. I based that on an article that w...

Extra Context Required

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B: We’re almost there! There are two important things to know about blockchain: first, you can’t actually edit a blockchain – you can only add to it.

A: Isn’t adding to a blockchain editing it?

B: … well, OK, yes. What I meant to say is you can’t edit something that has already been added to the blockchain. You can only add new things to the blockchain.

A: Wait. So what if the ...

Blockchain of Solace

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A: So blockchain basically keeps track of cryptocurrency transactions.

B: Nothing is considered a legitimate transaction unless it has been recorded in the blockchain. And it’s really heavily encrypted, so it’s effectively impossible to hack.

A: Oh, come on. There’s no such thing as something impossible to hack.

B: Well, let’s put it this way. It’s not really feasible to do it ...

Blockchain Gang

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A: That was a pretty weird way to explain cryptocurrency, but I guess you can go back to explaining blockchain now.

B: Well thank you so much.

B: So when people were first seriously discussing the possibility of cryptocurrency, one of the big problems they faced was how you could prove that a cryptocurrency transaction actually occurred.

A: You mean like if I told you I was goi...

Completing the Set

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B: Blockchain is important in cryptocurrency because it solves a problem where —

A: Stop!

B: What?

A: Now you have to define cryptocurrency.

B: What??? Why?

A: You’ve been defining everything else! You might as well get it out of the way so we can move on.

B: FINE.

B: Cryptocurrency is supposed to be money, but it mostly isn’t, although it’s worth money which a larg...

Blockchained Melody

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A: So you’ve explained “fungible.”

B: Yes.

A: And you’ve explained “non-fungible.”

B: Also yes.

A: So now I assume you’re going to explain “token.”

B: No, now I’m going to explain blockchain.

A: … what?

B: The token part won’t make any sense unless you understand blockchain.

(Silence.)

A: Can you actually teach me to understand blockchain?

B: No, but I can ...

Non-Fungible Slowflakes

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A: So you’re telling me that “Non-fungible” means something that can’t be replaced.

B: Right. It’s unique.

A: One of a kind.

B: Exactly.

A: Irreplaceable.

B: Correct.

A: Priceless.

B: No, there are definitely prices involved.