MIT-blockchain-two

Session 2 is going to talk about Money、Ledgers and Bitcoin.

This is to give some foundational bits of money and ledgers and central banking and technology.

Survey Results

It is code and acrhitecture,market, law, and norms.

They bring a new way of doing those things like a new tool to help our society roll it out better.

Why did early digital currencies fail

• merchant adoption：商业的适用性差
• centralization：集权化
• double spending：双花问题
• Consensus ：难于统一

Money

what is money

The medium of the transaction, and the unit that likes a counting unit, and the state of the value.

the three classic rolls of money that people talk about:

• it was pay off debts, starting and conquering various lands and wards
• Funding trade wars, cutting taxes
• a lot of societal things that drove civilization forward. It is a social consensus mechanism.

It is like a established（创建的） currency（货币） by a central goverment that proposed a market. Really just the good faith and credit of the nation that uses it. A fiat currency might be backed by something physical.

roel of money

• medium of exchange
• store of value
• unit of accout

Characteristics of money

• durable：耐用的
• portable：便于携带的
• divisible：可分的，可除尽的
• Uniform/fungible（可替代的）
• acceptable
• Stable -limited supply -hard to counterfeit(伪造)

Design of money

对某人的赞成

How many people are more in line with somebody?

这是没有正确答案且长期争论的问题

There is not one right answer to this. There is a question that has been debated for decades or centuries.

Bitcoin is also similiar to gold. There is an element of scarcity(物资短缺).

Paper Money

The first paper monies were basically warehouse recepipts in China.Because whatever it was grain or gold, and then you had a piece of paper backing it.

Ledgers

What is a ledgers(分类账簿)

A ledgers is basically a way to record economic activity or social relationships or financial relationships. It is a system of recording financial relationships.

Principal Recordings of Accounts

• Economic activity（经济活动） in a sense of transactions
• Financial relationships（金融关系） —what is a key financial relationship

Type of Ledgers

• Transaction vs balance
• General supporting or sub
• Single entry vs.Double entry

Characteristics of good ledgers

Immutable：不可改变的

consistency：连续性，统一性

timestamped：时间记录的

Ownership ：所有权，私有

Accuracy：正确性

Description of transaction：合法交易

Comprehensive：全面的，综合性的

社会保持稳定

The society is still going to be stable.It is going to be all right.

原油：Crude oil

Fiat currency（法令货币）

It is a liability of a central bank. It is not an asset. It is their liability side.

Liability is basically an obligation to, in this case, pay someone an amount.

what does it mean to be a liability of a central bank when it`s just the currency in our pocket？

法令货币的作用

• Social & Economic Consensus
• Represented by central bank liabilities & commecial bank deposits.
• Relies upon System of Ledgers Integrated into Fractional Banking System
• Accepted for taxes
• Notes & coins are legal tender for all debtes public & private
• Unique tax treatment.

Once a debt is established, they have produced the good, they have provided the service, they have to take the money.

Readings