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Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Blockchain: An Overview

An overview over information related to blockchain technology.

A German 🇩🇪 version with more context is available here.

Long reads (introductions)

  1. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Blockchain (German 🇩🇪: «Per Anhalter durch die Blockchain»)
  2. (In preparation…)

Short reads (easy)

Short reads (German)

Talks (German)

Technical texts

Translations

Overview over blockchain contents

  • NFTs are unethical

    NFTs are unethical

    As an avid reader, you know my arguments that neither NFT nor smart contracts live up to their promises, and that the blockchain underneath is also more fragile and has a worse cost-benefit ratio than most believe. Similarly, I also claim the same for the metaverses built on top of them all. And that the…

  • Inefficiency is bliss (sometimes)

    Inefficiency is bliss (sometimes)

    Bureaucracy and inefficiency are frowned upon, often rightly so. But they also have their good sides: Properly applied, they ensure reliability and legal certainty. Blockchain disciples want to “improve” bureaucracy-ridden processes, but achieve the opposite. Two examples:

  • The FTX crypto exchange and its spider web

    The FTX crypto exchange and its spider web

    Yesterday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried. It details the financial entanglements of FTX, Alameda Research and more than a hundred other companies and individuals. We have tried to disentangle these allegations somewhat for you.

  • Web3 for data preservation? (Or is it just another expensive P2P?)

    Web3 for data preservation? (Or is it just another expensive P2P?)

    Drew Austin raises an important question in Wired: How should we deal with our accumulated personal data? How can we get from randomly hoarding to selection and preservation? And why does his proposed solution of Web3 not work out? A few analytical thoughts.

  • Rejuvenation for Pro Senectute through NFT and Metaverse?

    Rejuvenation for Pro Senectute through NFT and Metaverse?

    Pro Senectute beider Basel, a foundation to help the elderly around Basel, launched its NFT project last week and already informed about its Metaverse commitment beforehand. According to a media release, Michael Harr, managing director of the 15-million Basel-based company, wants to use the purchase of these “properties” in a “central location” in two online…

  • What is an NFT, behind the scenes?

    What is an NFT, behind the scenes?

    “NFT” is currently on everyone’s lips again, and not only because of Pro Senectute. But what is actually behind the full-bodied promises of the NFT advocates? For more insights on NFTs and the entire blockchain ecosystem, click here. You can also read this text in German 🇩🇪. “NFT” stands for “Non-Fungible Token” and is being…

  • Offline digital cash?

    Offline digital cash?

    The question of using digital money in the event of a network outage comes up again and again. Here is an overview of the options and their pros and cons.

  • The NFT Danger Zone

    The NFT Danger Zone

    Susanna Petrin closes her NFT experiment with a dystopia of life after we destroyed our environment: Admiring our NFTs while strolling through the metaverse. I hope we can avert both.

  • A business-driven blockchain evaluation flow chart

    A business-driven blockchain evaluation flow chart

    Yesterday, Rene Jan Veldwijk posted a blockchain decision flowchart he had previously used in a presentation.

  • Blockchain in a nutshell

    Blockchain in a nutshell

    People often try to claim blockchain use cases without much deliberation. Here is a condensed, quotable version of «Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Blockchain» and «Data lifecycle questions, not only for Blockchains».

  • Web3 is just expensive P2P

    Web3 is just expensive P2P

    Web3 claims to be the only way to save us from commercial entities defining what we can see and what not. Yet, it does exactly this: It results in commercialized entities defining what we can see and what not.

  • Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Blockchain

    Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Blockchain

    Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, Web3 and NFT are the talk of the town. Almost everyone has an opinion, but hardly anyone understands the foundations or relationships. The goal of this series, whose first part you are currently reading, is to provide a structured presentation of promises, the technology behind, and the reality. Using everyday analogies…

  • Data lifecycle questions, not only for Blockchains

    Data lifecycle questions, not only for Blockchains

    In any data-centric applications, understanding the data lifecycle (also as part of the product lifecycle) is important, especially when trust or traceability are also goals. If Blockchain should play a role, then the requirements associated with the data lifecycle can even become a decisive factor: Either adapt the data model or the processes, or, if…

  • Solana Blockchain: Proof of History analogies

    Solana Blockchain: Proof of History analogies

    Here are some attempts to compare Proof of History (PoH), as used by the Solana blockchain, with Proof of Work (PoW). Comparisons to real-world activities, such as dice rolling or outer-space rubber-stamp throwing are also included.

  • Bitcoin Block Timing Statistics

    Bitcoin Block Timing Statistics

    Bitcoin wants to be a universal payment means, providing rapid transactions. Here is an analysis on the blockchain timing, based on their timestamps.

  • Git, PGP, and the Blockchain: A Comparison

    Git, PGP, and the Blockchain: A Comparison

    The Blockchain, a cryptographically linked list with additional restrictions, is often touted to be the most significant innovation towards democratization of the digital landscape, especially the Internet. However, the ideas did not come out of thin air, but have ancestors and relatives. An attempt at technological genealogy.

  • A brief history of time(stamping)

    A brief history of time(stamping)

    When I tell people about timestamping, they often react with, “Ah, yes, that Blockchain thing”. However, timestamping is as old as civilisation and has some interesting properties it gains from non-Blockchain applications. So let’s go back a few millenia first. Series Navigation<< Timestamping: Why should I care?