History and Fundamentals

Question 1

Who wrote the white paper Bitcoin : A peer-to-peer Electronic Cash System?

Answer 1

Satoshi Nakamoto (pseudonym)

Question 2

What is the name the Bitcoin white paper?

Answer 2

Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer Electronic cash system

Question 3

What was the purpose of Bitcoin?

Answer 3

To create an electronic transaction system without relying on trust.

Question 4

How did the first idea of the blockchain come about?

Answer 4

When physicists Stuart Haber and W Scott Stornetta were trying to solve the problem of keeping the past secure (keeping digital information safe and tamper resistant).

Question 5

When did Stuart Haber and W Scott Stornetta publish their paper about cryptographically secured blocks?

Answer 5

1991

Question 6

When was proof of work first established?

Answer 6

1993

Question 7

Why was proof of work developed?

Answer 7

To counter the proliferation of spam and other network abuses

Question 8

When was the blockchain we know today established?

Answer 8

2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin white paper

Question 9

What date was Ethereum established?

Answer 9

2014

Question 10

What was the USP of Ethereum?

Answer 10

The Ethereum Virtual Machine

Question 11

What is the EVM?

Answer 11

Ethereum Virtual Machine - a distributed world computer that runs on the blockchain.

Question 12

What are the technologies underlying Bitcoin?

Answer 12

Cryptography
Computing
Electronics

Question 13

What was the advantage of Bitcoin?

Answer 13

It enabled participants to digitally transact directly without another participant, bypassing the centralised intermediary to validate the payment.

Question 14

Who was the leading founder of Ethereum?

Answer 14

Vitalik Buterin

Question 15

What is the name of the Ethereum white paper?

Answer 15

Ethereum: A next generation smart contract and decentralised application platform.

Question 16

What are the 4 interdependent components that enable the Ethereum platform to operate?

Answer 16

1) Cryptographic Tokens
2) Peer-to-peer networking
3) Turing complete virtual machine
4) Consensus Formation algorithm

Question 17

What is a cryptographic token?

Answer 17

A mathematically proven voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.
E.g. Bitcoin or Ether

Question 18

What is peer-to-peer networking?

Answer 18

Individual users connect their computers together forming a network without a central server.

Question 19

What is a Turing complete VM?

Answer 19

A virtual machine that exists as software than has full programming features.

Question 20

What does a consensus formulation algorithm do?

Answer 20

Allows users of blockchain to reach consensus about the current state (of all the data in the network) every ~15 seconds.

Question 21

What are Smart Contracts?

Answer 21

Computer protocols

Question 22

What do Smart Contracts do?

Answer 22

Facilitate, verify or enforce the performance of any sort of contract that can be codified. They often emulate the logic of contractual clauses.

Question 23

Name some advantages of Smart Contracts

Answer 23

• Reduce friction between parties
• Eliminate middlemen
• Reduce costs
• Empower individuals and smaller organisations

Question 24

What is decentralisation?

Answer 24

Removing power and control from a single central authority and giving it to members themselves. Self-sovereign, power is shared between users.

Question 25

What are the tangible benefits for P2P networked systems?

Answer 25

Systems are less likely to fail based on redundant components
Harder to attract as the network is decentralised and users aren’t all in one place
Nodes can go down but the system is big enough to remain resilient