HBC-004: A very brief history of blockchain

Thank you to Keír Finlow-Bates

The key date for the appearance of blockchain is 31 October 2008 (I accidentally say 2009 in the video - can't believe I said that wrong!), when an anonymous person or persons going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto published the paper, "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System".

Nakamoto didn't use the term "blockchain" in the paper, but the system described remains one of the clearest examples of what a blockchain is and how they function.

Naturally, as is always the case with invention, there were many components that came before, however, if recombining existing building blocks creates a system that exhibits unexpected properties, it is definitely something new.

What is now known as Nakamoto consensus - the incentivization of a decentralized system through proof of work - result in a wide range of unexpected properties.

So unexpected that we're still analyzing what the full meaning behind them is.