Quick summary of a paper I did for the course "blockchain disruptive technology" at MIT

1. EVOLUTION OF THE BLOCKCHAIN:
FOUR KEY EVENTS IN THE EXPLOSION OF THE BLOCKCHAIN
Shawn. Grubb 12.2021 BTC: $50143

2. FOUR KEY DATES TO KNOW
1991 Decentralized
Cryptography
2008 Satoshi Nakamoto 2019 Libra 2021 El Salvador

3. 1991 DECENTRALIZED CRYPTOGRAPHY: HABER AND STORNETTA
How to time-stamp documents in a way that:
 1) was not possible to forge the document
 2) not possible to forward/back date the time-stamp
 3) would maintain the privacy of the document and
 4) provide the service in a non-centralized way
Resulting in:
 Sequential chain of authenticity (hash)
 Each data element built on the previous data
 Impractical to deconstruct the hash
 Distributed trust:
 using pseudorandom generator – networks of validators
could authenticate / verify
Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta
“How to Time-Stamp
a Digital Document”

4. 2008 SATOSHI NAKAMOTO
BITCOIN: A PEER-TO-PEER ELECTRONIC CASH SYSTEM
Not obvious impacts:
 It provides a unique historical ‘single version of the
truth – lower audit risk / cost
 Regulatory compliance costs – compliance assumes
noncompliance: the blockchain is transparent
 Novel business models: The “DAO”
What is needed is an electronic payment
system based on cryptographic proof
instead of trust, allowing any two willing
parties to transact directly with each other
without the need for a trusted third
party. Transactions that are
computationally impractical to reverse
would protect sellers from fraud, and
routine escrow mechanisms could easily be
implemented to protect buyers.
- S. Nakamoto
Blockchain enables new business models, innovative
organization forms or new processes of work and
production where “access” is over ownership, and
“sharing” is over property.
Blockchain Technologies: foreseeable impact on industry and society” by Tomaso
Aste, Paolo Tasca and T Di Matteo

5. 2019, THE LAUNCH OF LIBRA (28 COMPANY COLLABORATIVE)
“BANKING THE UNBANKED”
Four Real World Impacts of the Libra
 Elevated the fear of a real contender for the US
Dollar as the world reserve currency
 Libra would give Facebook a massive consumer data
competitive advantage with the possibility to out-
compete established Banks & TraFi
 Unregulated financial services to the unbanked and
the 2.7 billion Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp
users meant the worldwide monetary and financial
regulators were forced to engage with this new
economy
Crypto could no longer be ignored
Zetzsche, Dirk Andreas and Buckley, Ross P. and Arner, Douglas W. and Arner, Douglas W.,
Regulating LIBRA: The Transformative Potential of Facebook’s Cryptocurrency and Possible
Regulatory Responses (July 11, 2019),
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3414401 accessed 12/03/2021
Politically: – Libra was DOA
“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other
Cryptocurrencies, which are not money,
and whose value is highly volatile and
based on thin air. If Facebook and other
companies want to become a bank, they
must seek a new Banking Charter and
become subject to all Banking Regulations,
just like other Banks, both National and
International”

6. 2021, EL SALVADOR
FIRST COUNTRY TO MAKE BITCOIN LEGAL TENDER
Headwinds:
 Domestic support has been lackluster
 Pres. Bukele intentions are questionable if not
authoritarian.
 50% of the population has internet access
 40% has smartphone access
 IMF: “… Bitcoin should not be used as a legal tender”
Geopolitical Impacts:
1. Billion $ Bitcoin Bond to build the “Bitcoin City”
2. Provide hope to damaged economies
3. Forced the IMF into action
4. (If it works) Alternative financing vs. IMF/China/US

7. AUTHOR: SHAWN GRUBB
DEC 2021
TWITTER:HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/SHAWNLGRUBB
LINKEDIN:HTTPS://WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/SHAWNGRUBB/
RANDOMCRAPI WROTE:
HTTPS://BLOOMPORTU.WORDPRESS.COM/
Sources
Haber S., Stornetta W.S. (1991) How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document In: Menezes A.J., Vanstone S.A. (eds) Advances in
Cryptology-CRYPTO’ 90. CRYPTO 1990. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 537. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-38424-3_32 Accessed 12/03/2021
Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf Accessed 12/03/2021
Tomaso Aste, Paolo Tasca, and T Di Matteo Blockchain Technologies: foreseeable impact on industry and society
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10043048/1/Aste_BlockchainIEEE_600W_v3.3_A.doccceptedVersion.x.pdf Accessed
12/02/2021
A Brief History Of Libra | PYMNTS.com (July 15, 2019) accessed 12/03/2021
“The U.S. Dollar as the World’s Dominant Reserve Currency” Congressional Research Service (Dec 18, 2020) The U.S. Dollar
as the World’s Dominant Reserve Currency (congress.gov) Accessed 12/03/2021
Zetzsche, Dirk Andreas and Buckley, Ross P. and Arner, Douglas W. and Arner, Douglas W., Regulating LIBRA: The
Transformative Potential of Facebook’s Cryptocurrency and Possible Regulatory Responses (July 11, 2019),
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3414401 accessed 12/03/2021
Trump blasts Bitcoin, Facebook's Libra, demands they face banking regulations Reuters (July 11, 2019)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-cryptocurrency-idUSKCN1U701I Accessed 12/04/2021
Gorjon, Sergio, The Role of Cryptoassets as Legal Tender: The Example of El Salvador (October 07, 2021). Banco de Espana
Article 35/21, The role of cryptoassets as legal tender: the example of El Salvador. Analytical Articles. Economic Bulletin
4/2021. (ssrn.com) Accessed 12/04/2021
El Salvador: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2021 Article IV Mission
https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/11/22/mcs-el-salvador-staff-concluding-statement-of-the-2021-article-iv-
mission Accessed 12/03/2021
Omkar Godbole Junk-Rated El Salvador’s ‘Bitcoin Bonds’ Look Explosive (Think Volcano) (11/22/2021) Coindesk
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/11/22/junk-rated-el-salvadors-bitcoin-bonds-look-explosive-think-volcano/
Accessed 12/03/2021