Bitcoin Will Save Us

But not in the way you might think.

Mar 02, 2024

What’s good, fam.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the Bitcoin halving is happening NEXT MONTH.

Hold the eye rolls and hear me out. If this isn’t big news to you, it should be.

While the price is bubbling close to all time highs ($61,000+), nobody outside of the Bitcoin community is talking about it.

But today, I’m not going to talk about Bitcoin. Instead, I want to focus on the technology the powers it: blockchain technology.

Here’s why I think this is important:

Bitcoin’s continued existence gives validity to blockchain technology. Sora, the text to video generation AI tool from OpenAI, and other generative AI models will fundamentally distort our perception of what is real and what is true. Blockchain technology will play a critical role in combating these AI challenges.

The launch of multiple spot-ETFs on publicly traded markets is a signal that the major institutions are heavily buying Bitcoin.

BlackRock, Fidelity, and major banks are getting in—the cat is out of the bag.

Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do.

Bitcoin and blockchain technologies are here to stay. And I think that’s a good thing.

By the end of today’s newsletter, you will have a basic understanding of Blockchain technology.

It’s not a scam.

Let us establish some vocab.

Blockchain

A blockchain is a distributed ledger.

Ledger

A ledger is a record of transactions, and these transactions can literally be ANYTHING.

For simplicity, let us talk about how a ledger is used to track transactions of money (this was Satoshi’s use-case, after all.)

Example:

Samantha gives her younger sister, Layla $12 for lunch. Samantha, wanting to keep track of how much money she’s lent out, writes this transaction down on a sheet of paper and puts it on her desk.

This sheet of paper is the ledger.

When Layla pays Samantha back, Samantha then records this transaction to the same ledger, confirming that the debt has been repaid. In this example, Samantha created a ledger to track the flow of money between herself and her sister.

A blockchain is an immutable list of transactions that anyone can view, query, and verify. A blockchain keeps a full, historical record of every transaction that ever took place on the network. Every. Single. One.

Nodes

A blockchain is maintained by a series of powerful computers (AKA nodes). Each node uses electricity to compete to solve a series of complex math problems.

The difficulty of these math problems is dynamic. It increases or decreases based on the total number of nodes operating the network at any given time.

More nodes = Higher difficulty

When entities transact on the blockchain, these transactions are recorded in batches called blocks.

Image courtesy of: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/financial-services/fintech/bitcoin-blockchain-cryptocurrency.html

The node that solves the math problem first constructs the block and is rewarded with Bitcoin (BTC).

From there, all the other nodes in the network update their ledgers accordingly and the block of transactions is added at the end of the existing chain.

Every 4 years, the reward to successfully mining a block is halved. Bitcoiners project this will occur sometime in April 2024.

Every node that maintains the blockchain keeps an identical copy of the blockchain in their computer. In order for the blockchain to maintain its integrity, every node’s ledger must be identical, down to every last transaction.

Consensus must be reached among the nodes for every block. This necessary consensus secures the network and protects it from bad actors. If a bad actor tries to manipulate the ledger and game the system, they would have to manipulate the records of thousands upon thousands of nodes.

Not only are these nodes spread across the globe, but one would have to coordinate and execute the change simultaneously. It would be like trying to rob thousands of banks at the very same time. Difícil AF

TDLR; Nodes run the network. They all talk to each other and make the network nearly impossible to hack.

Decentralization

In the traditional financial system, banks maintain ledgers for how money flows in our economy. You can’t call a bank to ask to see their ledger. I mean, you could, but they’d laugh at you and hang up.

In this system, an entity maintains and controls and participants are forced to trust this entity.

The power over this system is centralized.

In the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown, Satoshi Nakamoto dreamed of a world where one wouldn’t have to trust that the bank was acting in its integrity. And thus the Bitcoin blockchain was born.

In a decentralized system, no single entity owns or maintains the network.

In the Bitcoin blockchain, responsibility and ownership are divided among a large number of independent parties with aligned incentives to act in their integrity. The larger the number of independent validators, the more decentralized a protocol is. The more decentralized the protocol is, the harder it becomes for a single entity to highjack the system.

Why This Matters

Because blockchains are unalterable and trustless sources of truth.

Protocols like Sora pose threats to humanity on many different levels.

Deepfakes will be indistinguishable from real footage. This means anyone will have the power to create visuals about anything. We will be able to make videos of anyone doing…anything.

The only limit will be the imagination.

Knowing how petty people are, I am frightened by the prospect of everyone having that power. We used to live in a world where seeing is believing. We’re going to have to let that go.

…unless we find a way to integrate blockchain technologies as trustless sources of truth.

I don’t have the answers here. That said, I believe the more people who understand this technology, the better. That’s why I wrote about it today =)

Takeaways

As Extra-Classical Musicians, we must stay up to date on technology as it evolves. In doing so, we can be poised to adapt to an ever-changing world.

Instead of allowing ourselves to be crushed by the tsunami of constant change, let us learn what we can so we can deftly ride the waves.

In the future, I want to write about the evolution of money. I think it’s high-time we started a broader conversation in our community about how things are changing right in front of our eyes and what we can do about it!

Additional Resources

I’m learning about all of this is real time, just like you. Here are some sources that have helped me develop my understanding.

Building in public

ThatViolaKid Productions

I almost didn’t get this newsletter out in time. I switched topics 3 different times and I could not decide what was the most important. Sorry for the delay.
I’ve made 2 sales of my sample pack so far! I’m so excited. Thank you for your support!
I had 3 meetings with potential collaborators and friends
I attempted to record Passacaglia with my friend Hannah White, but my mind was distracted by this artist that still hasn’t paid me. We had a call during our recording and it didn’t go well.
I started working on 2 new covers at the suggestion of my friend Jeremy Green
I sent a quotation to a planner for a solo wedding in August. Fingers crossed—I want to further grow this vertical in my business.

wholesoul/Whole Soul Music, LLC

Finished my arrangements for our North Carolina wedding client.
Performed at Pasadena City College with the quartet. We had Wynton Grant and Gallia Kastner step in and CRUSH it for us.
Conducted meetings with a studio manager and a composer. We’re building!

Drew Alexander Forde, Violist

Performed with the Riverside Philharmonic on 2/24 and was a part of Chris Woods’ Violin Concerto World Premiere. I’m so proud of him!
I went to Gallia Kastner’s birthday party and I had a great time kickin it with my LA musician homies! Everyone pulled up and it was all love <3
Drained my bank account to pay rent. Yeeeeesh.
Performed a motion picture session
Started rehearsals with San Bernadino Symphony

Grace Notes

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