The Extraordinary History of Blockchain
Blockchain is one of the most promising developments of the 21st century, often compared to the early days of the Internet in the 1960s.1 However, unlike the rather staid history of the Internet, blockchain's history is full of mystery and intrigue: pseudonymous creators with libertarian views, developers with politically charged incentives and the moral implications of a trustless and unregulated financial system.
To this day, the question of who exactly created blockchain remains unanswered—a conglomeration of ideas morphed together from secretive, unknown sources. We can roughly divide the history of blockchain technology into three phases: its development and introduction via the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, its evolution in the form of smart contracts and the modern developments that bring us to the present day.
Phase 1 - The Invention of Blockchain
1991
Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta introduced the earliest example of a cryptographically secured and time-stamped ledger in 1991. Although it received minimal fanfare, the creation of a digital ledger with time-stamped entries that you couldn’t backdate was revolutionary at the time.
1992
The following year, Haber and Stornetta incorporated Merkle trees, a hierarchical system that improves efficiency by collating several hundred documents into a single block. Although the term blockchain didn't exist yet, its name would eventually derive from this design.
1997
In 1997, British cryptographer Adam Back proposed Hashcash, a proof-of-work system designed to tackle email spam and Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks.2 Developers later incorporated it into early blockchains as a consensus method.
1998
In 1998, American computer scientist and cryptographer Nick Szabo began work on a digital currency project called 'Bit gold'. The design involved a network of computers, each with their own unique digital identity competing to solve a complex cryptographic puzzle. The solution would create a time-stamped digital entry assigned to the winner and added to a public ledger.
Each entry required validation from all participants before they could attempt the next puzzle.
In this way, Szabo created an autonomous and secure method of attributing digitized value in the form of a ledger entry that you couldn’t copy or alter without backward engineering the entire chain. Although never implemented, we could consider ‘bit gold’ as the first iteration of Bitcoin since the design is almost identical. For this reason, many people believe that Nick Szabo created Bitcoin under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, although he has always denied the claim.3
2000
In the year 2000, German software developer Stefan Konst published a theory that improved upon the early foundations of blockchain, detailing a method of implementing cryptographically secured chains.4
2004
In 2004, British computer scientist Hal Finney introduced a consensus method called Reusable Proof of Work (RPoW) that exchanges a non-fungible Hashcash token for an RSA-signed token.5 RPoW made token distribution possible while solving the double-spend problem and laid the groundwork for modern cryptocurrencies.6
2008
A pseudonymous person (or group) by the name Satoshi Nakamoto releases the whitepaper "Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system."7 Similar to Szabo's 'bit gold' and utilizing Finney's Hashcash design, it describes a method of creating and transferring digital 'cash' with no third-party intermediary.
The paper outlines the use of a decentralized network of nodes to verify transactions with a PoW consensus method. 'Miners' provide computing power to secure the network, receiving Bitcoin rewards for their contribution. Security comes in the form of hashing power created by pitting miners against each other in a race to solve a cryptographic puzzle and receive a 'block reward'.
2009
On January 3, 2009, Bitcoin went live when Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin block, creating a 50 Bitcoin (BTC) reward. Within the code of the block, Nakamoto hid a newspaper headline from that day: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for banks." The message references the controversial bailouts intended to save banks from the 2008 financial crisis, suggesting Bitcoin may be a solution to a broken global economy.
On January 12, Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney in the first-ever Bitcoin transaction. Evidence suggests that Hal Finney may have been the real Satoshi, but we may never know since he died in 2014.8
Phase 2 - Smart Contracts Spark Innovation
2013
In 2013, Canadian programmer Vitalik Buterin created Ethereum, a blockchain with the added functionality of Smart Contracts that can be programmed to execute only if specific criteria are met. Smart Contracts were first envisioned by Nick Szabo back in 1998 but were never put into practice. Their inclusion led to the development of decentralized applications (dApps) and the birth of Blockchain 2.0.
2014
From 2014, developers from large corporations like IBM began experimenting with blockchain in other applications besides cryptocurrencies, like supply chain, identity management and automation.9 More and more companies started using Smart Contracts to secure, track and execute a range of financial instruments, from property rights to automated trades.
2015
In 2015, several major financial institutions created the R3 Consortium to further investigate the benefits of blockchain.10
2016
From 2016, companies began implementing private, permissioned blockchains to facilitate office and administrative tasks.
Phase 3 - A Promising Future
We are currently moving into the third phase of blockchain's evolution, where scalability improvements will hopefully result in blockchain networks that can better support mass adoption.
Despite remarkable growth, blockchain remains in its infancy, comparable to the Internet of the early 90s. We will probably see vast improvements over the coming years that will dwarf our current understanding of what this unique technology can offer. Some potential applications already coming to light include:
Content Distribution
Blockchain can offer considerable benefits to artists, musicians and producers by redirecting profits back to the content creators and cutting out costly intermediaries. The tokenization of content on a blockchain makes it easy for users to directly support their favorite artists with no need for centralized management.
Energy
The decentralized and autonomous nature of blockchain makes it possible for owners of independent and renewable energy sources to sell excess energy back to a public grid. Rather than rely on a centralized energy supplier or suffer the inefficiency of independent power, a network of users could share renewable energy efficiently without costly third-party administration.
Health Care
Current healthcare computer systems are antiquated and ineffective, stifling the ability to share vital information that could save lives. Blockchain provides the perfect solution for a secure, immutable and globally accessible database of healthcare records.
A Technology Brimming with Potential
There is a seemingly endless number of industries that blockchain has the potential to transform, from banking and cybersecurity to social media, messaging and even AI.11 Some more popular blockchain-based trends include decentralized finance (DeFi), network interoperability, Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) and the Internet of Things (IoT).12
No longer just a buzzword used by companies to improve their search results, blockchain is unquestionably one of the most important inventions of the early 21st century. One thing is for sure: what we know so far is just the tip of the iceberg and there is much, much more to come.
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- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from medium.com/hackernoon/internet-vs-blockchain-revolution-early-successful-products-part-1-2207f1ccd716
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from researchgate.net/publication/2482110_Hashcash_-_A_Denial_of_Service_Counter-Measure
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from nytimes.com/2015/05/17/business/decoding-the-enigma-of-satoshi-nakamoto-and-the-birth-of-bitcoin.html
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from konst.de/
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from nakamotoinstitute.org/finney/rpow/index.html
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from investopedia.com/terms/d/doublespending.asp
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from news.bitcoin.com/the-many-facts-pointing-to-hal-finney-being-satoshi/
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1300&context=jitim
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-barclays-and-others-join-r3-on-blockchain-project-2015-9?IR=T
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from cbinsights.com/research/industries-disrupted-blockchain/
- Retrieved on September 30, 2021, from bbvaopenmind.com/en/economy/finance/ten-trends-of-blockchain-in-2020/
