Overview:

• Dr. Wright highlighted the potential for Bitcoin and IPv6 multicast addresses to build better social networks and enable fair compensation for developers and creators.
• An example of a messaging network using Layered Multicast addresses was presented, emphasising the importance of continuous online presence for message persistence.
• The model can be applied to various forms of data distribution, such as web pages, media formats, financial records, and IoT networks.
• Additional topics touched upon included the data revenue model, data ownership, privacy and confidentiality, file validation, and data index layering.

Dr Craig S. Wright, Chief Scientist at nChain, held the second edition of his Bitcoin Masterclass series at an exclusive venue in Slovenia in February. The Masterclass course forms part of a monthly series aimed at helping attendees understand the fundamentals of Bitcoin and the technology behind it.

The Bitcoin Masterclass series will give you a comprehensive overview of Bitcoin’s history, theory and design. Wright discussed the future of Bitcoin and the unbounded scalability of nChain’s blockchain solutions with potential use cases across several industries.

In the third session on day one, Dr Wright discussed wallets and overlay services on Bitcoin. He also gave an overview of the different peer-to-peer services which can be built on the technology and why the Internet needs to fundamentally change.

Wallets and overlay services on Bitcoin

Dr Wright began the session by detailing how multicast and related traffic types can be integrated into Bitcoin wallets and create versioned datasets and information that is limited to selected broadcast or multicast. He also explained how specialist nodes can send specified types of services and versioned data.

He also gave an overview of node structure data, making broadcast groups, selective data sharing and sending transaction proofs.

Changing social media and the Internet

One of the key points of discussion during this session was how IPv6 multicast addresses and the Bitcoin blockchain can be used in conjunction to build better social networks. Wright said that this is entirely possible (and desirable) but would require a fundamental shake-up of how the Internet works right now and the Silicon Valley companies who have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are.

He added that a truly peer-to-peer Internet would allow developers and creators to be paid fairly for their work. This is how the Internet is supposed to work, but instead has been replaced by billion-dollar multinationals built on collecting and monetizing personal data.

A new type of messaging network

He gave an example of a messaging network which uses Layered Multicast addresses. In this peer-to-peer network, only individuals who are currently online have access to view and search the messages. As long as at least one member of the network remains online, the messages persist. However, if all participants leave the network, the messages vanish.

Nevertheless, there arises a need to maintain a searchable record of these messages. Consequently, there exists an incentive for someone to ensure their continuous online presence to preserve this record.

This model can be applied to various forms of data distribution, extending beyond text messages to encompass web pages, diverse media formats, financial records, and Internet of Things (IoT) networks, among others, within the realm of the Internet.

Other topics touched on by Dr Wright during the session include:

• The data revenue model;
• Owning data;
• Privacy, secrecy and confidentiality;
• Validating files;
• Data index layering.