The Bitcoin Masterclass (Zürich) Day 1
Dr Craig S. Wright, Chief Scientist at nChain, recently held the third edition of his Bitcoin Masterclass series at an exclusive venue in Zürich, Switzerland. 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, focusing on accounting and mapping transactions on-chain.
Workshop and blockchain business use cases
In the final session on the first day, the attendees split into groups to discuss the different business use cases to utilise the concepts discussed so far. Some of the ideas and the projects which were discussed include:
- The Accounting industry;
- Tokenising mice;
- Cybersecurity;
- The second-hand car market;
- Digital twins;
- Patient records;
- Public infrastructure maintenance;
- Truffle farms;
- Academic papers;
- Book and wine collectors;
- Shoes;
- Luxury watches.
The importance of accurate information
Keeping accurate information on the blockchain yields numerous benefits for diverse industries. To illustrate this further, Wright highlights the case of stolen goods. By associating them with the blockchain through an NFT, their sale transactions can be traced and the items can be reclaimed.
Additionally, this instils accountability in the individuals who receive stolen goods, as the ability to verify their status on the blockchain before purchase leaves no room for excuses.
However, Wright again reiterated that blockchains are not necessarily a panacea. While blockchain technology is designed to be immutable and resistant to tampering, it is not impervious to mistakes made by humans interacting with it.
If incorrect or inaccurate information is entered, it can propagate throughout the blockchain and affect the integrity of the stored data. This can lead to misinformation or faulty records being perpetuated within the blockchain system.
Human error can also occur when implementing smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements on the blockchain. Mistakes in coding or logical errors within smart contracts can lead to unintended consequences or vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors.