Bitcore is a great way to test blockchain technology, here is how you create an address:

Background:

I choose Bitcore to create the address because it is javascript based. I also think Bitcore provides a great platform to build services that interact with the Bitcoin blockchain. I created some instructions here:

How To Create A Bitcoin Address

Soon I will post address intstructions for Hyperledger using the Ethereum module as Hyperledger does not have it’s own currency.

Enjoy,

The Blockchain Boy

So the Byzantine army is about to attack the enemy camp. The byzantine army is distributed in squads all around the enemy camp. They are distributed like blockchain nodes. Each squad has a general who makes all the decisions. If each squad attacks the enemy at the same time (all the generals make the same decision) the Byzantine army will win, however if a few squads fail to attack with the other squads, the Byzantine army will lose. From a general a written request goes out to attack the enemy at midnight. The message is delivered by horseback via a messenger to all the squads. If all the Generals are loyal to Byzantine they will all attack at midnight and win. However, if some of the generals are traitors and a few of the squads do not attack at midnight, the battle will be lost. How do you prevent the message from being altered by a traitor general. What solution do you build to insure the battle is won?

A good solution is for the first general to create special locked box with two sets of keys, a private and a public key. The public key is given to the messenger and can only be turned clockwise to see what is inside of the box. The messenger will bring the box and the public key to each general via horseback. The first general owns the private key which can be turned counter-clockwise to alter the information inside of the box. The general takes the lock box, turns the private key counter-clockwise, and puts in a message that says to attack the enemy at midnight. The lock box is then delivered to the next general and he takes his public key, turns it clockwise, and sees that the first general is issuing an attack at midnight. The lock box then gets delivered to the third general. He is an evil traitor and decides to turn the public key counter-clockwise in order to corrupt the attack message. He knows that if he does not attack and gets the next generals in the line not to attack evil wins and he is evil. However, due to the general’s fancy lock, the public key does not give him permission to do this. The message cannot be corrupted and thus gets delivered to the other generals authentic and uncorrupted. The attack succeeds as enough squads attack to win the war. As for the traitor general he might choose to attack knowing that if he does not the messenger or other readers of the message will see his guilt. Even he if does not attack he was still not able to alter the course of the battle because he could not change the message to confuse the other generals.

“Give a corrupt man a gun and he can rob a bank…but give a corrupt man a bank and he can rob the world.” -Blockchain Boy

The 2007 and 1970’s financial crisis could have been avoided with Blockchain. Data mining of transactions would of revealed loans were not being paid back. Bank executives would not have been able to hide or delete transactions. Data mining would of revealed lies on income reporting. Changes in title ownership would have being easier to research. The tracking of transactions would have made it easier to find the unethical behavior at rating agencies, the unethical behavior by mortgage brokers, the unethical behavior at real estate companies, the crimminal behavior at mortgage companies, the unethical behavior of government employees and the unethical behavior at banks. I am quite pleased to see the Fintech community embrace Blockchain. There are a lot of good people working in financial services and government they just need better tools. Maybe it will be the financial firms that help the government replace FIAT with a fully tracked currency that absolutely no one can manipulate, corrupt or use to hide crime by deleting transactions. I am not saying Blockchain is the magic solution to all of our socio-economic problems, but it is start. Blockchain should only be applied in cases where you need immutable transactions, a distributed network (for security etc.) and a ledger. If you need to frequently modify the data stored on the blockchain it is not a good solution. Blockchain is not a silver bullet but it is a tool that can help disrupt a system controlled by one corrupt silo entity and replace it with a system that solves the trust problem via a large number of voting nodes and a consensus algorithm. However, if blockchain is to be truly revolutionary we need find a way for lower income people to particpate.