Beyond dematerialized financial transactions, cryptocurrency is distinguished by its experimental organization. Based on total decentralization, this has allowed it, so far, to develop. Will she survive?
If you've heard of Bitcoin recently, it's probably surrounded by other words like blockchain, smart contract, a combination of three letters (XRP, BCH, ETH, etc.) or another anglicism full of promises of unsurpassed technology ... or imminent bankruptcy coupled with an energy chasm. Gold Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are above all a great economic, computer and social experience.
Un protocole pour se passer de confiance
Créé en 2008 et utilisé dès 2009, Bitcoin – avec une majuscule - désigne un protocole informatique : une liste de règles et de normes permettant à des ordinateurs et à leurs utilisateurs de communiquer entre eux. De nombreux protocoles informatiques existent déjà et vous les utilisez quotidiennement. Ainsi, POP vous permet d'aller chercher vos courriels, HTTP vous permet de consulter des pages internet...
The purpose of the Bitcoin protocol is to guarantee exclusive property rights on units of account, bitcoins - without capital letters. The particularity of Bitcoin is that this guarantee does not come from a third party but is instead based on a very strong principle: users must be able to trust no one and in particular no central entity.
How to achieve such a feat in a digital network where data can easily be duplicated? Bitcoin achieves this by implementing a complex combination of cryptographic algorithms, incentives, and economic constraints. As such, the blockchain - the digital account book recording all transactions since the creation of the first bitcoin - is only one aspect of this complex machinery and is inseparable from other elements of the protocol.
Bitcoin and its clones
Consequence of the principle of lack of confidence a priori: the operation of Bitcoin must be transparent and anyone wishing to do so must be able to verify its implementation. In concrete terms, this means that Bitcoin must be based on open rules that are accessible to everyone. On the other hand, using a proprietary protocol and software, such as Skype for example, requires that you trust your developer or publisher.
As the protocol is open, it can be copied, modified and re-released at will by anyone. With a little technical ease, creating your own version of Bitcoin would only take a few hours. Today, behind the generic term of cryptocurrency, we have most of the time protocols derived from Bitcoin. If some of these cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum for example, propose a different technological approach, many of these are just clones, even scams. This spontaneous generation of hundreds or thousands of cryptocurrencies is therefore an inevitable consequence of the basic principles that govern Bitcoin.
Inside a mining farm located in Canada. Mining farms are a kind of data center dedicated to the calculations used to generate (mine) cryptocurrencies.
Christinne Muschi / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Share
Although it might seem better to focus on one protocol, this openness is in our view indispensable. Indeed, by contributing to the profusion of competing cryptocurrencies, it promotes the continuous improvement of Bitcoin, constantly under the threat of losing its dominant position. Bitcoin is also considered by a large part of its users as an experiment. First of all as an IT experience whose technical viability is not yet acquired. A social experiment too, in which conflicts within the community are not necessarily resolved by consensus. The opening of the protocol allows disagreements to be settled by the circulation of a competing derivative protocol - this is called hardfork - and it is ultimately up to the users to choose. Thus, last year, important differences of points of view appeared around solutions to the congestion of the Bitcoin network faced with a growing use. Two new protocols implementing different technical solutions, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold, separated from the blockchain of the main Bitcoin protocol: each user was then able to choose their preferred solution, without the intervention of a higher authority.
Creative decentralization
This desire for decentralization could thus explain the persistent anonymity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. This feature reinforces the absence of a reference entity and constitutes a unique advantage - certainly wanted by Satoshi himself. Indeed, the development of Bitcoin is no longer subject to the approval of its creator, whose aura could have influenced some decisions of the community on the evolution of the protocol, risking to undermine the decentralization of the Bitcoin governance. The contrast is also striking with the Ethereum protocol whose founder is still very much involved in the project; which can be interpreted as a partial break with the principle of lack of confidence a priori.
What about the evolution and mutations of multiple cryptocurrencies? Many scenarios are possible. One can imagine a coexistence of some of these currencies, each occupying a niche corresponding to a specific use: store of value, transfer of micro-payments, money for connected objects, etc.
source : https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/billets/bitcoin-bien-plus-quune-monnaie
hiveblocks