To think of the value of a global, jurisdiction-less, “money-for-enemies” network as nothing more than the result of how many transactions it can do on the base layer, is to miss the point entirely. The difference between the payments systems and settlement systems of the world, their degree of assurances, and the desirable characteristics of their operation are often diametrically opposed.
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“For the better part of the last decade, the combination of these two practices has given rise to an increasing number of SIM swap attacks ending in the theft of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.” – David Hollerith
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“Money is an intersubjective problem, and a choice to opt into one monetary medium is an explicit opt out of the other, which in turn causes one network to gain value (and utility) at the direct expense of another.” – Parker Lewis
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“Gold, the ancient and prevailing monetary sovereignty layer (representing an unmanipulable money supply), and the internet, the ultimate engine of exchange (representing global interconnectivity or liquidity). By combining and building upon the economic properties of both, Bitcoin is a momentous monetary innovation that has achieved the divisibility, portability, durability, and recognizability of pure information infused with the absolute scarcity of time.”
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“To provide broader context, the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the European Central bank have collectively created $10 trillion dollars-worth of new money since the financial crisis, the equivalent of approximately $500,000 per bitcoin. Despite dollars, euro, yen and bitcoin all being digital, bitcoin is the only medium that is tangibly scarce and the only one with inherent monetary properties.” – Parker Lewis
“The precursors of money, along with language, enabled early modern humans to solve problems of cooperation that other animals cannot – including problems of reciprocal altruism, kin altruism, and the mitigation of aggression. These precursors shared with non-fiat currencies very specific characteristics – they were not merely symbolic or decorative objects.” – Nick Szabo
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Is there a single key factor in the difference between the assurances in PoS vs PoW? The knowledge and proof that there is a real world, inescapable cost to both producing the currency, & editing the chain history – unforgeable costliness. Learn about this, the private keys attacks that risk entire contesting histories in PoS systems, and to the nothing-at-stake problem. This and more in today’s read!
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What is the true set of differences between Proof of Work, and Proof of Stake? What are the engineering mindsets behind them both, and which is built explicitly to survive in the worst-case scenarios?
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There is nothing about blockchain that makes it inherently immutable. Immutability emerges over time as the consequence of economic incentives and a native monetary unit that secures those incentives. It is hard won in the battle of monetary competition, something that cannot be copied or challenged with frivolous features, or arbitrary “utility.”
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