Explore a critical analysis of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in this 22-minute conference talk from USENIX Enigma 2019. Delve into the fundamental issues surrounding these technologies, including their incompatibility with modern finance, lack of practical use cases, and potential vulnerabilities. Examine the speaker's arguments on why cryptocurrencies may only be suitable for censorship-resistant transactions and how they might be susceptible to technical, legal, and social attacks. Learn about the concept of "smart contracts" and their potential pitfalls, as well as the speaker's perspective on how cryptocurrencies may be replicating historical economic failures. Gain insights into proposed actions for addressing the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies, including legal enforcement and technical countermeasures.
Cryptocurrency: Burn It With Fire - Nicholas Weaver - USENIX Enigma Conference - 2019
USENIX Enigma Conference via YouTube
Overview
Syllabus
Intro
What Is A "Cryptocurrency"?
What Is A "Blockchain (well, "Public" or "Permissionless' Blockchains)
What About Private/Permissioned Blockchains?
Why They Don't Work As Currency
So What's The Purpose: Censorship-Resistance For Crime
Why Public Blockchains Don't Work At All: Inefficient or insecure
And Decentralization
Only One Financial Innovation : Smart Contracts
The Reality: Buggy Finance Bots With Million Dollar Bug Bounties
Everything Else: Speedrunning 500 years of Economic Failures
So What To Do... Beyond Pointing and Laughing
And Enforce The Laws!
And Technical Attacks
Conclusions...
Taught by
USENIX Enigma Conference
