bitcoin and blockchain technology why lawyers should care
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Bitcoin & Blockchain Technology:
Why Lawyers Should Care@davidsilvasmith@pamelawjd
Do you like your bank?
Ever been charged a bank fee?
Banks charged customers $2.5 billion in
overdraft feesin the first 3 months of this year!
*Source: http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/27/investing/overdraft-fees-over-1-billion-big-banks/
Other IssuesMonthly Service fees
ATM fees overdraft fees
minimum balance fees check fees
low interest rates poor customer service
withdrawal limits slow moving electronic money
WTF?banks reordering transactions to charge fees
improper foreclosures The 2008 bailout ($16 trillion)
can’t get your money can’t use your money
bank errors scams
*Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/traceygreenstein/2011/09/20/the-feds-16-trillion-bailouts-under-reported/
Can something be better?
Do we need banks?
@davidsilvasmith show me #bitcoin
So What?Venmo, Google Wallet, Facebook, etc. do that - right?
One is an illusion…
Isn’t bitcoin a scam?
Paul Krugman"The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in
'Metcalfe's law'–which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants–becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's
impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's."
*Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugman-responds-to-internet-quote-2013-12
What do you think?Bill Gates
Richard BransonEric Schmidt
Marc AndreessenAl Gore
Paul BucheitJulian AssangeReid Hoffman
Nas50 Cent
Winklevoss TwinsBill Miller
Warren BuffettPaul KrugmanJoe Manchin
Alan GreenspanPeter Schiff
Hikmet Ersek?Jamie Dimon?
What is bitcoin?
Gold + emailLow Cost
Empowering Safe
Transparent Programmable
Rare Fast
What is the blockchain?
Block 2
It is a ledger
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
Block 4Transaction 1
Transaction 2
Transaction 3
Transaction n
Blocks are minedMiners get block reward and transaction fees
It is a distributed ledger
So What?Nearly indestructible
Irreversible Globally Accessible
Why Lawyers Should Care