Welcome to Edd's Almanac, a free resource on Web3 topics and subjects that I find interesting, mostly related to NFTs.
It is safe to assume that the author is holding, or has held at one time, many of the coins, tokens, or products mentioned in these articles, but nothing written here should be interpreted as an endorsement or advertisement. Countless speculators have lost fortunes, ruined reputations, and had personal assets compromised attempting to navigate this brave, new ecosystem, so please proceed with caution.
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Bitcoin is the first successful decentralized digital currency supporting peer-to-peer transactions that are collectively authenticated and stored by a globally distributed network of computers. An unknown person or group writing under the name Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008 and launched the open-source software in 2009.
Blockchain is the term given to the underlying technology powering cryptocurrencies and other digital assets using a distributed, decentralized ledger. This ledger, or database, is often publicly searchable and supported by a network of computers utilizing cryptographically secure systems to validate and record every transaction that occurs.
Those looking to learn more about how and why Satoshi Nakamoto may have started this movement, background reading material can be found at https://nakamotoinstitute.org/literature/
Satoshi Nakamoto's original Bitcoin whitepaper:
Ethereum
Ethereum is a blockchain network developed as a Turing-complete platform conceived by Vitalik Buterin. Intended to provide a foundation more robust than Bitcoin, Ethereum was developed in order to support extensive decentralized applications.
NFTs
NFTs are, at their most fundamental level, almost always made up of two parts:
a unique item that is meant to have value to someone - digital art, music, film, poetry, literature, physical creations, collectibles, deeds or titles, voting rights, gaming assets etc
a timestamped digital certificate that authenticates provenance