What is the best platform for smart contracts? What makes Ethereum interesting to you? So far, most of the platforms experimenting with smart contracts, besides Ethereum, are either still in the roadmap or early testing phases of development (i.e. federated sidechains and drivechains). Most of the so-called “third generation” blockchains have not been able to differentiate sufficiently from the first and second generation blockchains. We cannot draw very accurate conclusions without being able to compare them at scale.

When I speak about Ethereum, I am speaking more broadly than the ETH token and blockchain, but rather virtual machine-based, Turing complete, programmable blockchain for smart contracts. During the maturation of this technology, there are going to be a lot of governance missteps and security vulnerabilities because they are choosing flexibility over security in the tradeoff. Ethereum can’t do what Bitcoin does. Having a robust, simple script language and conservative, reliable development is a strong differentiating factor. The biggest challenge for both Bitcoin and Ethereum moving forward is privacy.

This is a question from the patron-only live Q&A which took place on December 16th 2017. If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

RELATED:
The Lion and the Shark: Divergent Evolution in Cryptocurrency – https://youtu.be/d0x6CtD8iq4
Ethereum, ICOs, and Rocket Science – https://youtu.be/OWI5-AVndgk
Forkology: A Study of Forks For Newbies – https://youtu.be/rpeceXY1QBM
Programmable Money, Smart Contracts and DAOs – https://youtu.be/_0jxX84mzts
The Killer App: Engineering the Properties of Money – https://youtu.be/MxIrc1rxhyI
Hardware, Software, Trustware – https://youtu.be/Etyjc1JdmFU
Bitcoin: “Failing to Scale” – https://youtu.be/bFOFqNKKns0
Impact of smart contracts on law and accounting – https://youtu.be/K-TRzuPwJCc
DIrected acyclic graphs (DAGs) and IOTA – https://youtu.be/lfgMnbb5JeM
Altcoins and the scaling debate – https://youtu.be/slbpdW-H3yk
Altcoins and specialisation – https://youtu.be/b_Yhr8h6xnA
Layered scaling and privacy – https://youtu.be/4w-bjUhpf_Q
Scaling complex systems – https://youtu.be/dm9m1oQr6Ks
Unstoppable code – https://youtu.be/AQx3E3F8Kz4
Cultural differences between Bitcoin & Ethereum – https://youtu.be/3UNC1AKc3Qk
Governance trade-offs in decentralised systems – https://youtu.be/dtwaW79Fj7c
TheDAO – Why failure is a necessity for learning – https://youtu.be/2KZTx8IYc9s
We all started as critics – https://youtu.be/-jvefuVRwYA

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Money-collection-Andreas-Antonopoulos/dp/1537000454/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/194791006X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

MASTERING BITCOIN: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042

[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388

Subscribe to the channel to learn more about Bitcoin & open blockchains!

Music: “Unbounded” by Orfan (https://www.facebook.com/Orfan/)
Outro Graphics: Phneep (http://www.phneep.com/)
Outro Art: Rock Barcellos (http://www.rockincomics.com.br/)

source

49 COMMENTS

  1. Great talk. Now we have the best of both worlds: smart contracts on a private Cryptonote chain. Meet DERO. Blockchain written in Go from scratch with SC on testnet since January 2019.

  2. Awesome talk, thanks for everything you do. Check out DERO, it has cryptonote privacy first layer and is a Turing complete SC platform, I think even you might be impressed.

  3. Privacy is a huge issue. For example, being caught having US dollars in Turkey some time before and after the 1980 coup could get you into prison. If crypto is to have an effect as advertised, we can expect even worse interventions from states whose stability is threatened by decentralization.

  4. this is better, less white light, more zoomed out, no weird background… still a bit out of focus tho… but that doesn't matter, always watch your video's and usually get my mind blown

  5. Why can't privacy be solved in the 2nd layer? I thought that's what Ethereum people have been saying ever since the project started?
    Does the implementation of zk-snarks count as solving privacy at the base layer? Or do we need more?

  6. Simply explained and to the point! Thanks Andreas! One question though: When you say: "it will take a long time", to overcome all the blockchain existing challenges such as: security, scalability, etc…, how much time do you have in mind?

  7. Great channel sir…you are an asset to the industry! What are your thoughts on Hashgraph vs current Blockchain technology? Can it solve the scaling issues and is it a viable alternative to develop upon?

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here