Why Nobody Understands Blockchain (2024)

February 3, 2018

One of the biggest problem with blockchain (“crypto”) seems to be that nobody really understands it. We’ve all heard the explanation that you have blocks, and transactions go into blocks, and they’re signed with signatures, and then somebody mines it and then somehow there’s a new kind of money…? My friend says so, anyway.

I DONT UNDERSTAND BITCOINpic.twitter.com/nqZLI9eHHX

— Coolman Coffeedan (@coolcoffeedan) January 3, 2018

Why can’t anyone give a clear explanation of what it is?

Blockchain is difficult to understand because it isn’t one thing, but rather pieces of knowledge from a wide variety of subjects across many different disciplines–not only computer science, but economics, finance, and politics as well–that go by the name “blockchain”.

To demonstrate this, I (with help from others) compiled a (non-Merkle) tree of the subjects one needs to grasp, at least superficially, to (begin to) fully “understand blockchain”:

  • Computer Science
    • Algorithms
      • Tree and graph traversals
      • Optimizations
      • Rate-limiting / backoff
      • Scheduling
      • Serialization
    • Compilers
      • Lambda calculus
      • Parsers
      • Turing machines and Turing completeness
      • Virtual machines
    • Computational Complexity
      • Halting problem
      • Solvability
    • Data Structures
      • Bloom filters
      • Databases
      • Key-value stores
      • Tries, radix trees, and hash (Merkle) Patricia tries
    • Distributed Systems
      • Byzantine generals problem
      • Consensus
        • Adversarial consensus
        • Byzantine fault tolerant consensus
        • Liveness and other properties
      • Distributed databases
      • Sharding
        • Sharding in adversarial settings
      • Peer-to-peer
        • Peer-to-peer in adversarial settings
    • Formal methods
      • Correctness proofs
    • Information security
      • Anonymity
        • Correlation of metadata
        • Minimal/selective disclosure of personal information
        • Tumblers
      • Fuzzing
      • Operational security (OPSEC)
        • Hardware wallets
        • Passwords and passphrases
      • Risk analysis
      • Threat modeling
    • Programming languages
      • C / C++ (Bitcoin)
      • Go (Ethereum)
      • JavaScript (web3)
      • Solidity (Ethereum)
    • Programming paradigms
      • Functional programming
      • Imperative programming
      • Object-oriented programming
  • Cryptography
    • Knowing which primitives to use and when
    • Knowing enough not to implement your own crypto
    • Symmetric ciphers
    • Asymmetric
      • Public/private key
    • Elliptic curves
    • Hash functions
      • Collisions
      • Preimages
      • Stretching
    • Secure Multi-party Computation
    • Signature schemes
      • BIP32 wallets
      • Multisig
      • Schnorr
      • Shamir secret sharing
      • Ring signatures
      • Pedersen commitments
    • zk-SNARKS
    • Implications of quantum algorithms
    • Oracles
  • Economics
    • Behavioral Economics
    • Fiscal Policy
    • Game Theory
    • Incentives
    • Monetary Policy
  • Finance
    • Bearer assets
    • Collateral
    • Compression
    • Custody
    • Debt
    • Derivatives
    • Double-entry accounting
    • Escrow
    • Fixed income
    • Fungibility
    • Futures
    • Hedging
    • Market manipulation
    • Netting
    • Pegging
    • Securities
    • Settlement Finality
    • Shorts
    • Swaps
  • Mathematics
    • Graph Theory
    • Information Theory
      • Entropy
      • Randomness
    • Number Theory
    • Probability Theory
    • Statistics
  • Politics
    • Geopolitics
      • National cryptography suites
    • Regulations
      • Export controls / Wassenaar Arrangement
    • Sanctions
    • Tax systems

Blockchain understanding lies between the Dunning-Kruger effect and Imposter Syndrome: If you think you understand it, you don’t. If you think you don’t because there are still parts you don’t get, you probably understand it better than most.

Thanks to Amber Baldet for helping to compile this list.

Think something should be added? Let me know.

Why Nobody Understands Blockchain (2024)

FAQs

Why is blockchain so hard to understand? ›

There are no standards around what types of data should be included in a transaction, and how it is stored and accessed in blocks. It's important to understand that transactions enabled by smart contracts and dApps can have many sub-transactions, often across blockchains, liquidity pools, and decentralized exchanges.

Why is blockchain not the answer? ›

While blockchain solutions can ensure the integrity of digital data by providing a tamper-proof record of transactions, they cannot verify the authenticity of physical items.

Do people understand blockchain? ›

Survey: 60% of US crypto investors don't understand blockchain technology.

What is the biggest problem with blockchain? ›

Security issues
  • 51% attacks. Blockchain technology designs, for example, differ in architecture. ...
  • Flash loan attacks. The other security problem that blockchain networks face is flash loan attacks. ...
  • Coding loopholes. ...
  • Centralization of information. ...
  • Side-chains: A solution to blockchain's scalability issue.

How do you easily understand blockchain? ›

A blockchain is “a distributed database that maintains a continuously growing list of ordered records, called blocks.” These blocks “are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data.

How long does it take to understand blockchain? ›

If you are a beginner in Blockchain development, you will need at least six months to learn it. It also depends on whether you are a self-learner or following a guided curriculum/course. In a guided course, you don't have to worry about what to learn, projects, etc.

Why do people not like blockchain? ›

The way blockchain was developed made it look like it was incompatible with the status quo. It was meant to challenge (central) banks, companies, and institutions of all kinds. As I said previously, while some people made a lot of money with this, a lot of people also lost a lot of it and got scammed quite badly.

Why blockchain is not successful? ›

Lack of Clear Objectives and Use-Case

When a project is driven solely by the hype surrounding the technology, it's likely to devolve into a directionless endeavor, eventually leading to its failure. Before embarking on a blockchain project, it's essential to identify what specific issue the technology will address.

Is anyone actually using blockchain? ›

Blockchain-based contracts are becoming more and more popular as sectors like government, healthcare and the real estate industry discover the benefits. Below are a few examples of how companies are using blockchain to make contracts smarter.

Does anyone actually understand crypto? ›

All but 2% of survey participants across the US, Mexico and Brazil failed to score 60% or better on a quiz of basic concepts related to bitcoin, stablecoins and NFTs, helping to quantify the extent that the general public still does not understand crypto.

Is blockchain still worth learning? ›

Absolutely! Learning blockchain in 2024 opens doors to exciting career paths and allows you to play a role in technological advancements impacting diverse sectors. The investment you make in acquiring these skills has the potential to pay off handsomely in the years to come.

Do we really need blockchain? ›

Blockchain can make it easier for companies to manage their supply chain by providing real-time data on every transaction. In this way, companies reap many benefits, as we have already mentioned. Let's now take a look at some examples of using blockchain in the supply chain.

Why is blockchain not the future? ›

Conclusively, although blockchain technology exhibits immense potential and has made noteworthy advancements thus far, its future hinges on its ability to surmount existing obstacles and secure broad adoption.

What could go wrong with blockchain? ›

Scalability/Harder to Scale

Scalability is a significant issue for blockchain technology. As blockchain networks grow with more users and transactions, they often need help to maintain speed and efficiency. This is a crucial issue for networks like Bitcoin.

Is blockchain 100% safe? ›

No financial system is 100% tamper-proof. Hence, blockchain is no exception. But blockchains are extremely difficult to hack or breach because of their specially-crafted design. There are however two ways to take over the security of a blockchain and its established security mechanism.

How hard is blockchain to learn? ›

Trying to learn blockchain programming can feel very overwhelming! You will surely come across many new concepts, terms, programming languages, and developer tools. It can feel like you are stepping into a different world entirely. In many ways, you are!

Why is blockchain so complex? ›

​Where does the complexity stem from? A lot of the complexity – and therefore the challenge with blockchain adoption – is a direct result of a lack of standardisation and interoperability. ​Thankfully, the ecosystem is beginning to recognise the importance of developing standards, frameworks and interoperability.

What is blockchain in simple words? ›

Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. asset can be tangible (a house, car, cash, land) or intangible (intellectual property, patents, copyrights, branding).

What makes crypto uniquely tricky to understand? ›

The way some cryptos are created and operated makes them very different from what some people would class as 'tangible' assets (meaning things that you can physically see and touch) like gold or cash. So called 'unbacked' crypto have no tangible assets that sit behind them.

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