Hello
delegates!
Many of you
have likely heard of the hype surrounding technologies such as Blockchain. But
what exactly is Blockchain anyway? The
Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at UC Berekely published
a paper in 2015 regarding Blockchain, available at http://scet.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/BlockchainPaper.pdf.
Although parts
of the paper are rather dense and technical, the paper’s introduction (pages
3-4) is a must-read, presenting a succinct overview of one of the most
important technologies today. Notice that the paper highlights Blockchain’s distributed
consensus (it’s verifiable and permanent) and anonymity. These features of
Blockchain are paramount to its success as one of the key drivers behind cryptocurrencies
such as Bitcoin.
The paper goes
on to highlight numerous examples of both financial and non-financial
applications of Bitcoin, which you may find useful in formulating your
positions.
Also, don't forget that position papers are due Feb. 5 in order to be considered for a Best Position Paper Award. Guidelines and instructions on how to submit your position paper can be found at http://www.bmun.org/position-papers/.
Hubert
Also, don't forget that position papers are due Feb. 5 in order to be considered for a Best Position Paper Award. Guidelines and instructions on how to submit your position paper can be found at http://www.bmun.org/position-papers/.
Hubert
This article was especially helpful to Botswana in grasping the idea of what a blockchain is and its relevance to the cryptocurrency market. It is disconcerting that a currency such as “Bitcoin… [can] help to enable a multibillion-dollar global market of anonymous transactions without any governmental control”. This database technology is a great advancement, yet how can we accept something that no one is watching. Blockchains are successful in storing information and keeping the market running, yet can it be trusted with billions of dollars? It is important to note that the “current digital economy is based on the reliance on a certain trusted authority. Our all online transactions rely on trusting someone to tell us the truth—it can be an email service provider telling us that our email has been delivered; it can be a certification authority telling us that a certain digital certificate is trustworthy; or it can be a social network such as Facebook telling us that our posts regarding our life events have been shared only with our friends or it can be a bank telling us that our money has been delivered reliably to our dear ones in a remote country.”. This sense of security is needed for cryptocurrencies to be successful in the real economy, and not help grow the shadow economy.
ReplyDeleteThis blockchain technology can remodel the way that goods and services are paid for in the modern world. Yet without regulation and laws, this practice will immediately turn black. Botswana is looking forward to debating what others think the correct way to make cryptocurrencies safe and reliable for the global market.