The document summarizes the current and future state of Bitcoin. It discusses how Bitcoin has grown significantly in recent years in terms of market capitalization, transactions processed per day, and community support. However, it is still in the early stages. The document outlines several technologies that could help Bitcoin scale to support more users through additional layers on top of the core blockchain like payment channels and sidechains. This would allow for near-instant and low-cost transactions. Other future applications mentioned include using the blockchain to represent identity and enable smart contracts for digital assets like property. The document also speculates on more futuristic uses of Bitcoin in space for cloud computing and as a censorship-resistant communication network.

1. The Next Frontier of Bitcoin
Jeff Garzik
CEO @ Dunvegan Space Systems
Bitcoin Core Developer @ BitPay
JGarzik@DSS.co / @jgarzik

2. “2015 will be a make-or-break year
for Bitcoin”
- Timothy Lee, Vox.com
No — it is just the beginning.
- Me

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Bitcoin is a startup currency
Investment category: high risk

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Motivation
Universal money - The unbanked - My
discovery

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Bitcoin: today
Warning: Technobabble ahead

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Bitcoin: Do it yourself?
Not the smartest move - use BitPay

7. Bitcoin: monetary snapshot
In circulation: 14,368,050 BTC
Market cap: $4.0B @ $285/BTC
Transactions: 200,000/day
Value transferred: 1.7M BTC/day (~$480M/day)
Hash power: 4.5M PetaFLOPS - 77000 x Tianhe-2
Market trading (USD): $55M/day

8. Bitcoin:community snapshot
Venture cap: $2M > $95M > $349M > $357M YTD
AngelList count: 512
Wallet count: 2M (coinbase), 3M (blockchain.info)
Reddit subscribers: 160,000
Developer repositories: 5,000+
P2P network nodes: 6,000

9. Bitcoin Core 0.10:
What’s new?
Headers first synchronization
Smart transaction fees
Unlimited P2SH script flexibility
HTTP REST API
Watch-only wallets
Consensus library

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Bitcoin: tomorrow

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The Bitcoin Pyramid - At the lowest layer today

13. The Goal
• Holy grail:
Instant, secure
payments
• Payment channels
• Open protocol
• Layer 2. Bitcoin base
• “Lightning network”,
“Impulse protocol”

14. Payment channel analysis
Trustless + multi-sig. Example use case:
Customer makes instant, secure payment to Lyft
Customer is secure against BitPay stealing funds
Lyft & BitPay are secure against Customer clawback
BitPay does not hold funds; funds go straight to Lyft.
Wallet software updates required

15. More Layer-2 services
BIP65 “CLTV” - Funds locked on-chain for X days
Semi-trusted escrow (2-of-3) - no funds held
“Internet of Chains” - side chains and more
Deploy new bitcoin features rapidly
Non-currency chains
Smart property: transfer ownership of stocks, cars, …

16. Identity & Smart Contracts
In a decentralized world, “identity” becomes key
nexus
Decentralized markets demand [anonymous] identity,
reputation.
Smart contracts: Digitize every fact, then trigger
action
ID+SC: Completes the decentralized landscape

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Bitcoin: the not-so-near
future

18. BitSat: bitcoins in space
Cloud computing
Blockchain on board
BTC oracles in space
Worldwide broadcast
No “Great Firewall”
Space banks, corps

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Supply chains
Real-time optimization, reconfiguration

21. TradeNet (credit: Mike Hearn)

22. Twitter: @jgarzik
Email:
JGarzik@DSS.co
JGarzik@BitPay.com
FINI