A brief and basic presentation on what is a blockchain. I presented this topic on 8 September 2018 to a group that was mostly new to blockchain.

1. What is a blockchain?
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Presented by Kevin Koo on 8 Sept 2018
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Venue: Pusat Bandar Puchong, Selangor
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Source: cover of Fortune
magazine, 1 Sept 2017
edition

2. About me
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From Kuala Lumpur
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Lawyer, blockchain
enthusiast
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Co-founder, Lex Futurus LLC
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Partner, Koo Chin Nam & Co.

3. In case you get lost
A Blockchain is:
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Distributed ledger (record of transactions)
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Simultaneously recorded by all network nodes using
P2P technology
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Records are timestamped and add-only (no deletion)
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Transactions are verified using a consensus
mechanism such as Proof Of Work
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Records are secured against tampering using hash

4. Note
This presentation includes graphics found on the
Internet.
The copyright for the images belong to their respective
creators. The images were used solely for purpose of
providing education content to the attendees of a talk.
This presentation was made on 8 September 2018.

5. A short history lesson
Because blockchain started with Bitcoin!

6. It began with a crisis...
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Financial meltdown in the USA due to subprime crisis

9. Breakdown of trust
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People did not trust the banking system.
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People demanded an alternative system.
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People were disappointed that the banks betrayed
their trust.
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There was a backlash against the centralization of the
banking system.
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There was anger against the bank’s power to create
money out of thin air.

10. Money from thin air?
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Banks maintain only a small percentage of their
clients’ deposits made in their accounts.
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The rest of their clients’ deposits can be loaned out
according to the capital adequacy ratio (CAR), for the
banks to earn interest from loans
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If everybody went to the bank to withdraw their
money simultaneously, the bank could not pay all of
its clients.
●

11. The Bitcoin white paper
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Written by anonymous researcher, Satoshi Nakamoto

12. Bitcoin proposal by Satoshi
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Digital currency, as a way to make payments over the
Internet anonymously.
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Was not subject to any financial institution, banks,
intermediaries, governments, etc
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Anti-inflationary: Fixed number of bitcoins
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Based on a network of independent computers, thus not
requiring trust.
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Consensus: Based on a peer-to-peer network, where
transactions must be verified on multiple computers
before being approved.

13. Blockchain started with
Bitcoin
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Bitcoin’s underlying technology is blockchain, and the
means of keeping Bitcoin transactions and records
secure.
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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have no central
authority to regulate how much is being minted. The
only failproof mechanism is the code (which regulates
the maximum number of Bitcoin) and the Blockchain
(which stores records of the transactions)
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Blockchain has many potential applications. Bitcoin
and cryptocurrencies is just one of many!

14. Blockchain basics
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The underlying technology that makes Bitcoin and
other cryptocurrencies possible

16. Explaining a block
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Transactions are verified by the nodes, and then
grouped together into blocks.
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Blocks are then “chained” together.

19. Understanding the
whitepaper
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You can read it at
https://www.bitcoin.com/bitcoin.pdf

20. ●
An understanding of Bitcoin’s technology must begin
with the rationale for a P2P network solution.

22. A P2P solution is about
keeping actors honest
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Everybody knows what everybody else knows
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Nobody can “game the system” by using information
asymmetry
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It becomes expensive to attack the network due to
the large number of nodes in the network (true in
the case of Bitcoin), therefore ensuring the integrity
of the system. (In other words, it avoids a 51%
attack)

23. ●
Hashes are used to verify previous transactions,
while adding new transactions.

24. ●
Proof of Work is a protocol that uses an arbitrary
number known as a “nonce” to fix the hashing rate
of the network. Higher rate = more difficulty.

25. Double spending
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Double spending is an attack, which involves
spending the same amount twice before the
transaction is confirmed on the blockchain.

26. ●
Someone will not be receiving their bitcoin.
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The blockchain can only confirm one of the two
transactions!

28. Timestamping transactions
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The time and date of each transaction is recorded
into the blockchain!

30. PoW prevents manipulation
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ASIC computers “mining” and consuming electricity
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Proof of Work makes it expensive for an attacker to
attack the network.

33. ●
Smart contracts

34. Smart contracts, basically
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Smart contracts were first made popular in the
Ethereum blockchain, not the Bitcoin blockchain.
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Think of all the nodes on the network, and their
computing power. Surely, rather than doing purely
Proof of Work, some of that computing power can be
used to run little programs!
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On the Ethereum network, there are two types of
accounts: Personal accounts, and smart contract
accounts.
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Smart contracts are little programs on the
blockchain.

35. Examples of use cases
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Blockchain can be used not only in cryptocurrencies
and payments. Here are some examples how
companies are using blockchain to solve our
everyday problems.

37. ●
Everledger is tracking diamonds and providing
supply chain / proof of ownership

39. ●
WePower energy trading platform

40. ●
Allowing patients to take control of their health
records using the blockchain

41. ●
Steemit is a blogging / social media / social
networking site built on the blockchain

42. ●
Neil Strauss is an author on the Steemit platform. He
has been earning good money from his articles!

43. Which cat is better?

44. Get in touch.
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http://www.kevinkoo.com
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E-mail: kevinkoosk@gmail.com / kevin@lexfuturus.io
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Telegram / Skype / Twitter: @kevinkoosk