Li Lihui's speech on bitcoin
1、 Different definitions:
1. virtual currency:
virtual currency refers to non real currency
digital currency:digital currency is an alternative currency in the form of electronic currency. Both digital gold coin and cryptocurrency belong to digiccy
3. Cryptocurrency:
cryptocurrency is a kind of transaction medium that uses cryptography principles to ensure transaction security and control the creation of transaction units
4. Token (token):
a kind of article whose shape and size are similar to currency, but the scope of use is limited and has no currency effect, and its token is the homonym of token in English
Second, the characteristics are different:1; It can also be said that virtual currency is personalized currency. In another way, it can also be called information currency
2. Digital currency:
is an unregulated and digital currency, which is usually issued and managed by developers and accepted and used by members of specific virtual communities
Cryptocurrency:cryptocurrency is based on the decentralized consensus mechanism, which is opposite to the banking and financial system relying on the centralized regulatory system
4. Token (token):
usually needs to be exchanged for money, used in shops, playgrounds, mass transportation and other places, as a voucher to use services and exchange goods
extended data
at present, digital currency is more like an investment proct, because it lacks a strong guarantee agency to maintain its price stability, and its role as a value measure has not yet appeared, so it can not be used as a means of payment. As an investment proct, digital currency cannot develop without trading platform, operating company and investment company
digital currency is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the blockchain technology it relies on has been decentralized and can be used in other fields except digital currency, which is one of the reasons why bitcoin is popular; On the other hand, if digital currency is widely used by the public as a kind of currency, it will have a huge impact on the effectiveness of monetary policy, financial infrastructure, financial market and financial stability
1 - Decentralization: because the blockchain relies on each node to achieve system maintenance and ensure the authenticity of information transmission, it is based on distributed data storage without centralized management by a certain center, Therefore, the attack and tampering of a node will not affect the healthy operation of the whole network
2-DE Trust: the establishment of a connection between any two nodes does not need to trust each other's identity, and the data exchange between the two sides does not need the basis of mutual trust. Since all nodes in the network can act as "supervisors", there is no need to worry about fraud
3 - extensible: blockchain is an underlying open source technology, on which various kinds of extension, decentralized and distrusted applications can be realized<
4 - anonymization: the two sides of data exchange can be anonymous, and the nodes in the network can exchange data without knowing each other's identity and personal information
5 - Security and reliability: because the activities between any nodes are supervised by the whole network, and the database adopts distributed storage, for hackers, first, they can't disguise and cheat, Second, we can't control the network only by conquering a node.
Characteristics of blockchain
one of the four characteristics of blockchain: tamper proof
the most easily understood characteristic of blockchain is tamper proof
tamper proof is based on the unique account book of "block + Chain": the blocks with transactions are added to the end of the chain in time order. To modify the data in a block, you need to regenerate all blocks after it
one of the important roles of consensus mechanism is to make it almost impossible to modify a large number of blocks at high cost. Take the blockchain network (such as bitcoin and Ethereum) with workload proof as an example, only with 51% of computing power can all blocks be regenerated to tamper with data. However, the destruction of data is not in line with the self-interest of players with large computing power. This practical design enhances the reliability of data on the blockchain
generally, the transaction data in the blockchain ledger can not be "modified", it can only be "modified" through the new transactions that are approved. The process of correction will leave traces, which is why the blockchain can not be tampered with. Tampering refers to changing or misinterpreting by means of forgery
in today's common files and relational data, unless a special design is adopted, the system itself does not record modification traces. Blockchain ledger adopts a design different from that of files and databases. It draws on the design of ledger in reality, that is, to retain the traces of records. Therefore, we can not "modify" the account book without leaving traces, but can only "modify" the account book (see Figure 2)
Figure 6: bitcoin is centralized in the organization and logically centralized
when we imagine the future organization, the ideal prototype in our mind is often bitcoin organization: completely decentralized autonomous organization. But in practice, for the sake of efficiency and advancement, we will move closer to the centralized organization and finally find a suitable balance point
nowadays, in the blockchain projects that are created and issued through the smart contract of Ethereum and run in a community or ecological way, the ideal state of many projects is similar to the bitcoin organization, but the actual situation is between the completely decentralized organization and the traditional company
when we discuss the fourth feature of blockchain, which is decentralized self-organization, we are actually going out of the code world, involving human organization and collaboration. Now, various discussions and practical explorations have also revealed the significance of blockchain beyond technology: it may serve as an infrastructure to support human proction organization and collaborative change. This is another example of the complete isomorphism between blockchain and Internet. Internet is not only a technology, it has changed people's organization and collaboration
in general, Ethereum has brought blockchain into a new stage. When discussing Ethereum, if we want to summarize two key words, they are smart contract and token; If I can only say one, I will choose "Tong Zheng". I would rather look for its meaning from the history of the Internet and repeat the previous analogy: as a token of value, its role is similar to HTML. With HTML, what kind of website to build depends entirely on our imagination
a day ago, Sheng Songcheng, counselor of the people's Bank of China and executive vice president of China Europe Lujiazui Institute of international finance, also said that the future of blockchain is to serve the real economy“ If blockchain and virtual currency are combined, and blockchain is mainly focused on virtual currency, I don't think blockchain will have a future. " Sheng Songcheng said
Li Lihui, head of the blockchain research working group of China mutual Finance Association and former president of Bank of China, believes that the future development direction of blockchain is large-scale application. In his view, how to achieve large-scale application depends on four factors: efficiency, cost, reliability and safety, and system
Zhu Min, former vice president of Bank of China, central bank and IMF, and now president of National Institute of finance of Tsinghua University, said at the Boao Forum: "when talking about blockchain, we should first separate blockchain from bitcoin, which is not a concept. As a technology, blockchain is revolutionary and unlimited in the future. Blockchain technology will have great application prospects in the future, and the future is very good. "
"the combination of blockchain and virtual currency has no future"
as early as 2014, Sheng Songcheng published an article in an authoritative journal, explaining that virtual currency is not currency in essence from the origin and essence of currency
in his view, if virtual currency overflows, monetary policy can not be implemented, and monetary policy is one of the main means of macroeconomic regulation and control in the world
according to him, when virtual currency first came out, the attitude of central banks was not unified“ But up to now, we have basically unified our views, at least we do not recognize it as currency, because it will hinder the implementation of the whole monetary policy. " Sheng Songcheng said< As early as November 20, 2013, Yi Gang, who was also vice president of the people's Bank of China, first talked about bitcoin at a forum. At that time, he said that from the perspective of the central bank, it was impossible to recognize the legitimacy of bitcoin in the near future. However, he also believes that bitcoin trading, as a kind of trading behavior on the Internet, ordinary people have the freedom to participate
at that time, Yi Gang's statement was interpreted as good news by some bitcoin investors. They believed that although the regulatory authorities did not recognize the legitimacy of bitcoin, they did not characterize it as illegal and would not directly interfere in the trading of bitcoin. But unexpectedly, the price of bitcoin fell to 4150 yuan the next day.