Part 7 - Cashless Bharat - A Start up entrepreneurial Competition

Part 7 - Cashless Bharat - A Start up entrepreneurial Competition

National competition

Selected teams come to Canada for final competition and prizes

Part 6 - Blockchain Projects

Part 6 - Blockchain Projects

Part 5 - Blockchain Hackathon

Part 5 - Blockchain Hackathon

Hackathon is a method of building some quick prototypes for Proof of Concept.

Reference - Web Links

Unocoin - Bitcoin Exchange of India
https://www.unocoin.com/

Lynda.com - A course on Bitcoin
https://www.lynda.com/Business-Finance-tutorials/Welcome/167065/179442-4.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=l1-US-Search-Biz-Bitcoin&cid=l1-us%3aen%3aps%3alp%3aprosc%3as29%3a29%3aall%3agoogle%3axct-intro_to_bitcoin&utm_content=75542576946&utm_term=intro+to+bitcoin&src=go-pa&veh=skwd-120688401186_pcrid_75542576946_pkw_intro+to+bitcoin_pmt_e_pdv_c_ext__plc__trg__agid_19600363026_cmid_212491266_adp_1t1_net_g

• Understand the bitcoin virtual currency and how it compares to other forms of money; learn how to send, receive, and "mine" it; and discover how to protect and track your bitcoin transactions.
• Available with annual membership of $19.99

Exodus - Multi Asset Wallet

https://www.exodus.io/

Shapeshift - Trade between any blockhain asset

https://shapeshift.io/#/coins

Bitsquare - Decentralized Bitcoin Exchange

https://bitsquare.io/

Bank to The Future - Online Investment Platform for future FinTech ventures

https://bnktothefuture.com/

Monero - Alternate Crypto currency

https://getmonero.org/home

Etherium Project - Blockchain Application Platform

https://www.ethereum.org/

Reddit - Technology discussion forum

https://www.reddit.com

RegHackTO - Regulatory Hackathon
http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/en/reghackto.htm

Unocoin API
http://unocoin.com/apidoc#getting-started

Part II - History of Money and its significance to the rise of Bitcoin

This is Part 2 of the blog post. Please first read Part 1. We will continue our discussion on the problems encountered with financial systems historically.

Examples from history of inflation and recession

• Financial crisis leading to collapse of Roman empire: The first historic account of Govt. bailout is recorded in 33 ACE. Tiebrius was a very frugal emperor and levied fewer taxes. But in a very short span rebellions broke out, the land was hit by drought, some provinces came under attack, ships with treasures sunk and banks asked debtors to return the money and debtors were already bankrupt so their assets were seized. This lead to a big financial crisis and the Emperor had to bail out banks from his own treasure. It his beautifully explained in this article.
• Paper currency in China: The first known paper notes were used in China. The concept was simple. Coins were already being used but its value was very less and to buy items on a big scale a huge amount of coins were needed. Hence traders used to deposit coins at Govt. kiosks in exchange of currency notes. With these currency notes, the traders could then buy goods from all over the kingdom. Even the sailors from South Asia and Europe had to deposit all goods first with the Emperor’s trusted ministers and they would be given notes of value as deemed appropriate by them. The sailors could then buy items from local traders. . But then existing paper notes in circulation were not reused and were made from a non-durable material (tree bark) which was affected by weather. Hence constant printing of money led to severe inflation
• Bank of Amsterdam: All territories under King of Amsterdam had a different coinage system. Amsterdam was one of the most prosperous Port in Europe. The Bank accepted all types of coinage, gold, silver and even debased coins. The bank acted purely as a depository initially. It used to issue a ‘Bank money’ as credit in an account. This incorporated many modern banking concepts like trustworthy state guarantor, legal regulation and fractional reserve banking (which we will discuss later in this blog post). This fractional reserve banking led to the collapse of the bank and financial crisis in the country.

In earlier days the printed currency used to be backed by gold

Gold Standard in USA

Since American independence till early 1900, its constitution gave Congress exclusive rights to print money which was backed by Gold reserves however central Federal reserve system was not in place. From there till Great Depression (1929) value of the dollar was fixed by Govt. in terms of gold. US Govt. passed controversial laws like forcing citizens to sell gold to Govt for fixed price but better cash benefits to foreign Govt for their gold. After World War 2, Europe had a financial crisis but it did not affect the USA and its dollar soon became the most important reserve currency in the world. Govt started printing currency notes which were not backed by any metal reserve and countries globally were debasing their coins (reducing the amount of gold and silver in coins). So now total currency notes with foreign Govt was more than currency notes in USA Govt reserve. Foreign Govt. started demanding gold back from US Govt. in return of US Dollars at the same rate which was offered to them. This system was abolished in 1971 and since that time the global market forces decide the value of gold and each currency.

Hyperinflation in 20th century

• Germany, 1923: German had to meet huge obligations because of loss after World War 1. The solution of the Govt was to print a tremendous amount of currency notes which devalued it and hence more needed to be printed. This lead to a vicious spiral and to buy weekly grocery one needed horse cart full of money.
• Hungary, 1945: This is the worst case of inflation and similar circumstance like Germany, albeit it was after World War 2. The prices doubled every 15 hours and its peak inflation was 1.3 X 10 ^16 per month.

Recently Zimbabwe also faced similar hyperinflation. Some critics of the introduction of 2000 Rs note in India are also worried that it may lead to hyperinflation. 

Dangerous side of corrupt Govt and banks - too much of greed

Few drawbacks of current financial System and a desperate need for an alternative

• Fractional Reserve Banking: We mentioned this term in above section. Banks keep a fraction of what we have deposited and lends out the remaining amount. Eg: When a customer deposits 100 ₹ in the bank then the obligation to the bank is just to keep a fraction of it (say 10% which is decided by central / federal bank) and lend out remaining. Smaller the value then more liquid cash in market which leads to more lending and can lead to financial crisis. Hence heavy regulation is in place for this
• 100% Fiat money in circulation: Till World War II the currency notes in circulation of a Govt. were backed either fully or partially by precious metal reserves like Gold. Hence if there is shortage then it can be compensated by selling the gold in its reserves. But today USD is a 100% fiat currency ( money which is irredeemable for commodity and only redeemable for fiat money)
• Government controlled (Centralized): All it takes a crazy democratically elected (or even otherwise) person to be in charge of the Govt. Zimbabwe is facing currently a situation of hyperinflation. For multiple reasons about 2 decades back, Ecuador adopted USD as its currency and initial years were very tough for poor and lower middle class. Decision on currency is taken by a few individuals and our entire life depends on them. The recent demonitization drive in India is an excellent example. The Prime Minister declared 85% of currency notes in India as invalid. Only time will tell if that was the greatest economic move or the worst disaster. 
• Tracking of money: USA owes trillions of dollars to other nations and other nations owe similar amounts to USA. Almost each western country is facing financial challenges and even each major city is in debt. There is absolutely no track of the entire global debt economy. Moreover every individual 1 $ currency note that is printed exchanges thousands of hands in its life time and there is no tracking of each individually minted currency.
• Counterfeit able: Have you seen Hollywood movie ‘Catch me if you can’?. Con artist have existed since the birth of civilizations. Fake currency in circulation is one the biggest challenges of every Govt. With all security practices in places still people manage to duplicate it.

I hope by now you are completely convinced that the modern financial system is based on 2000 years of history and is far from perfect.

Each financial system has failed for various reasons

In my next article I will try to deconstruct the enigma behind Bitcoin but ­first it is imperative to understand a brief history of Bitcoin (Both articles to be published soon) 

Part 3A - Content - Dash School

Dash School

This is a series of You Tube videos to explain blockchain concept for a novice and prospective users of Dash, a Digital Cash currency. Dash is one of the several Alternate Crypto Currencies in the market. You have learned already about Bitcoin, the leading crypto currency of the world, but now you can learn about one of the alternatives and there are several more which you can continue learning on your own.

What Is a Blockchain? | DASH School #1

Amanda B. Johnson introduce you to the concept of Blockchain without using technical jargon or buzzwords in episode one of Dash School. https://youtu.be/e7UwwcCKj4Y?list=PLiFMZOlhgsYKKOUOVjQjESCXfR1cCYCod

How Does a Blockchain Work? | DASH School #2

How does blockchain do what we say it does? Who gets to "write" to it, when, and why? How is a blockchain different from a good ol' fashioned database? Amanda B. Johnson takes you there in episode two of Dash School. https://youtu.be/eS39N-mHrOs

How Can a Blockchain Be a Monetary System? | DASH School #3

what does Blockchain have to do with money? What is this business about blockchain networks being able to natively offer both currency and payments? https://youtu.be/DyywtVNlfFs

How is Dash's Blockchain Funded & Governed? | DASH School #4

learn the various ways that Dash's is organized -- why and how we function as a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) to serve up monetary services to customers.https://youtu.be/jHsVU1LBuAY

How Does Dash Offer Instant & Private Payments? | DASH School #5

Dash's blockchain is the only one which offers both instant and private payments? True story. Learn how our unique "masternodes" make this possible in episode five of Dash School https://youtu.be/hm7IYkgIOXc

How Can Digital Cash Become Accessible to All? | DASH School #6

you want to know how we plan on making this stuff usable to the average consumer. "Evolution": the product we predict will put digital cash into the hands of the average person for the first time. https://youtu.be/vFwXeFk6VO8
Dash Evolution Preview https://youtu.be/7J4m04Tkfb4

Reference Materials

https://www.reddit.com/r/dashpay/

Part 4 - Blockchain Applications - Course Module Structure

Part 4 - Blockchain Applications - Course Structure

Structure of Course Module of Part 4 - Blockchain Applications Overview

Course Name:      Blockchain Applications 

Course Blog:         http://eecbitcoin.blogspot.ca/

Prerequisite:        Part 1,2 and 3

Teaching Scheme: Team based learning, Team assignments to brainstorm possible solutions

Examination Schemes: Team submission

Description:

The team assignments will help understand the basics of Blockchain Applications.

Course Objective:

• To learn basics of Blockchain Applications

 Course Outcome: Students

• Will be able to explain
• Will be able to contribute in development and Design of Blockchain ecosystem

Course Contents:

• Base Frameworks of Blockchain Technonology Stack
• Etherium
• Multichain
• Openchain
• Business Use Cases
• Axoni
• Chain
• Clearmatics
• Digital Asset Holdings
• itBit
• R3

Text Books and References:

• The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice, and Application of the Next Internet Technology by William Mougayar  (Author), Vitalik Buterin (Foreword)

Part 3 - Blockchain Technology Overview - Course module structure

Part 3 - Blockchain Technology Overview - Course Structure

Structure of Course Module of Part 3A - Blockchain Technology Overview

Course Name:      Blockchain Technology Overview

Course Blog:         http://eecbitcoin.blogspot.ca/

Prerequisite:        Part 1 and 2

Teaching Scheme: Theory: 03Hrs/ Day  Total 12 hours

Examination Schemes: Audit (P/F) Written and MCQ

Description:

The course will introduce the basics of Blockchain Technology.

Course Objective:

• To learn basics of Blockchain Technology

 Course Outcome: Students

• Will be able to explain
• Will be able to contribute in development and Design of Blockchain ecosystem

Course Contents:

• What is Blockchain
• How Blockchain Trust Infiltrates
• Obstacles, Challenges and Mental Blocks
• Blockchain in Financial Services
• Lighthouse Industries & New Intermediaries
• Implementing Blockchain Technology
• Decentralization as the way forward

Text Books and References:

• The Business Blockchain by William Mougayar
• Blockchain Revolution by Don Tapscott

Part 2 - Bitcoin Lab - Course module structure

Structure of Course Module of Part 2 - Bitcoin Lab Practicals :

Course Name:      Bitcoin Lab Practicals

Course Blog:         http://eecbitcoin.blogspot.ca/

Prerequisite:        Completion of Part 1 - Bicoin Introduction

Teaching Scheme:  Computer Laboratory 03hrs/ twice weekly, total 12 hours in 2 weeks

Examination Schemes:  Lab Assignments submissions

Description:  Students will perform prescribed lab exercises to get hands-on practice of tools and technologies used for Bitcoin transactions.

Course Objective:

• To learn installation, testing and operations of hardware, software and services.
• To perform Bitcoin transactions

 Course Outcome: Students

• Will be able to execute Bitcoin transactions
• Will be able to contribute in development and support of Bitcoin ecosystem, infrastructure and applications.

Course Contents:

• Wallet
• Mine
• Management tools
• Unocoin API (unocoin.com/apidoc)

Text Books and References:

• 
  
• 
  

Part I - Content - History of Money and its significance to the rise of Bitcoin

Roman empire was one of the first ancient civilizations to use coins

What is Money and How it is different than Currency?

On Nov 8 2016, the Prime Minister of India announced that 500 and 1000 Rs currency notes will not be a 'Legal Tender' or in simple words won't be considered as valid 'Money'. Till that point a billion people had taken these economic terms as granted. Frantically everyone started researching on it, experts showered their knowledge and it was chaotic in initial days. 

To understand Bitcoin, it is imperative to know the meaning of some very simple economic terms.

It is important to understand what exactly we mean by the word ‘Money’ and how it is different to ‘Currency’

If you actually think about it then you will realize that ‘Money’ is imaginary, unreal and intangible . Currency is a representation of money in a particular geographic region. Currency is printed but money is created. While money stores the intrinsic value within itself, currency possesses buying power bestowed upon it by the government.

Money is an intermediary between product and services that people want to trade

The 3 main functions of currency are -

• Medium of Exchange: Currency satisfies the parameters of being durable, transportable, divisible, low level of counterfeitness and fungible.
• Unit of Account: Measurement of goods, services etc and has a stable value over longer periods of time (like 50–100 years).
• Store of Value: Other than money even gold, silver etc are good stores of value

USA Currency Note clearly states that `Note is Legal Tender for all Debts, public and private`

What is a Legal tender

A US $ Bill states that “This Note is legal tender for all debts, public and private”. But what does ‘Legal tender’ actually mean? The concept of legal tender is often misunderstood. Contrary to popular opinion, legal tender is not a means of payment that must be accepted by the parties to a transaction, but rather a legally defined means of payment that should not be refused by a creditor in satisfaction of a debt.

• Bank of England is the only bank authorized to issue banknotes in England and Wales and its notes are legal tender in both.
• In Scotland and Northern Ireland, 7 banks can issue notes but they are not legal tender anywhere the UK, not even in Scotland and Northern Ireland. They are just legal currency and may or may not be accepted by a merchant. Legal tender in Scotland is limited to coin.

We will now try to understand different forms of money used since ancient times and why each, including modern money, failed and hence the need and rise of digital currencies like Bitcoin

Before visiting 'History of Money' let us first catch glimpse of How the future of money will be like in this 30 second video.

This is an excerpt from an interview of Mr. Anil Bokil whose organisation is the brainchild behind demonitization. I apologize as it is in Marathi, so some of you might not understand. In this video Mr. Bokil clearly says that future of India (or probaly the world) is 'Single Currency'. He later on says that future is 'Digital Money' and not 'Currency'. This is different than online and mobile banking. This is probably the first direct reference to a crypto currency like Bitcoin by a prominent Indian economist.

Before we learn the future, it is important to understand each Financial System in History and why it failed and hence the need for an alternative.   

Barter system and why it failed

All ancient civilizations had barter system before the invention of coinage. It failed for 2 primary reasons.

• With trade expanding across geographies value of 1 product varied on a huge scale in different regions Eg: Early tribes in India relied on pig meat as one of the forms of exchange which worked fine within their area but tribes in neighboring regions didn’t consume meat.
• The Double Coincidence of Wants problem: Eg: Rani is mango trader and sells them in the summer season and Rupali is an orange trader who sells them in the winter season. If Rani and Rupali want to trade mango for orange, then they can do only when fruits are both available at the same time and place and both are willing to carry forward the trade with the mutually agreed exchange rate (Eg: 20 mangoes for 10 oranges). That may be a very brief time, or it may be never.

Interestingly even today countries sign trade deals which are somewhat like Barter system.

In 2007, U.S. & Indian Govt had agreed that Harley-Davidson motorcycles will be allowed access to the Indian market in exchange for the export of Indian mangoes :) ( Source : Wiki)

Cowrie shells were used as money by some ancient civilizations

Primitive forms of money and why they failed

Some examples of primitive money are

• Whale teeth
• Cattle
• Beads
• Grain
• Tobacco
• Cowry shells

They could not satisfy either some or all of the function of a good medium of exchange as mentioned in above section.

There is another form of primitive money which was practiced on Yap islands in Pacific ocean but we will cover this in later sections (‘What is Bitcoin’ ) as it bears a striking resemblance to the concept of Bitcoins or digital currency in general.

Problems with Early coins

I met people from different ethnicities in my travels around the world and each took extreme pride in claiming that theirs was one of the first civilization to use coins :). Greeks, Chinese, Romans — all of them used coins. As Indians we should say it out loud and with pride that — “The English word cash is derived from the Tamil / Malayalam (two South Indian Dravidian Languages) word ‘kasa’ meaning money.” 😊 (Source: Wiki )

Typical problems were -

• Gresham’s Law of “bad money drives out good.” Earlier coins were from precious metals like gold and silver. But soon people realized that the collective value of melting a large amount of coins was much higher than the total face value of all coins used in melting. This lead to flooding of market with fake coins from cheap metals
• Malpractices like and counterfeiting was easy
• Value of metals used for the coins changes over time

We will continue this discussion in Part 2

Part 1 - Bitcoin Introduction - Course Structure

Structure of Course Module of Part 1 - Bitcoin Introduction :

Course Name:      Bitcoin Introduction

Course Blog:         http://eecbitcoin.blogspot.ca/

Prerequisite:        Completion of SE or equivalent

Teaching Scheme: Theory: 03Hrs/ Day   

Examination Schemes: Audit (P/F) Written and MCQ

Description:

The course will introduce the basics of Crypto-currencies and specifically the Bitcoin protocol which is being widely practiced in Industry. 

Course Objective:

• To learn basics of Crypto-currencies technologies such as open source software, hardware, databases, networking, security
• To get knowledge of Tools & Techniques used in Bitcoin ecosystem to execute various transactions and manage performance.
• To understand Business applications of Bitcoin.

 Course Outcome: Students

• Will be able to execute Bitcoin transactions
• Will be able to contribute in development and support of Bitcoin ecosystem, infrastructure and applications.

Course Contents:

• What is Bitcoin
• History of Bitcoin

Text Books and References:

• Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopoulis
• Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto

Background and Course Modules

Background:

Entrepreneurship Educators Collaborative (EEC) is effort of a group of trainers dedicated to help Indian Engineering Colleges integrate Entrepreneurship related education in their undergrad degree programs. Proposed framework and the required course modules can be accessed at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-cGSz8Wq7OcX1NycFlhQWZwOFE/view?usp=sharing

Several technologies are growing at exponential rates which are creating business disruptions and hence huge entrepreneurial opportunities. Blockchain has already reached the peak of Gartner Hype cycle. In the following 5 to 10 years period, several business disruptions will occur because of the adoption of Blockchain technologies in related business scenarios.
Bitcoin - a cryptocurrency. is one of the leading application of blockchain technology that has already started showing tremendous potential for transformation in near future.

Blockchain Technology Course Modules

Learning and building skills in blockchain technology can be structured as follows in Engineering colleges:

• Part 1 - Bitcoin Introduction  About 12 hours contact content, 1 week in Classroom sessions. ...... Week 1       
• Part 2 - Bitcoin transactions practicals in Computer Lab with access to cloud infrastructure ....... Week 2 and 3
• Part 3 - Blockchain Technology  About 12 hours contact content, 1 week in Classroom sessions. ....... Week 4
• Part 4 - Explore Blockchain Applications Team Assignments  .......  Week 5 and 6  
• Part 5 - Hackathon    ...... Week 7
• Part 6 - Student Projects            ......Week 8 and 9:   ... 
• Part 7 - Competition and Evaluation of student performance   ....... Week 10

The course modules are designed such that the college can plan to offer to include the course work of as little as 12 hours to as much as 60 hours, depending upon the availability in the program structure. 

Part 1 and 2, help students understand high level concepts of block chain technology and one specific blockchain application, Bitcoins - a crypto currency, which has already matured, growing exponentially and evolved into a fully operational ecosystem.

Part 3 will help students understand blockchain technology well beyond the Bitcoin space. Several tools and technologies available for wide range of applications will be covered.

Part 4 is intended for team based learning and get exposure to some real life practical problems in the world.

Part 5 is Hackathon, where students will brain storm several entrepreneurial ideas and build some quick solution prototypes.

Part 6 is Team based learning by performing a startup project based on blockchain technology,

Part 7 is to evaluate the student learning and project performance 

A tentative adoption in an engineering college can have following scenarios:

Part 1 and 2, together may be offered as Audit course of about 20 contact hours in the 3rd year of Engineering degree program.

Parts 1,2,3 and 4 together may be offered as One semester Credit course of about 40 contact hours.

Parts 5,6 and 7 can be offered either as activities of the Entrepreneurship Cell/ Club/  Incubation Center  or the students may undertake a Capstone project in final year based on this format.