About

A Quick Guide To The Next Internet

Webonanza publishes “news you can use” (practical stuff), guides and overviews, handy DIY tips, links to useful tools, unbiased reviews, listicles and opinions at the intersection of media, technology and economics. Simple logic and real-world examples are preferred before technical jargon.

The ideas published in Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 white paper are becoming the foundation for a whole new kind of Internet (read it, it’s short!). Expect “the blockchain” (of Bitcoin) to take center stage. But the Internet has surprised us time and again with permissionless technologies disrupting incumbents.

Webonanza is written and produced by Nanok Bie.

Get in touch via email or twitter.

On grammar, syntax and abbreviations;

I use a capital “B” when referring to the “Bitcoin network”, but a lower-case “b” when referring to “a bitcoin” (the currency).

I use “the blockchain” when referring to the blockchain of Bitcoin (even thou Satoshi himself called it “block chain”), but I use “blockchains” with a lower-case “b” when talking about the altcoins, the Bitcoin copies (or what some people call “the technology behind Bitcoin”). The expression itself originated in Satoshi’s code. In the original Bitcoin client (later named Bitcoin Core) there is a class called “block chain”.

BTC = “bitcoins” (the units of account).

XBT = the currency, mostly used when displaying an exchange rate.

IP = “Intellectual Property”

ID = “Identification”

Dapp = “Decentralized App”

DAO = Decentralized Autonomous Organisation

Denominations;

There are one million “bits” in a bitcoin, but only one thousand “millibits” (mbits). Each bit can also be divided into 100 “satoshis” (which currently is the smallest denomination in the Bitcoin network). There are 100 million satoshis in one bitcoin. More on units here.

Inflation (controlled supply);

There can never be more than 21 million bitcoins, and all of them will have been mined around the year 2140. In practice there will be less as some are lost or burned. Currently approx. 1800 bitcoins are “minted” (mined using energy) every 24 hours. That amount is halved approx. every four years (more on inflation here).

Ps – So what is Bitcoin? Check this video for a quick overview. But first, do you know what “money” is?