1. Introduction for 15.S12 Blockchain and Money, Fall 2018
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as a solid, level-headed academic introduction to blockchain, often noted because Gensler later led the SEC.
What it is
The opening lecture of MIT's Blockchain and Money course taught by Gary Gensler, covering the course plan, the history of failed digital currencies, cryptography and what a blockchain is.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2021 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Recommends jazzyjackson · 2021-05 · on “Missing line in a smart contract leads to $10M hack”
Well at least take a look around and see if it's interesting to you. I've been enjoying a playlist of blockchain lectures by Gary Gensler, current chair of the SEC. Lecture 6 is smart contracts with Lawrence Lessig guest speaking. [0]/[1] I've been avoiding smart contracts since hearing about hacks like these (similar to the Multisig Parity Bug years ago, neglected to initialize, let someone else become the owner and kill the contract) - but I've been educating myself the past week and find that there are really cool things that can be done, maybe cooler a year or 15 in the future when ETH finally gets its fees under control. As a programmer, you'd probably be interested to see the ethereum
Recommends CharlieDigital · 2022-11 · on “Crypto firm BlockFi files for bankruptcy as FTX fallout spreads”
> Regulators have been slow and ineffective when it comes to crypto, which has lent itself to the crypto v SEC narrative, but all the adults in the room known there is a need for some regulation It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. Mainly because of the outsized lobbying power of the wealthy folks backing VC's backing crypto. Clamp down on crypto with regulations and many, many wealthy political contributors are going to be pissed off by stifling growth. Don't clamp down and you get the situation we're in now where everyone is losing their shirts. What about the middle ground? I think we can only now talk about it because enough wealthy people also lost big chunks of the
Cites toomuchtodo · 2021-07 · on “Central Bank Digital Currency – US Senate Testimony of Dr. Neha Narula [pdf]”
Because there's no benefit over a central system. If you trust the central bank (which a vast majority of participants in the financial system do), you don't need distributed anything. Blockchains are for trustless systems. The US financial and capital systems are built on legal and regulatory trust. Your smart contract will never override a judge or a regulatory body. The federal government need not deploy a crypto token in order to kill Tether. They will simply regulate it out of existence. It is clear this is the path we're on from Yellen's statements and the nomination of Gary Gensler to the SEC (who previously taught about cryptocurrency systems at MIT) [1]. Globally, China is cracking
Cites bogomipz · 2022-11 · on “Alameda, FTX Executives Are Said to Have Known FTX Was Using Customer Funds”
Yes and before becoming Chair at the SEC, Professor Gary Gensler taught a course at MIT called "Blockchain And Money."[1][2] Given that both SBF's parents are Professors at Stanford, this couple were very much ivory tower children. It would really be something if Gary Gensler was part of the SEC probe looking into the FTX collapse.[3] It's practically a Hollywood screenplay that almost writes itself. 1. [LINK] 2. [this video] 3. [LINK]