Andrei Ordine

Today is another exciting day, because I was able to build and deploy a simple smart contract on the Ethereum production chain. What is a smart contract? A contract that is signed and executed digitally, between one or several parties. For example, a Zipcar rental can be described as a smart contract, since all steps from booking to unlocking, to returning the car are automated. A traditional car rental is not a smart contract, since it requires me to sign several papers and the counter person to physically give me the key to the car. What about distributed smart contracts? They are smart contracts that can be signed and enforced via a decentralized network - so unlike the Zipcar rental, they may not require a corporation intermediary. Why are distributed smart contracts important? Because much of modern economy is, in the end, about creating, documenting, settling, and litigating contracts, in a very centralized way. Smart contracts can remove the layer of intermediaries...

A very exciting event this week: the new Ledger NanoS Wallet has arrived! For most people, this device looks like a flash memory stick but in reality it could be a very important product, when and if cryptocurrencies become mainstream. Purpose What is the Ledger NanoS wallet for? It offers several layers of protection for bitcoin/ether holders against accidental loss of access to funds, and against malicious theft of funds by a hacker.  More technically, Ledger Wallet is a device that performs Public Key Encryption internally and stores the private key securely. This is a big deal, since in the digital currency space, losing the private key means losing access to the funds forever; and disclosing the private key means opening the door to a thief to take the money. Ledger Wallet performs the private key signature operation inside the hardware. So, assuming its firmware is well written and the access protocol via the USB connection is secure, it offers a great way to...