Tuesday August 16, 2022 ▪ 4:00 pm ▪
5
min read – with
August 15 reminds us of a day of remembrance in both the religious world and the cryptographic world. In fact, it reminds us of the release of RPOW, a prototype digital currency based on Nick Szabo’s collectibles theory. To say that its initiator is none other than Hal Finney, the man who sent Satoshi Nakamoto the first bitcoins.
eCash, Hashcash… and RPOW
According to this news, bitcoin is not the first money idea proposed to decentralize finance. Because it was long before, more precisely in 2004, Hal Finney founded RPOW, an untraceable digital currency and guarantor of human freedom.
Against intrusions into internet privacy, this cryptography pioneer joined the movement of today’s digital currency developers. On his side was indeed David Chaum, the founder of DigiCash, the company behind eCash, as well as the Cypherpunks, the authors of Hashcash.
” Cryptography can enable a world where people are in control of information about them, not because the government has given them control, but because they themselves have the cryptographic keys to reveal that information. This is the world we work to create “says Finley.
Thus the prototype was born Reusable Proof of Work on August 15, 2004.
As mentioned above, the RPOW was inspired by the theory of Nick Szabo, the inventor of “Bit Gold”. Here is an excerpt from his explanation reported by Bitcoin Magazine.
” Nick’s concept is more complex than the simple RPOW system, but his idea works: in a way, the RPOW token can be considered to have the properties of a rare substance like gold. Gold coins take effort and expense to mine and mint, making them extremely rare. “, emphasized Harold Thomas Finney.
Happy 18 years RPOW! Here is the reminder of Rémi Forte, author of a documentary on Sathoshi, on this subject.
What happened to the RPOW?
” The logo is worth seeing “, how a user because of the tweet of R. Forte. For reference, the RPOW logo is inspired by the Batman comics style. His enlarged short circuit is specifically highlighted with “POW”.
As for his future, it should be noted that Finney encouraged the tests. He even created a server called RPOW to facilitate transactions on tokens of the name. To this he added a secure hardware component called the IBM 4758, a private key embedded by IBM. She is a guarantor of reliable computing “.
Unfortunately, this Bit Gold replica had its limitations. Among other things, its strong dependence on a central server or its exposure to volatility (like bitcoin for that matter), etc. You can find details here.
What was in favor of the appearance of bitcoin, the solution to all problems, according to Hal Finney.
” Bitcoin seems like a very promising idea. I like the idea of basing security on the assumption that the CPU power of the honest participants is more important than the power of the attacker. […] I also believe that there is potential value in the form of an untainted token whose production rate is predictable and cannot be influenced by corrupt parties. “, he admits.
Currently, there is a lack of data regarding the Reusable Proof of Work. But we know that Hal Finney’s failures allowed Satoshi Nakamoto to make amends with the queen of cryptocurrencies, BTC. So, if its anonymous inventor decided to send him the first 10 coins from block 70 on January 12, 2009, he certainly showed his gratitude to the designer of the RPOW.
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Mikaia ANDRIAMAHAZOARIMANANA
The blockchain and crypto revolution is underway! And the day the effects are felt on the most fragile economy in this world, against all hope, I will say that I was involved.
