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Annotated Bibliography – Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies

Hamza Ali

Dr. Potts

ENG 102

11/28/20

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Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies

I chose this topic because blockchain & cryptocurrencies is a subject of a great interest to me. Very little is known about the capability of blockchain technology. Most people are familiar about cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin but hardly know anything about blockchain. Blockchain will disrupt the way we all live.

Because I’m a marketing major, and I like to keep up with new technologies, I can see the potential of Blockchain and cryptocurrencies. I also like to invest and already have invested in a couple cryptocurrencies. There are more than a hundred cryptocurrencies with similar and/or different features. Bitcoin was just the beginning.

Other applications are being built upon blockchain that will revolutionize not only our financial system but also integrates most industries. Retailing is one industry that will be disrupted by blockchain. The supply chain management process will be less expensive and takes less time as result. The music industry is another example that will also be disrupted by blockchain. Artist can sell their content directly to consumers. There are no intermediates like the record labeling companies. Special platforms are being developed to enable artists to connect with the consumers directly and make more money as result.

One of the things that I’ve struggled with is keeping up with all the new changes that happen to Blockchain and cryptocurrencies. As I was researching this topic, Bitcoin’ value kept going up from $4000 before I even started this project to $9600 as I’m writing these words. It’s almost impossible to keep track of all these changes. Some have called it a bubble while many have described it as a way to restore value; just like gold, there is a limited amount of Bitcoins. Both experts and critics agree on the fact that cryptocurrencies is a huge deal. For some it’s a failure and to others is a success. Government can’t regulate it or interfere with it, and criminals on the other hand use it as a way to transfer their illegal and trackable money. Although these acts are not common, they still exist.

Some countries have find a way to regulate, monetary, and integrate cryptocurrencies in their economy and embrace other blockchain applications as well. Japan is currently responsible for 50% of Bitcoin trade. Germany has regulated cryptocurrencies too. Many shops now accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and LightCoin. These are considered the most traded cryptocurrencies because of their market cap.

Another thing is the repetitious information in most of the sources I found. Some sources don’t even predict or claim things about the technology. They remain informative. In fact, most of the sources I researched had some type of disclaimer warranty. Some were clearly obvious that they take no responsibility with respect to the accuracy as things keep evolving, and when it comes to investing, they don’t give any legal opinion.

Most of the controversy I found were not about Blockchain, they were all about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Almost everyone agrees about the great potential of Blockchain, even critics such as James Rickards and Jamie Dimon don’t deny the fact that Blockchain is revolutionary.

A Beginner’s Guide to Blockchain Technology. CoinDesk,

www.coindesk.com/information/

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CoinDesk is a company founded in May 2013 after two years of Bitcoin’s invention. The company specializes in researching, analyzing and most importantly educating and informing global communities about Blockchain technology. According to CoinDesk, they employ the “largest group of independent journalists dedicated to covering the blockchain ecosystem” (CoinDesk, 2017).

The information in this website is always updated, and it’s intended to wide variety of audience. Basically, there is literally everything to know about Blockchain and Bitcoin in this cite. The information is also relevant to my topic in many aspect and contains more information than other sources. Unfortunately, there seems to be no affiliations or sponsors to the website despite its work in this field. No doubt, all of the information in this CoinDesk is accurate, reliable and very informative. There is no propaganda or any intention that don’t serve the purpose.

Blockchain & Beyond. 1.0 version, Cellabz, 2015.

It’s not entirely clear what Cellabz is, however, the firm have published a pretty interesting and definitely helpful book that relates directly to my topic. According to their website “we build innovation labs, combining blockchain and emerging technologies. We design & deploy projects with high-impact potential, constantly working on the ground to learn from the best and expend our ecosystem. We work with high-level talents from universities, startups, makerspaces and companies around the world”.

Although their paper was published in November 2015 before the most incredible recent news with Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies like (Bitcoin & Ethereum), the paper still answers many of the technical questions I’ve proposed, and it also provides many interesting and potential side of Blockchain and what other applications can be developed beside the financial ones. There are very interesting and great information in this book with amazing visual explanation.

The information in this academic paper was very relevant to my topic. Almost all of the information relates to my topic and was intended to audience just like me. I would be most certainly comfortable to use this pare as a source in my research paper.

unfortunately, it’s very difficult to gather information on the author, publication or any affiliations with Cellabz. This lack of information doesn’t prove the paper authority.

However, most of the information is accurate can be easily identified. Most of the information is supported by evidence. There are few spelling mistakes such as the one I left out in the previous quote, I believe he meant (expand).

The purpose of the paper is clear and obvious. The team working on it wanted to make sense of this emerging technology. Most the information are facts and very similar to what most sources say. There are no political or any radical view in this paper. The paper is completely based on factual information.

Buck, Jon. “Bitcoin Price Hits $10,000.” The Cointelegraph, Cointelegraph,

28 Nov. 2017, 2:40, cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-price-hits-10000.

Jon Jacob is an International Sales Consultant for Questa Labs in India. He’s been fascinated by Bitcoin and Blockchain technology since he first heard about it in 2012. Born in the US, he’s became interested in new technology, culture, and palak paneer, which makes him qualified to talk on the matter. His article was published on November 22, 2017. This is a very timely article. The article is also relevant, and it relates to my topic because it features most of the major changes that occurred in the past year. The author said that by now, a future of some regulated laws are inevitable. It’s accurate and supported by many evidence, charts, and recent news. The information simply exists because to inform.

Cheng, Evelyn. “Bitcoin could ‘easily’ reach $40,000 by the end of 2018, hedge

fund legend Novogratz says.” CNBC, CNBC, 27 Nov. 2017,

www.cnbc.com/2017/11/27/bitcoin-could-easily-reach-40000-by-the-end-of-2018-novogratz.html

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This article is very recent. It was published in November 27, 2017, which makes the information quite timely. Evelyn Cheng has a bachelor degree in journalism. She currently works as a staff writer at CNBC.com covering the U.S and Chinese daily market activities. She held internships with several news outlets including The New York Times Shanghai Bureau and Metro New York. She seem knowledgeable about business topics. All of her contact information are easy to access. According to the article, “What’s different about these coins than other commodities … there is no supply response here,” Novogratz said. “So it’s a speculator’s dream in that as buying happens there’s no new supply response that comes up (Cheng, 2017). This is pretty relevant and relates straight to my question. Novogratz consider cryptos as a special commodities. Unlike regular commodities, they are different because some of these cryptocurrencies’ supply is limited, and that will drive the value and price of these coins to go up. Also, this article was meant to inform and encourage people to reconsider their position with regards to cryptocurrencies. Its purpose was not to make claims but rather provides factual information supported with recent evidence. Billionaire Michael Novogratz has been getting quite attention recently. The accuracy of his predictions and correctness of his information has been proven multiple times to be true. At first, he predicted that bitcoin will hit $10000 by the end of this year and it he was right. But now, he’s saying that it will go to $40,000 by the end of 2018 in this article.

Crosby, Michael, et al. BlockChain Technology Beyond Bitcoin. Sutardja Center

for Entrepreneurship & Technology Technical Report, 16 Oct. 2015.

BlockChain Technology: Beyond Bitcoin perhaps is the most useful paper with regard the team and rich information in the paper. The paper aims to describe blockchain technology and some compelling specific applications in the financial and non­financial sector. The paper was published in October 2015. Many authors or experts have contributed from many giant companies in this research. The paper is published by Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology Technical Report; led by professor Ikhlaq Sidhu at UC Berkeley. As far as the authority of the paper, I really think it authentic.

The information is exactly relevant to my topic. There are answers to my questions and even more. They are very accurate and informative, and there seem to be no propaganda, opinions, or any errors in this research paper. I would really be comfortable to use this paper as a source in my research.

Cheng, Evelyn. “Jamie Dimon is betting big on the technology behind ‘fraud’

bitcoin.” CNBC, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2017,

www.cnbc.com/2017/10/16/jpmorgans-dimon-betting-on-blockchain-even-as-he-calls-bitcoin-stupid.html

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This interview was aired on October 16, 2017. CNBC was conducting an interview with JPMorgan CEO, Jamie Dimon, and he called Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies to be a fraud while he admitted the great potential of Blockchain technology and how it can change businesses.

Although this source is relevant to my topic, it was not quite appropriate, but I chose to go with it because it sparked a huge controversy that still goes on. In fact, just in these couple months, Bitcoin value has gone to over $8000 per 1 BitCoin.

With regards to the accuracy of the information said in this interview, the information from CEO Jamie Dimon came from his honest opinion, but was hardly supported by evidence. He seemed to not know a lot when it comes to the technology as whole or didn’t really want to believe in it. His purpose didn’t seem as propaganda and he was clear that he care less about this emerging cryptocurrency.

Don Tapscott. TED. “How the blockchain is changing money and business | Don

Tapscott” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 16 Sep 2016. Web. 27 Nov 2017.

Published on September 16, 2016, this TED talk is not considered as very timely, but that does not matter much because the purpose of the talk is to inform a wide range of audience about the history of the technology and how it operates. The talk is purely informative. It’s perhaps the best source when it comes to simplifying and make understand and grasp the whole potential of blockchain. It’s very accurate and supported by multiple evidences and illustrations.
Don Tapscott is a business executive, author, and consultant and speaker. Tapscott specializes in business strategy, organizational transformation and the role of technology in business and society, which makes him the best and most qualified to answer the technical part of my question about blockchain and how it can intergrades to the society. This man is a cyclopedia about the subject.
This TED talk video answers all of my questions and explain very clearly the decentralization aspect of blockchain. All the visuals supported in the videos makes it entertain. All in all, this source have satisfied all of my TRAAP criteria.

Damodaran, Aswath. “The Bitcoin Boom: Asset, Currency, Commodity or

Collectible?” Blogger, Aswath Damodaran, 24 Oct. 2017, aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-bitcoin-boom-asset-currency.html.

This article was published in a private blog on October 24, 2017 by Aswath Damodaran. He is a Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at NYU. There are no sponsors or any affiliations mentioned anywhere. His article does not entirely relate to my topic, but it shows if whether bitcoin is a currency or a commodity based on the definition of each and how each one operates in the real world. In Damodaran opinion, bitcoin is entirely something different. The information exists to show the author’s opinion on cryptocurrencies, bitcoin in particular and to report some facts as well. It’s hard to tell if this article is accurate or not because the authors gives three possible scenarios of what bitcoin might be as the events unfold. He even said that he would be lying if he said he knew which scenario will unfold. However, the information is still important and relevant to my topic because it gives realistic views of what bitcoin might be and that answers a portion of my research question.

Gupta, Manav. Blockchain for Dummies. IBM Limited Edition ed., Wiley & Sons

Canada, Limited, John, 2017.

Blockchain for Dummies is quite useful source. It was published in 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The company markets its products to professionals, consumers, instructors, researchers, and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly fields. The company is known for publishing For Dummies series. The author of Blockchain for Dummies published by IBM, Manav Gupta, works as IBM Distinguished Engineer, CTO, Cloud in Canada IBM. These affiliations give the book more authority. There are a variety of other sources but this one seemed more relevant because it intended for the majority of the people who have no idea about Blockchain. This book explains it very clearly with visual pictures too.

As far as the accuracy and purpose of this book, the tone is not biased, emotional or opinion. The information is supported by evidence and very entertaining and informative at the same time.

Lovink, Geert. Social media abyss: critical internet cultures and the force of

negation. Polity, 2016.

The book was published in 2016 by Polity Press in the UK. The publisher’s Headquarters is located in Cambridge, United Kingdom and was established back in 1984. This timeliness and authority of this book is actually great and current to my topic. I would definitely be comfortable to use the book as source because not only it answers some parts of my research question but also argues the social trust side towards this technology, which what I’m totally interested in.

Social media abyss is good and very critical of the new norms with our current digital society. Geert Lovink is the founder and director of the Institute of Network Cultures at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Professor of Media Theory at the European Graduate School and author of Networks Without a Cause. He held multiples position and has been affiliated with multiple institutions.

The author of this book has also many other books. Lovink background in analyzing social media is outstanding, but in this book, Social Media Abyss, Lovink devoted only one chapter to explain and talk what Blockchain and Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin. Regardless of the lack of information that relates to my topic, his tone was not biased and the amount of sources he used in his book increase his accuracy.

The accuracy of this book makes its purpose to teach and inform because there seem to be no biased at all by the author except to what’s good to all of us as societies.

Lucas, Matt. The difference between Bitcoin and blockchain for business.

Blockchain Unleashed: IBM Blockchain Blog, IBM, 12 Nov. 2017,

www.ibm.com/blogs/blockchain/2017/05/the-difference-between-bitcoin-and-blockchain-for-business/

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This article was published in May 9, 2017 by Matt Lucas. Matt Lucas is part of IBM’s global blockchain enablement team. His article is very current and was published in the IBM website. He’s the CTO of the European Office division of IBM Industry Platform. Mr. Lucas job is to help informing clients to understand and apply blockchain technologies. He also works closely with emerging blockchain fabrics such as Hyperledger and Ethereum.

As far as the timeliness of this article, there is hardly nothing recent as this one, and because the information in the source is adopted by IBM, I really think this gives the source more quality and authority.

Lucas article is quite relevant to my topic. I would not hesitate to use the information he mentioned because they are so recent that makes the matter even more interesting. The language and tone was definitely appropriate. He was very informative and accurate as he wrote the article.

However, the author didn’t mention his opinion. He tried to be informative as much as possible. The good thing about this article is that there was an educational video attached to the article to simplify to viewers how Blockchain differs from Bitcoin.

Lansiti, Marco, and Karim R. Lakhani. The Truth About Blockchain. Harvard

Business Review, 17 Feb. 2017, hbr.org/2017/01/the-truth-about-blockchain.

The article was published very recently in the Harvard Business Review. Marco Lansiti is a Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He heads the Technology and Operations Management Unit and also the Digital Initiative. Karim Lakhani is a “Professor of Business Administration and the Dorothy and Michael Hintze Fellow at Harvard Business School. He is also the founding director of the Harvard Innovation Science Laboratory” (Lansiti & Lakhani, 2017).

As far as the accuracy of the information, they seemed accurate enough and very appropriate. I was confident about choosing this article among many others because it was targeting business and how Blockchain can be beneficial to their business. According to the article, “no matter what the context, there’s a strong possibility that blockchain will affect your business. The very big question is when” (Lansiti & Lakhani, 2017).

Their purpose I believe was obvious. The authors expressed their point of views and opinions to inform businesses with factual information; away from political reasons and more towards economical reason. The main tone was to warn the business community and allow them to grasp the huge technology that will disrupt their businesses if they don’t act.

McElroy, Wendy. “Fedcoin: The U.S. Will Issue E-Currency That You Will Use.”

Bitcoin.com, 12 Jan. 2017, news.bitcoin.com/fedcoin-u-s-issue-e-currency/.

The article was published in January 12, 2017. It’s not the most recent article but still very relevant to my topic. Wendy McElroy is a “Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. She was a co-founder of the Voluntaryist magazine and modern movement in 1982, and has authored over a dozen books, scripted dozens of documentaries, worked several years for FOX News and written hundreds of articles in periodicals ranging from scholarly journals to Penthouse. She has been a vocal defender of WikiLeaks and its head Julian Assange.”

the article Fedcoin will be built on the same principles as bitcoin. It would use blockchain technology, however, unlike bitcoin, fedcoin will be packed by the Federal Reserve and will be trackable to prevent any illegal activities. Blockchain is the key factor here, which makes this article relevant to my topic. The article proves that governments cannot ignore the potential impact of blockchain technology. Most of the information is accurate and has been reported before. This is a scholarly article and is very well written. It shows different point of views and serves a clear purpose.

Mccullough, Keith. “Hedgeye Risk Management | Rickards: ‘Bitcoin is a Ponzi

Scheme’.” Hedgeye, 19 Oct. 2017,

app.hedgeye.com/insights/62797-rickards-bitcoin-is-a-ponzi-scheme.

In this interview James Rickards agrees with Jamie Dimon. Rickards is the author of many books; most notably is Currency Wars, the New York Times bestseller. This interview is very current and relates to my topic. In this interview Rickards get to say what he couldn’t tell us in his book Currency Wars, and that’s way I want to use this source for my research paper.

The interview took place in Hedgeye TV channel, not quite popular. When it comes to the accuracy of the source, it seemed that Rickards was very confident that Bitcoin is a “Ponzi Scheme” and that it’s only a matter of a time until people find out.

James Rickards is known for his work, but he’s not only an author. He’s also a lawyer and a regular commentator on finance. He’s also known for making predictions about the the global financial state.

No one can tell if Rickards is right or wrong because he didn’t support any evidence in this interview. It was just his opinion. For me, I find difficult to determine Rickards’ true purpose and intentions of whether he’s trying to be objective and give honest opinion or whether he’s following some agenda.

Nakamoto, Satoshi. Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. 2009.

Https://Bitcoin.org/Bitcoin

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This paper was published by same announces man, Satoshi Nakamoto. Almost nothing is known about this man and if weather he a one individual or many people. However, this paper was published to the public to be the first to introduce Blockchain & Bitcoin in great details and how it can function with other non-financial applications as well.

The paper was also allowed by the U.S. government to be revealed to the public, which makes the information it contains absolutely accurate. The paper was very technical facts about the technology and also had easy information for the public to capture.

Olick, Diana. “Bitcoin is finally buying into US real estate.” CNBC, CNBC, 16 Oct.

2017,

www.cnbc.com/2017/10/16/bitcoin-is-finally-buying-into-us-real-estate.html

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Diana Olick is a CNBC Real Estate Reporter. She’s the author of the Realty Check on CNBC.com. This blog won the Gracie Award in 2015. She also joins NBC for her outstanding real estate experience. Diana was the first to report about spending Bitcoin to buy real estate. According to her, the first home buyer to accept Bitcoin was in Texas and the reason why is because to them, Bitcoin is just like a currency. Likewise, the dollar, Bitcoin has a value and an exchange rate. The buyer intended to hold Bitcoin as its value increase. This news is recently published in October 16, 2017. This is not as recent as other sources, but it’s not been reported anywhere else. The information is quite accurate because an interview was conducted and recorded. CNBC specialize on reporting world’s business news, which increases the sources authority. In this source, younger millennial is said to be the majority of cryptocurrencies users and trader. Its purpose is to tell us to what degree people are comfortable to use cryptocurrencies as a currency. This is why I found this source to be very helpful and very relevant to my topic.

Petrasic, Kevin, and Matthew Bornfreund. Beyond Bitcoin: The blockchain

revolution in financial services. White & Case LLP, 2016.

Kevin Petrasic is a banking partner in the Washington, DC office of White & Case LLP. He’s also the head of the Firm’s Global Financial Institutions Advisory practice. He has extensive experience with bank regulatory and many other things. Matthew Bornfreund has experience in bank and financial institution clients. He’s also a part of the Financial Institutions Advisory practice group in White & Case. In this publication, White & Case aims to give their clients general information and other also other interested persons. According to White & Case, “It is not, and does not attempt to be, comprehensive in nature. Due to the general nature of its content, it should not be regarded as legal advice” (Petrasic and Bornfreund. 8, 2017).

The firm’s paper was released recently and it talks about all the changes that can happen to our current financial system and most importantly how blockchain has the potential to to transform business. Not only the current and timely but it also so relevant. The firm’s paper is intended to busness, which makes suggest they consider the Blockchain. I’ve considered other sources but this one seeme good to me to use in my paper.

I would say because it’s published by a financial and law firm, this gives the paper a little credential. Not surprisingly, there are no authors or affiliations. However, the accuracy of the information and the evidence supported in this magazine is very reliable. It seemed out of free and out of emotion and very factual. It was also persuasive and totally on purpose to my topic.

Rickards, James. Currency Wars. Penguin Group, 2011.

Currency wars was published back in 2011, which makes the book less relevant to my topic because in 2011 very little was known about Blockchain or Bitcoin. The book has the principles with regard to the digital aspect of our current financial system but not the virtual currency like Bitcoin. Just recently, Rickards mentioned in an interview that he’s not worried about bitcoin to be one of “The Making of the Next Global Crisis”. I wouldn’t call this book to be a major source. The author is qualified to write about the subject, but the book doesn’t answer any of my questions. Penguin Group published this book, which gives the book even more authority. Most of the information are accurate but seem to be a little biased. The information appears to be objective but hardly relates to my topic.

Upadhyay, Rakesh. “Price Analysis, November 25: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin

Cash, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash.” The Cointelegraph, Cointelegraph, 25 Nov. 2017,cointelegraph.com/news/price-analysis-november-25-bitcoin-ethereum-bitcoin-cash-ripple-litecoin-dash.

This online article was published on November 25, 2017. It’s considered timely because the information was reported after a lot of changes with blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Although this article talks very little about blockchain, it mentions many of the cryptocurrencies demand and value. It’s still considered a relevant source to my topic, and I would be totally comfortable using this article as source.

Rakesh Upadhyay is a professional trader. He’s also contributing author for hacked.com, oilprice.com, and exchangerates.org.uk. He might not seem quite qualified, but he’s definitely knowledgeable about cryptocurrencies and its exchange rate. He specializes on forecasting the value of these cryptos relative to the dollar. Most of the information are accurate. They are supported by factual evidence and can be easily verified. He maintains to be informative not opinionated or persuasive.

Young, Joseph. “Bitcoin is an Economic Miracle: Cambridge Professor.” The

Cointelegraph, Cointelegraph, 28 Nov. 2017,cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-is-an-economic-miracle-cambridge-professor.

This article was published today on November 28, 2017. The article relates to my topic directly and extensively talk about blockchain side. This source is very relevant and very important to my topic because there are no other sources that mention the

potential impact of blockchain on the society. The purpose of the information is to inform people about not only the societal impact but also the economic impact. Joseph Young is a web developer and designer and a writer. He’s worked as a researcher for a number of venture capital firms and as a freelancer designer for resorts and corporations in Korea and the Philippines. Because he’s a developer, he is qualified to talk about the topic.

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