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DAVE KINSEY | Technology What is Blockchain?
Iattempted to write an article about Blockchain in February and failed! I tried to write an article, but the ar-
ticle kept on growing until I realized that the only way I could do justice to the topic was to write a book about it. Which is what I’ve done. My rst full-length book is nearly nished. I expect this to be available for pur- chase around the beginning of 2019, though it is possible that there may be some slight delays. It’s called e Blockchain Code, and I will let you know more about it in future articles.
e last thing I would have expect- ed to do was to write a book about Blockchain. I serve on a technology advisory group for the State Bar of Arizona. In late 2017, I received a re- quest to help the State Bar’s continu- ing legal education (CLE) e orts by teaching a class about Blockchain. I provided some of my thoughts and suggested some potential resources for the CLE, though I declined to serve as a presenter.
A few months later, a sta member of the State Bar visited my o ce in person and requested that I write an article on the topic. She was very in- sistent and persuasive. She handed me a copy of the then hot-o -the-presses February 2018 edition of Arizona At- torney, the State Bar of Arizona maga- zine. e cover featured a single topic, “BLOCKCHAIN: What it means for clients, contracts - and law practice.” We discussed the buzz in the legal in- dustry around Blockchain and how it was supposed to revolutionize the le- gal and other professions. I explained how I declined an earlier opportunity to present a CLE on the topic. She said something to the e ect of “Dave, what the heck are you doing? At least write an article!”
Now that I’ve written an entire
book and understand many of the nu- ances of Blockchain I can write a con- cise article that accurately describes the technology. As an exercise, I just created this article, but I’m not going to publish it. I can create a decent and accurate summary of what Block- chain is within about 500 words. e problem is, for any reader that isn’t extremely familiar with Blockchain already (approaching Blockchain so ware developer-level understand- ing), my accurate summary will likely be too complicated to understand. Even worse, most people who (false- ly) believe they already understand Blockchain will likely disagree with my explanation.
Blockchain is a confusing technolo- gy unless you genuinely understand it deeply. It is a technology that is all too easy to think you understand, when you actually don’t. Simple, high-level explanations by Blockchain “experts” belie the truth. I’ve spent the better part of 2018 working on this book. I’ve read computer code that creates the Bitcoin blockchain. I’ve written an entire book that describes this all in an easy-to-understand format with small bite-sized chapters.
Blockchain technology is a complex topic and virtually every article I have read skims the surface and presents an incomplete and highly stilted pic- ture of the technology. I don’t want to be the next person to attempt to try to describe this technology adequately in an article and fail. At least not yet. I have a book that will make it all clear that you will be able to read it very soon.
I can tell you that there are some that proclaim that Blockchain is the solution for a number of problems plaguing humanity. ere are others that denounce Blockchain, Bitcoin,
I’ve spent the better part of 2018 working on this book. I’ve read computer code that creates the Bitcoin blockchain. I’ve written an entire book that describes this all in an easy-to- understand format with small bite- sized chapters.”
and cryptocurrency in terms rang- ing from hype to scam. So, what’s the truth? Is there hype and scam sur- rounding Blockchain? Absolutely! Are there grandiose plans to change the world as well? Yes, there are. ese plans are very real, and the scope is enormous.
For an accurate understanding of Blockchain, you’ll have to read...
The Blockchain Code: Decrypt the Jungle of Complexity to Win the Crypto-Anar-
chy Game
Coming soon!
For more infor- mation, see block- chain codebook. com.
Dave Kinsey is the president and owner of Total Networks, the technology adviser to Arizona’s law rms. Mr. Kinsey is on the technology committee for the State Bar of Arizona, has presented at several CLE seminars on the topics of technology security and data protection, and his team is the rst and only Arizona IT company to earn the CompTIA Security Trustmark, certifying that Total Networks meets or exceeds security best practices.
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