Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
A database nobody controls
Whoever controlled a database controlled the information in it. Anything stored in electronic form needed a database somebody else ran, and no one could run their own storage and still access the financial system, so everyone was stuck using an intermediary.
When databases can be decentralized, information can move the way the physical economy does. Decentralized money already exists as the money in a pocket, or as gold.
Blockchain moves information safely and securely on an open internet in a highly encrypted way. It removes the need to rely on an intermediary and still shows who owns what, and when.
How does a blockchain agree without a boss?
In Bitcoin, thousands of computers each keep a copy of the ledger and follow the same rules for accepting new blocks of transactions. Miners compete to solve a computational puzzle, and the first to solve it proposes the next block, which other nodes check and adopt. Each block contains a fingerprint of the previous one, so changing an old record means redoing the work for every block after it. Nodes treat the chain with the most accumulated work as the valid one.
Why did earlier digital cash efforts fail?
David Chaum founded DigiCash in 1989 to sell electronic cash that kept payments private. It depended on a central company to issue and verify the money, and on banks signing up to use it. DigiCash filed for bankruptcy in 1998. Bitcoin's 2008 white paper, published by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, solved the double-spending problem without a central party.
How does gold work without a central ledger?
Gold's value and ownership travel with the metal itself. Whoever holds a bar holds the asset, and its purity and weight can be tested without asking anyone. Nobody has to maintain a record of who owns what. The kingdom of Lydia struck the first known gold and electrum coins around 600 BC.
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