@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Satoshi Nakamoto withdrew from the public in April 2011, leaving the responsibil
((("bitcoin", "use cases", id="GSuses01")))Bitcoin is an innovation in the ancient technology of money. At its core, money simply facilitates the exchange of value between people. Therefore, in order to fully understand bitcoin and its uses, we'll examine it from the perspective of people using it. Each of the people and their stories, as listed here, illustrates one or more specific use cases. We'll be seeing them throughout the book:
North American low-value retail::
((("retail sales use case")))((("use cases", "retail sales")))Alice lives in Northern California's Bay Area. She has heard about bitcoin from her techie friends and wants to start using it. We will follow her story as she learns about bitcoin, acquires some, and then spends some of her bitcoin to buy a cup of coffee at Bob's Cafe in Palo Alto. This story will introduce us to the software, the exchanges, and basic transactions from the perspective of a retail consumer.
((("use cases", "retail sales")))Alice lives in Northern California's Bay Area. She has heard about bitcoin from her techie friends and wants to start using it. We will follow her story as she learns about bitcoin, acquires some, and then spends some of her bitcoin to buy a cup of coffee at Bob's Cafe in Palo Alto. This story will introduce us to the software, the exchanges, and basic transactions from the perspective of a retail consumer.
North American high-value retail::
Carol is an art gallery owner in San Francisco. She sells expensive paintings for bitcoin. This story will introduce the risks of a "51%" consensus attack for retailers of high-value items.
@ -73,13 +73,13 @@ Offshore contract services::
((("offshore contract services")))((("use cases", "offshore contract services")))Bob, the cafe owner in Palo Alto, is building a new website. He has contracted with an Indian web developer, Gopesh, who lives in Bangalore, India. Gopesh has agreed to be paid in bitcoin. This story will examine the use of bitcoin for outsourcing, contract services, and international wire transfers.
Web store::
((("web store use case")))((("use cases", "web store")))Gabriel is an enterprising young teenager in Rio de Janeiro, running a small web store that sells bitcoin-branded t-shirts, coffee mugs, and stickers. Gabriel is too young to have a bank account, but his parents are encouraging his entrepreneurial spirit.
((("use cases", "web store")))Gabriel is an enterprising young teenager in Rio de Janeiro, running a small web store that sells bitcoin-branded t-shirts, coffee mugs, and stickers. Gabriel is too young to have a bank account, but his parents are encouraging his entrepreneurial spirit.
Charitable donations::
((("charitable donations")))((("use cases", "charitable donations")))Eugenia is the director of a children's charity in the Philippines. Recently she has discovered bitcoin and wants to use it to reach a whole new group of foreign and domestic donors to fundraise for her charity. She's also investigating ways to use bitcoin to distribute funds quickly to areas of need. This story will show the use of bitcoin for global fundraising across currencies and borders and the use of an open ledger for transparency in charitable organizations.
Import/export::
((("import/export use case")))((("use cases", "import/export")))Mohammed is an electronics importer in Dubai. He's trying to use bitcoin to buy electronics from the United States and China for import into the UAE to accelerate the process of payments for imports. This story will show how bitcoin can be used for large business-to-business international payments tied to physical goods.
((("use cases", "import/export")))Mohammed is an electronics importer in Dubai. He's trying to use bitcoin to buy electronics from the United States and China for import into the UAE to accelerate the process of payments for imports. This story will show how bitcoin can be used for large business-to-business international payments tied to physical goods.
Mining for bitcoin::
((("use cases", "mining for bitcoin")))Jing is a computer engineering student in Shanghai. He has built a "mining" rig to mine for bitcoin using his engineering skills to supplement his income. This story will examine the "industrial" base of bitcoin: the specialized equipment used to secure the bitcoin network and issue new currency.
@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ From now on, if you see a multisig unlocking script, you should expect to see an
((("transactions", "advanced", "Pay-to-Script-Hash")))((("scripting", "Pay-to-Script-Hash", id="Spay07")))Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH) was introduced in 2012 as a powerful new type of transaction that greatly simplifies the use of complex transaction scripts. To explain the need for P2SH, let's look at a practical example.
((("import/export use case")))((("use cases", "import/export", id="mohamseven")))((("scripting", "Pay-to-Script-Hash", "import/export example")))((("Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH)", "import/export example")))In <<ch01_intro_what_is_bitcoin>> we introduced Mohammed, an electronics importer based in Dubai. Mohammed's company uses bitcoin's multisignature feature extensively for its corporate accounts. Multisignature scripts are one of the most common uses of bitcoin's advanced scripting capabilities and are a very powerful feature. ((("accounts receivable (AR)")))Mohammed's company uses a multisignature script for all customer payments, known in accounting terms as "accounts receivable," or AR. With the multisignature scheme, any payments made by customers are locked in such a way that they require at least two signatures to release, from Mohammed and one of his partners or from his attorney who has a backup key. A multisignature scheme like that offers corporate governance controls and protects against theft, embezzlement, or loss.
((("use cases", "import/export", id="mohamseven")))((("scripting", "Pay-to-Script-Hash", "import/export example")))((("Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH)", "import/export example")))In <<ch01_intro_what_is_bitcoin>> we introduced Mohammed, an electronics importer based in Dubai. Mohammed's company uses bitcoin's multisignature feature extensively for its corporate accounts. Multisignature scripts are one of the most common uses of bitcoin's advanced scripting capabilities and are a very powerful feature. ((("accounts receivable (AR)")))Mohammed's company uses a multisignature script for all customer payments, known in accounting terms as "accounts receivable," or AR. With the multisignature scheme, any payments made by customers are locked in such a way that they require at least two signatures to release, from Mohammed and one of his partners or from his attorney who has a backup key. A multisignature scheme like that offers corporate governance controls and protects against theft, embezzlement, or loss.
The resulting script is quite long and looks like this:
@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ Using this construct, we can build redeem scripts with tens or hundreds of execu
((("transactions", "advanced", "example")))((("scripting", "complex script example", id="Scomplex07")))In this section we combine many of the concepts from this chapter into a single example.
((("import/export use case")))((("use cases", "import/export", id="mohamseventwo")))Our example uses the story of Mohammed, the company owner in Dubai who is operating an import/export business.
((("use cases", "import/export", id="mohamseventwo")))Our example uses the story of Mohammed, the company owner in Dubai who is operating an import/export business.
((("transactions", "advanced", "multisignature scripts")))((("scripting", "multisignature scripts", "import/export example")))((("multisignature scripts")))In this example, Mohammed wishes to construct a company capital account with flexible rules. The scheme he creates requires different levels of authorization depending on timelocks. The participants in the multisig scheme are Mohammed, his two partners Saeed and Zaira, and their company lawyer Abdul. The three partners make decisions based on a majority rule, so two of the three must agree. However, in the case of a problem with their keys, they want their lawyer to be able to recover the funds with one of the three partner signatures. Finally, if all partners are unavailable or incapacitated for a while, they want the lawyer to be able to manage the account directly.
Nick Adams
7 years ago