1. Introduction for 15.S12 Blockchain and Money, Fall 2018

If you have a smartphone, internet and the ability to understand English, you can literally be in the classroom of an MIT lecture on Bitcoin/Blackchain. What a world! Thank You!

I am a poor person from Brazil that had to learn English to understand this video. Thanks to it - although I don't have money to pay for MIT tuition - I am watching a full class by MIT from my house in South America. Thanks for democratizing knowledge. <3

4:15 the two Readings for class (How blockchain can solve the payments riddle and The blockchain catalyst for change) 5:13 A history lesson to give context 9:22 Cryptography is communication in the presence of adversaries 12:14 list of digital currencies that failed between 1989 and 1999 15:38 what blockchain is 19:26 pizza for bitcoins 21:37 blockchain technology 22:41 role of money and finance 26:40 financial sector problems and blockchain potential opportunities 28:44 financial sector issues with blockchain technology and what the financial sector favors 35:00 public policy framework 36:46 the duck test 37:25 Encumbants eyeing crypto finance 39:35 financial sector potential use cases 41:57 Larry Lessig's book "code and other laws of cyberspace" 48:46 outline of all classes 49:08 study questions 50:55 readings and video 52:04 conclusions 55:13 questions

I still can not believe I take an entire blockchain course from MIT fo free, unbelievable. I can not thank enough MIT.

Gary Gensler mentions a book for the class and the guy who wrote the book is sitting in that class as a student... WOW MIT is on another level

The world is your library if you want to learn. Unbelievable is the age we live in getting free education from MIT. This sets you apart MIT. Well Done!!

Fun Fact: This professor got sworn in today as the SEC chairman. pretty cool

It is fascinating to take this class in the year 2021 knowing what has happened in the crypto space since 2018. And big thank you to MIT for making this knowledge available to the world free of charge. That's unbelievable generosity.

Tell me why I pay tens of thousands for an education yet this lecture is far more stimulating then any I’ve attended at my institution...

A year after viewing this course and the FTC, SVB and Credit Suisse failures, I have retained the following. 1. A distributed accounting ledger is created that does not require a central responsible owner. 2. An system of creating an increasing but limited number of tokens allows users to agree on value through a market, so it can be used as money, a store of value and a medium of exchange. 3. Combining these two allows the creation of competing systems that may have the promise of lower transaction costs and perhaps less government control than other forms of tender. 3. In it's infancy, significant challenges remain. I term these infancy risk, promise risk and unknowns risk.

Who else are watching this at the end of 2022? I'm so grateful for this video and opportunity.

What an extraordinary opportunity to be able to access literally world-class lectures for free at your fingertips...the times we live in, just mind-blowing! - massive respect for MIT for sharing these lecture series with the world!

Who knew one day Gary would be the one approving spot Bitcoin ETF

It's such an amazing video to come across. Watching from Nairobi in Kenya, and this type of content.....isn't easy to come across from this side of the continent. Thank you.

This is probably one of the most important lectures for everyone to see.

I felt like I am in the room. How grateful I am for encountering this channel. Many thanks to MIT and Gary Gensler.

Lots of love from Nepal for making this level of quality education free of cost.....It enlightens the soul of plenty of underprivileged students

I just played this out loud so my parents would think I'm still in class. Got my one hour nap in. Thanks!

It’s interesting going back to this video to see Prof Gensler talk about financial sector problems and blockchain opportunities and now see all crypto lending platforms and exchanges that participate in staking under fire. Oh, don’t forget XRP too.

I love how this guy brought up transactions/s. A lot of newbie crypto investors make the mistake of FOMO'ing into Bitcoin or Ethereum when there are cryptocurrencies like Cardano that far surpass them in transaction load. There's still so much to discover about crypto, man I'm fired up! Great lecture on blockchain for beginners