
Bitcoin's Academic Pedigree - yarapavan
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3136953
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yarapavan
This article challenges that view by showing that nearly all of the technical
components of bitcoin originated in the academic literature of the 1980s and
'90s (see figure 1). This is not to diminish Nakamoto's achievement but to
point out that he stood on the shoulders of giants. Indeed, by tracing the
origins of the ideas in bitcoin, we can zero in on Nakamoto's true leap of
insight—the specific, complex way in which the underlying components are put
together. This helps explain why bitcoin took so long to be invented. Readers
already familiar with how bitcoin works may gain a deeper understanding from
this historical presentation. (For an introduction, see Bitcoin and
Cryptocurrency Technologies by Arvind Narayanan et al.36) Bitcoin's
intellectual history also serves as a case study demonstrating the
relationships among academia, outside researchers, and practitioners, and
offers lessons on how these groups can benefit from one another.

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yarapavan
And more..

The history described here offers rich (and complementary) lessons for
practitioners and academics. Practitioners should be skeptical of claims of
revolutionary technology. As shown here, most of the ideas in bitcoin that
have generated excitement in the enterprise, such as distributed ledgers and
Byzantine agreement, actually date back 20 years or more. Recognize that your
problem may not require any breakthroughs—there may be long-forgotten
solutions in research papers.

