The technology behind cryptocurrencies is called the ‘Blockchain’. The most well-known cryptocurrency, going by the name of Bitcoin, is the one for which blockchain technology as we know it was developed. We consider using blockchain technology to implement distributed control and cooperative robotics because of the revolutionary distributed decision-making and security mechanism that offers the technical basis for its success. A lecture on this subject is being organized for you all by the BracU Student Branch Chapter of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS). So, this event called “𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬” has been organized for the students to impart in-depth knowledge about this subject on 6th December 2022. 

Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym that first appeared in the 2008 Bitcoin white paper that first described the blockchain system that would serve as the foundation of the entire cryptocurrency market, was the person or group of people who created Bitcoin in 2009. Satoshi Nakamoto is the name that first appeared on the paper. Since Bitcoin is an open-source project, anyone can view its design. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that is open to all users. While Satoshi remained in charge of the project’s growth, users and developers gathered in Bitcoin forums to contribute code and work on the project, which had evolved into a team effort. 

The study of encryption, hash functions, and digital signatures are all included in the math discipline of cryptography. Hash functions are used by the Bitcoin network to maintain the immutability and security of the blockchain. Digital signatures based on public keys are used by bitcoin to enable trustless bitcoin transfers. The “crypto-” prefix refers to the cryptographic techniques that Bitcoin and other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies rely on to preserve security and fidelity. Data encoding and decoding is a mathematical and computational process known as cryptography. 

A digital wallet or a cryptocurrency exchange are two places where you can store each Bitcoin. Although it is possible to acquire fractional shares of each coin, each coin reflects the value of Bitcoin at the moment. A Satoshi is the name of the smallest unit of currency in each Bitcoin, bearing the same name as Bitcoin’s inventor. Owning fractional shares of Bitcoin is fairly common because each Satoshi is equal to a hundred millionth of a Bitcoin. A Bitcoin wallet contains both a public key and a private key that together enable the owner to start transactions and digitally sign them. It thus becomes possible to safely transfer ownership from one user to another, which is Bitcoin’s main feature. Then again, users on the Bitcoin network can confirm that new transactions are consistent with previously completed ones through a process known as mining. By doing this, you can prevent yourself from spending a bitcoin that you don’t own or that you’ve already used. Moreover, a Bitcoin address is a private, digital address that specifies the place to which Bitcoins can be transmitted. A string of alphanumeric characters is used to represent it. Although the address can be any length, it typically ranges from 26 to 35 characters. A wallet allows for the storage of one’s address as a cryptocurrency balance. Users’ wallets create transactions when they make purchases by choosing from the available UTXO. For instance, the wallet application may choose a 0.01 UTXO and a 0.005 UTXO and use both of them to add up to the necessary payment value of 0.015 bitcoin.

The seminar was Dr. Md. Sadek Ferdous (Associate Professor, Department of CSE, Brac University), Dr. Muhammad Nur Yanhaona (Associate Professor, Department of CSE, Brac University), the RAS EB members and fellow students of Brac University. Our honorable speaker Dr. Md. Sadek Ferdous started his speech by explaining the technology output, its background, how blockchain technology was invented, mechanisms of blockchain technology, blockchain systems (Bitcoin), properties of bitcoin, and its functionality. Firstly, he talked about the four technology foundations which are blockchain, IoT, cloud, and ML. Among these blockchain is the most used one globally. He then explained the brief history of money and the timeline for electronic currency and digital currency and also discussed distributed ledger technology (DTL) which is a computerized method for recording asset transactions in which the transactions and their specifics are recorded simultaneously in several locations. Secondly, he briefly talked through about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto and the news that spread out between 2009 to 2011 which became the headline during that time, and also how bitcoin became the most widely accepted digital currency. Thirdly, he pointed out the main facts of bitcoin which are the bitcoin network, bitcoin address, bitcoin identities, bitcoin wallet (software by which bitcoin can be controlled), bitcoin transactions which is one of the core points – (UTXO (output), Script sig(input), locking and unlocking script). He then illustrated the facts about the bitcoin block, its transactions, mining, games, consensus, and cost. Furthermore, he discussed Ethereum which is a decentralized global software platform powered by blockchain technology and exchanged like a digital currency, and the pros and cons of Ethereum. Lastly, he ended up his speech by talking about bitcoin properties, application feasibility, trends, and research directions. He also answered all of the questions asked by the audience.

For those who are interested in blockchain technology or are pursuing higher education in a tech-related sector, this seminar was without a doubt the most instructive and helpful event. Our acclaimed speaker Dr. Md. Sadek Ferdous was given a crest by the event’s planners, the RAS EB members. After around two hours, this wonderful knowledge-sharing gathering draws to a close in this manner.