Field Note #9. On "Cryptography Basics"

Source: Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok, “Cryptoeconomics” in Modern Principles of Economics (5th ed., 2021) — Cryptography Section, pdf pgs. 1-8.

The danger of falling for optical illusions is greater than ever.  The corrective is perhaps to return to the basics (or for those born of the crypto bull, confront the basics for the first time).

• “Cryptoeconomics brings the invisible hand to computation”
• Blockchains are based on cryptographic primitives that originate ~400 BCE
• Two-way, non-reversible functions facilitate secure communication over insecure network
• Public-private key pair allow for digital signatures, NFTs, Tokens