*All opinions offered by Prof. Juels on the podcast are his own. Critics of blockchain often say that it is nothing more than a database, but today’s guest, Ari Juels, has a different opinion. His technical expertise (he is a Professor of Computer Science at Cornell Tech), combined with his ability to understand both sides of a divisive topic like this one, make for a very insightful conversation about Bitcoin, NFTs, and smart contracts. We talk about the reasons for the valid skepticism that surrounds blockchain technology, the various reasons that Ari believes that it is a powerful, useful tool, despite its downfalls, pyramid schemes, decentralized exchanges and more! Participate in our Community Discussion about this Episode: https://community.rationalreminder.ca/t/understanding-crypto-17-ari-juels-the-technical-case-for-blockchain/19322 Links From Today’s Episode: Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582. Rational Reminder Website — https://rationalreminder.ca/ Shop Merch — https://shop.rationalreminder.ca/ Join the Community — https://community.rationalreminder.ca/ Follow us on Twitter — https://twitter.com/RationalRemind Follow us on Instagram — @rationalreminder Benjamin on Twitter — https://twitter.com/benjaminwfelix Cameron on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CameronPassmore Ari Juels on Twitter — https://twitter.com/AriJuels Ari Juels — https://www.arijuels.com/ The Ring of Gyges: Using Smart Contracts for Crime — http://www.arijuels.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Gyges.pdf NFTs for Art and Collectables: Primer and Outlook — https://www.arijuels.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/NFTs__Primer_and_Outlook.pdf ‘Huge mess of theft and fraud:’ artists sound alarm as NFT crime proliferates — https://www.theguardian.com/global/2022/jan/29/huge-mess-of-theft-artists-sound-alarm-theft-nfts-proliferates Incomplete Contracts and Control — https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/hart-lecture.pdf Chainlink 2.0: Next Steps in the Evolution of Decentralized Oracle Networks — https://research.chain.link/whitepaper-v2.pdf?_ga=2.99068702.124468793.1661870135-1990502175.1661870135 Flash Boys 2.0: Frontrunning, Transaction Reordering, and Consensus Instability in Decentralized Exchanges — https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.05234.pdf Themis: Fast, Strong Order-Fairness in Byzantine Consensus — https://eprint.iacr.org/2021/1465.pdf Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains — https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Witness%20Testimony_Juels_OI_2022.01.20.pdf The Seven Grand Challenges — https://www.initc3.org/projects.html