Nick Szabo

Nick Szabo was one of the world's first Cypherpunks. He made huge waves in the crypto space when he proposed Bit Gold in 1998. Szabo is credited with coining the phrase “smart contract” which has gone on to become one of the most crucial parts of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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Age

Loc

USA

Nat

HUN

Timeline

1990s

LEARNING HIS TRADE

If you want to learn about cryptography, there’s probably no one better to work under than David Chaum. This was the case for Nick Szabo who worked for Chaum’s DigiCash, one of the first attempts at trying to create a digital currency way back in 1989. Gaining hands-on experience of applications such as Chaum’s blind signature system stood Nick in good stead to make massive contributions to the cryptocurrency space himself further down the line.Source

1996

SMART CONTRACTS

Nick was also thinking further ahead for the crypto space and its potential uses. He coined the term ‘smart contract’ and wrote an in-depth article detailing the specifics of how a smart contract might work, ways they could be attacked and how they could be used within a blockchain. A lot of his ideas have now become reality in blockchains such as Ethereum.Source

1998

DECENTRALISED GOLD

Nick was responsible for the first attempt at a decentralised cryptocurrency: Bit Gold. It showed many similarities to Bitcoin and in many ways, laid the platform for cryptocurrencies as we now know them. Features of Bit Gold included time-stamped blocks regulated by a proof of work (PoW) system, the same consensus mechanism used by Bitcoin today.Source

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Nick Szabo

Timeline

LEARNING HIS TRADE

SMART CONTRACTS

DECENTRALISED GOLD

Adam Back

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