07-02-2021, 04:00 AM
"Read the Whitepaper" they said, "All will be OK" they said
<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>So I have seen at least 7 (or is it 7,000?) posts and comments telling people to "Read the whitepaper!" and "Do Your Own Research!".</p> <p>I completely agree with this advice and believe you should have some understanding about what you are investing your money into. Also, doing your own research (DYOR), has been a thing for a long time in regards to investing in stocks, bonds, commodities, etc. but I feel in the crypto community this seems to be presented as a new-fangled concept, but I digress.</p> <p>Back to the point. Since I like to be informed I did read the whitepapers for three projects I am interested in: Algorand, Stellar and Chainlink.</p> <p>WOW.</p> <p>Where to begin.</p> <p>I know a Whitepaper is not a 3-4 page summary, but in the above order they are 75 pages, 32 pages and 102 pages (they are actually a bit longer, but I only included the actual paper content in the above numbers, not the source citing). As a point of reference the 2020 Alphabet Annual report is 134 pages, Amazon's is 87 and Apple's is 105 (I like "A"s). </p> <p>But OK, DYOR takes time and is not meant to be a quick read you knock off on your mobile while taking a shit.</p> <p>But then I go through the whitepapers. The first few pages are higher level and make sense. Then quick enough we come to paragraphs such as this one (from Algorand):</p> <p>"<em>Step 1: Block Proposal</em> </p> <p><em>Instructions for every user i ∈ PKr−k : User i starts his own Step 1 of round r as soon as he knows Br−1 .</em></p> <p><em>• User i computes Qr−1 from the third component of Br−1 and checks whether i ∈ SV r,1 or not.</em> </p> <p><em>• If i /∈ SV r,1 , then i stops his own execution of Step 1 right away.</em> </p> <p><em>• If i ∈ SV r,1 , that is, if i is a potential leader, then he collects the round-r payments that have been propagated to him so far and computes a maximal payset P AY r i from them. Next, he computes his “candidate block” Br i = (r, P AY r i , SIGi(Qr−1 ), H(Br−1 )). Finally, he computes the message m r,1 i = (Br i , esigi(H(Br i )), σ r,1 i ), destroys his ephemeral secret key skr,1 i , and then propagates m r,1 i ."</em></p> <p>Now I realize I am sharing one segment out of context of the overall paper, but HOLY SHIT. This is supposed to be something a layman can easily understand? And in the case of Algorand it goes on like this for half of the 75 pages. JESUS CHRIST.</p> <p>I have two degrees in finance / accounting and have worked numerous roles in these fields for >10 years. I don't tell you about my education and work experience to impress you (as I know just by saying I have an accounting degree you are already green with envy). I tell you these details about me to say as someone who works with numbers, equations, vague concepts, odd rules (google "GAAP Disclosures" if you have trouble falling asleep) I found these papers really really really hard to understand. I think I got a lot of it, but doubt I could pass a test on them.</p> <p>Now to my questions dear reader:</p> <ol> <li><p>Do many of you actually take the time to read the whole whitepaper for the projects you invest in?</p></li> <li><p>If you do, do you actually understand the whitepaper?</p></li> </ol> <p>If many of you answered "yes" to both 1 and 2 than I am just an idiot and that is how it is.</p> <p>I just started my crypto investment journey, but from now reading a few of the whitepapers I am wondering if I should bother calling it "investing" or really that I will just speculate in this asset class and hope for the best.</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/WorldTraveller19"> /u/WorldTraveller19 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/obulso/read_the_whitepaper_they_said_all_will_be_ok_they/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/obulso/read_the_whitepaper_they_said_all_will_be_ok_they/">[comments]</a></span>Kind Regards R
<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>So I have seen at least 7 (or is it 7,000?) posts and comments telling people to "Read the whitepaper!" and "Do Your Own Research!".</p> <p>I completely agree with this advice and believe you should have some understanding about what you are investing your money into. Also, doing your own research (DYOR), has been a thing for a long time in regards to investing in stocks, bonds, commodities, etc. but I feel in the crypto community this seems to be presented as a new-fangled concept, but I digress.</p> <p>Back to the point. Since I like to be informed I did read the whitepapers for three projects I am interested in: Algorand, Stellar and Chainlink.</p> <p>WOW.</p> <p>Where to begin.</p> <p>I know a Whitepaper is not a 3-4 page summary, but in the above order they are 75 pages, 32 pages and 102 pages (they are actually a bit longer, but I only included the actual paper content in the above numbers, not the source citing). As a point of reference the 2020 Alphabet Annual report is 134 pages, Amazon's is 87 and Apple's is 105 (I like "A"s). </p> <p>But OK, DYOR takes time and is not meant to be a quick read you knock off on your mobile while taking a shit.</p> <p>But then I go through the whitepapers. The first few pages are higher level and make sense. Then quick enough we come to paragraphs such as this one (from Algorand):</p> <p>"<em>Step 1: Block Proposal</em> </p> <p><em>Instructions for every user i ∈ PKr−k : User i starts his own Step 1 of round r as soon as he knows Br−1 .</em></p> <p><em>• User i computes Qr−1 from the third component of Br−1 and checks whether i ∈ SV r,1 or not.</em> </p> <p><em>• If i /∈ SV r,1 , then i stops his own execution of Step 1 right away.</em> </p> <p><em>• If i ∈ SV r,1 , that is, if i is a potential leader, then he collects the round-r payments that have been propagated to him so far and computes a maximal payset P AY r i from them. Next, he computes his “candidate block” Br i = (r, P AY r i , SIGi(Qr−1 ), H(Br−1 )). Finally, he computes the message m r,1 i = (Br i , esigi(H(Br i )), σ r,1 i ), destroys his ephemeral secret key skr,1 i , and then propagates m r,1 i ."</em></p> <p>Now I realize I am sharing one segment out of context of the overall paper, but HOLY SHIT. This is supposed to be something a layman can easily understand? And in the case of Algorand it goes on like this for half of the 75 pages. JESUS CHRIST.</p> <p>I have two degrees in finance / accounting and have worked numerous roles in these fields for >10 years. I don't tell you about my education and work experience to impress you (as I know just by saying I have an accounting degree you are already green with envy). I tell you these details about me to say as someone who works with numbers, equations, vague concepts, odd rules (google "GAAP Disclosures" if you have trouble falling asleep) I found these papers really really really hard to understand. I think I got a lot of it, but doubt I could pass a test on them.</p> <p>Now to my questions dear reader:</p> <ol> <li><p>Do many of you actually take the time to read the whole whitepaper for the projects you invest in?</p></li> <li><p>If you do, do you actually understand the whitepaper?</p></li> </ol> <p>If many of you answered "yes" to both 1 and 2 than I am just an idiot and that is how it is.</p> <p>I just started my crypto investment journey, but from now reading a few of the whitepapers I am wondering if I should bother calling it "investing" or really that I will just speculate in this asset class and hope for the best.</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/WorldTraveller19"> /u/WorldTraveller19 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/obulso/read_the_whitepaper_they_said_all_will_be_ok_they/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/obulso/read_the_whitepaper_they_said_all_will_be_ok_they/">[comments]</a></span>Kind Regards R