Part 5/12:
A core part of Antonopoulos' argument revolves around misconceptions about blockchain technology itself. He compares blockchain to a centuries-old concept: the ledger. Since ancient times, societies have maintained records of transactions—be it on stone tablets, papyrus, or paper.
The real revolution, he states, is decentralized blockchain—a ledger maintained without a central authority, open and permissionless, with miners and nodes distributed globally. This departs fundamentally from traditional centralized systems and threatens the status quo of powerful institutions like banks and governments.