PennyPi
Hi Penny,
Yes I am requesting for all three events since I am not receiving any funds for events as amabssador (have to wait till march to re-apply for the next elections). Here are some pics of the first event:



I am also attaching a copy of the presentation I made so that you can have an idea and maybe any other ambassador can use these resources if needed:
- Speaker/s.
Sebastien Ng Cheong Tin
Bachelor of Commerce, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia
NULS Ambassador for Africa.
- Content:
Thank you to the Hive for hosting us and Mauritius Business network for their continuous support!
Hi Everyone, my name is Sebastien Ng, and tonight I am here to talk to you about Bitcoin, Blockchain and apparently Bullshit too☺ . I chose this tittle 1) so as to grab your attention but also 2) because actually, this was my opinion of Bitcoin when I first heard about it. I thought to myself “OMG Bitcoin is so complicated … so it must be Bullshit” ☺
For tonight, I will try to explain Bitcoin in simple terms so that at the end of the session, even if you think Bitcoin is bullshit, it’s gonna be Good Bullshit ☺
In this session, I would like to share with you what questions I asked myself about Bitcoin and what I have learnt:
These Questions were:
1) What IS Bitcoin? Where does it come from? Who controls BITCOIN?
2)- What determines the price of Bitcoin? Why was bitcoin less than a USD 1 but now over USD 3000?
3)- Why is Bitcoin’s price so volatile?
4)- Can Governments and Banks destroy Bitcoin?
5)- AND finally What is Bitcoin’s Future or, is IT the FUTURE of Money?
- From Bitcoin to Blockchain (15-min)
- SO What is Bitcoin? Where does it come from? How does it work? And most importantly, who controls IT?
Some people say “Bitcoin is everything I don’t understand about Money AND Everything I don’t understand about Computers… Put together”! To those people, I have 1 thing to say: I total AGREE ☺
It took me at least a month to understand Bitcoin and I am still learning everyday. So tonight, I will try to compress a month of work and research in 30 Minutes! That’s why I invited only the smart ones in my friends’ list!
Let’s just rewind a bit to 2008, after the Housing and Banking crisis, that cost the World, meaning us the Tax payers 20 Trillion USD. This is when the Bitcoin white paper was published by an anonymous author called Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin was subsequently born on the 3rd January 2009. And by “Born” I mean that the first Bitcoin transaction was made on that day.
Some Experts say Bitcoin is a Mathematical marvel. But Why?
Well, it is because Its inventor/s used different existing technologies to create digital scarcity. But How? How can you make something like an email Unique, when I can send an email to an infinite number of people?
His answer is by making everyone in the Bitcoin system auditing everyone else. How do you create trust between parties that do not know and do not trust each other? Well, Make each one of them watch over everybody all the time!
This is why I cannot spend my Bitcoin twice, because if I try, the Bitcoin system will see that I have already sent them to someone before and will invalidate the second transfer.
I would now like to share a short and introductory video about Bitcoin and money because to understand Bitcoin, we have to first understand MONEY.
Also, because you know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a thousand pictures ☺
Bitcoin cointelegraph introduction video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3TUFKva88s
So like many people, I thought that our money was still backed by gold… but this isn’t the case since 1971… when the USA decided to take the USD off the GOLD standard by a decree. This is why today’s money is called FIAT money, which in Latin means “by decree”. So the money we are using today has no intrinsic value except the credibility of our Governments … (Dash Dash Dash)
Let’s get back to Bitcoin, I don’t want to go on slippery ground ☺
What might be confusing about Bitcoin is that Bitcoin is Many things at the same time:
1)- Bitcoin is the name of the first Decentralised Digital Currency.
2)- Bitcoin is also the name of the Network that Validates the transactions and make that Currency Decentralised.
3)- AND Bitcoin is also the name of the Software that Runs the Network and Stores the transactions!
So First, Bitcoin is the Money of the Internet:
It is the first and biggest Decentralised Digital Currency that uses Cryptography (in other words “Smart Codes”) to secure its transactions.
“Ewh, Digital Currency, Digital Money”. Some of my friends tell me “But Digital money is not REAL money! Well, To those friends I might answer that most currencies, like the Dollar, the Rand or the Rupee are Already Digital. If you did not know, only about 10% of Dollars / Rupees in circulation is in paper form, the other 90% is digital on the ledgers of the banks that we use.
NOW I want to SHOW a platform where you can get REAL time info BITCOIN: it’s price, the latest transactions and the transaction fees which are currently at …………….
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer
Explain the Blockchain Explorer, Price, Transactions and transaction fees.
Secondly, Bitcoin is an Internet of Money
In addition to the currency, the name Bitcoin is also used to term the Payment Network, the equivalent of the Mastercard network. This network is comprised of Users, Miners and Nodes.
First there are the Users: People like me and you, that download a Bitcoin wallet to make transfer of value to each other. We can make transactions anytime to anyone in the world for a minimal fee. Sundays? Public Holidays? 6 am? No Problem ☺ …….. Pm? Ok let’s try. Who has a bitcoin wallet so that I can transfer a few Bitcoins to them… I wanted to see who is still awake ☺
…………………………. And I will be the Users for tonight
Then, there are the MINERS. So who got an “M” in their Handout? Well you will have work to do as you are the Miners for Tonight.
Miners are a Network of computers that do NOT know each other that compete with each other to validate transactions, but before they can put transactions in a Block of information, which is called the BLOCKCHAIN, they need to solve a cryptographic puzzle called a hash, which is like a computer sodoku. The more miners there are, the harder the sudoku becomes so that on average every puzzle is solved every 10 minutes. Also, solving that puzzle requires Computing power and Electricity. When a puzzle is solved, all the network is notified, the miner gets to create a block of transactions, and by doing so they get “paid” with bitcoins.
So as to illustrate that complicated part of the Bitcoin Mining process, we wanted to do a practical example so that you can see and feel what is actually going on.
So miners, now we will ask you to solve the Sudoku as quick as possible. The first one who will make it, will validate the transaction and earn some bitcoins.
Grab your pens. You can start NOW.
Congratulations to……………………………………… The Bitcoin network recognizes that you solve the sudoku first you, that you will validate the transaction, broadcast our transaction to the the whole network and earn Bitcoins (When giving the Reward): This right here, is what is meant by Bitcoin Mining.
The initial reward of mining a Block for the 1st four years was 50 Bitcoins as from the 3rd January 2009. This reward is called the BLOCK REWARD. Every four years, the Block reward gets halved and it is currently at 12.5 Bitcoins.
This is why experts say Bitcoin is a deflationary Currency as it’s Supply decreases with time.
So who got an “N” in their Handout? Well, You guys are the NODES for Tonight.
The NODES are another set of Computer Network that do not require as much computing power as Miners, but that keep a FULL copy of all the BITCOIN transactions from day 1 and most importantly, the NODES AUDIT the Miners. For example, anyone here could set up a node to make sure the Bitcoin network becomes even more decentralized. They are a bit like the Bitcoin Police!
The incentive for the NODES, who are most of the time USERS of the network, is to keep the Miners Honest since NODES do not get any Bitcoin rewards.
So now that the transaction has been validated by MINER …………………….
Your role is to put this transaction in the transaction list. Could you please add on your handout that I sent 0.002 Bitcoin to Daphne?
So here are the REAL Nodes on the Bitcoin Network.
https://bitnodes.earn.com/nodes/live-map/
These little Dots represent all the active computers that are watching over each other.
Third, Bitcoin is the Software that “RUNS” this network with specific rules that were determined in the Bitcoin white paper, with rules that are run by Mathematics instead of a Board of people like all the Currencies we currently have.
These rules cannot be changed unless 95% of NODES AGREE.
So who controls Bitcoin? Well to summarize, Bitcoin was invented by Somebody still Unknown with predetermined Rules that Nobody controls but Anybody can change those rules if Everybody agree, Simple Right?
Conclusion: EVERYBODY controls Bitcoin!
- My Next question was: What determines the price Bitcoin?
1)- Bitcoin’s price is not fixed but depends on Demand of its USERS and Supply of it’s “Manufacturers” who are the ….? Yes the Dwarfs from Snow white, the MINERS.
1 Bitcoin was worth U$D 0.003 in March 2010 and today over USD 3000. I had a very tough time understanding WHY
I thought to myself, that’s not really a GOOD Deal I am getting here, right! But After some research, this is what I found out:
1) The Currency has more actual Value NOW than at the start of it’s life 10 years ago.
By Actual value, I mean = You can Actually BUY stuff with it (Air tickets, Computers, Lambos, Real Estate in NY, London, Dubai or if you got into bitcoin real early there are Exotic Islands for sale for BTC).
Also, Many people Purchase Bitcoin and other Crypto assets to Store their wealth, to invest, Speculate or Hedge against other traditional asset classes.
The Bitcoin currency is limited to a max 21 Millions Bitcoins (with about 17 millions already in circulation) and the supply, currently at 12.5 Bitcoins every 10 minutes gets halved every 4 years.
Bitcoin’s “Business Model” was intentionally designed a bit similar to Gold. Who can change that Software? Well 95% of NODES, not MINERS need to agree to change any rules in the Bitcoin Software.
In comparison, if you understand a bit how FIAT Currencies work, then you start to say Ah OK, I CAN SEE CLEAR NOW ☺ why Bitcoin can over the long term Increase Dramatically compared to FIAT currencies. It’s just that for Bitcoin the supply is decreasing whereas for the other currencies the Supply is Increasing.
For example, did you know that the world reserve currency, the Strongest currency in the world, the mighty USD has lost … 95% of its VALUE in the last 60 years compared to GOLD! And If you do not trust me, trust google ☺
2) The Bitcoin Network is Also Better now as there are Many More Miners / Nodes to operate and specially SECURE the transactions. Bitcoin back in 2010 is a bit like facebook with 2 users. At that time, with 2 users facebook was not worth much, but today with billions of users, facebook is worth around 500 Billion USD. Experts call it the NETWORK effect.
The Number of Users has also increased from 3 millions beginning 2015 to nearly 35 millions wallets at the moment, with the number of transactions also increasing as you can see on the screen.
ALL these factors have made the price of Bitcoin what it is today.
- BUT Why is Bitcoin prices so volatile?
1)- Bitcoin Marketcap is around USD 65 Billions with about USD 5,10-20 Billions exchanged everyday. It is a Worldwide Market open 24/7. These Figures sound BIG right?
Coinmarketcap.com/
Now compare that with the US Stock market currently at around USD 26 Trillions, which in simple Terms mean USD 26,000 Billions, 400 Times More than Bitcoin in Size. And that’s ONLY the US
Even the GOLD marketcap is around USD 7 Trillion, about 100 times Bigger than Bitcoin.
So for Now, Bitcoin is like a small pond compared to the sea, and an OPEN pond for that matter, where anyone can use the pond, so it’s is much easier to create a disturbance in that small pond, specially if you come from the sea.
Compared to traditional finance, Bitcoin’s size can be like insects to Dinosaurs, but guess which species is still thriving and which one is only seen in Movies and Kid’s Books? That’s a shout out to my Banker friends who are here tonight ☺
- Can Governments / Banks destroy Bitcoin? Is Bitcoin Safe and Legal to use in Mauritius?
This question a bit like asking can governments destroy the internet? Well they could if they
1) Turn off all computers on the internet and in the world AND Keep them OFF for ever. (A bit farfetched but if that happens there will be “Gillets Jaunes” Worldwide in an instant !
2) AND bring down the 2 Bitcoin Satelites that can relay bitcoin transactions even if the Internet is down.
3) Buy all Bitcoins and then destroy them (Going to be very costly as Bitcoin Prices will Shoot up as soon as demand is much bigger than supply)
4) Hack the Bitcoin Network and Steal all the Bitcoins. (Well the Bitcoin Network has been Open to attack since day ONE, is constantly being attacked since it has a USD 65 Billion prize money but has never been hacked.
Note that Hacking the Bitcoin network is very different from the Wallet hacks that we hear about in the Media, that most of the time happen because people use FREE wifi, leave their Email running on their phone or PUT the same “1,2,3,4” password on all their accounts ☺
5) Make them illegal (As some countries like China, Vietnam, etc) Show
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country_or_territory
In fact, as long as there is 1 Node, 1 Miner operating and 2 users transacting, Bitcoin is up and running.
Bitcoin is exactly like Cockroaches in your home, you can always try to kill them all, but there’s always 1 or 2 hiding in your closet.
In Mauritius, the FSC recently declared Bitcoin and other Crypto assets as Commodities and Not legal tender, so it is as legal to trade Bitcoins as it is to trade GOLD, OIL or Mangoes.
Last note on that subject is since Bitcoin is an Open Internet Protocol and even IF one day Governments Manage to stop it one, anyone can recopy the code, improve it, call it NUL coin and voila a new version of Bitcoin is reborn. OH Wait, that’s already been DONE ☺
- Finally, What is its Future or is IT the FUTURE of Money? (Pros and Cons)
So what is the future of Bitcoin? Is it the Future of Money? Will it GO to ZERO or Is it the end of the Financial system as we know it?
Well, since Bitcoin is an OPEN system of Money made by the people for the people, whose Concensus or RULES depend on the Whole Community, it is UP to US to decide.
Thank you for your attention. Now I am keen to try to answer any questions you might have on Bitcoin before we go to the the Complicated part of the Night.
Q&A (10 min)
- Intro to Blockchain (10min)
All Bitcoin transactions are stored in a database called a Blockchain
Well a Blockchain is a way to store information that is secure, transparent, peer to peer, censorship resistant, and immutable.
To visualize it, if we all worked for the HIVE and shared an excel sheet of all our timetables with each other, where anyone of us could alter the data in that sheet at anytime without permission from anyone, and that as soon as there is a change in that excel sheet, all of our excel sheets update instantly, but no data cannot be altered in that sheet once it has been entered, and this excel sheet is stored on each one of our computers without a central server that could alter something on that excel sheet … Our excel sheet would be a Blockchain ☺
I am going to show you the NULS Blockchain, which is run differently from the Bitcoin Blockchain and on different computers.
https://www.Nuls.world
- The new generation of Blockchains, like the NULS Blockchain, not only stores “Money” but can also store “Smart Money” , “Smart Software” or “Smart Contracts”. And give a example of smart Money (Throwing a Can).
NOW that you have an idea of what Bitcoin is, what a Blockchain is, I would like to introduce you the NULS adaptable Blockchain. And It’s NULS guys , not NUL ☺
NULS is an OPEN Blockchain Project structured as a foundation with offices in China, Singapore and recently Sillicon Valley.
I was initially interested by the NULS Blockchain Project because I thought it was the total opposite of “NUL” ☺
NULS aims to be the Mcdonalds of the Blockchain world. But how can one compare a Fast Food chain with Blockchain? Well apparently Blockchain is a secure as turning a Chicken Mc Nugget back into a live Chicken ☺
No seriously, NULS is coming up in 2019 with a concept called the CHAIN FACTORY, where any enterprise or individual can create their own Blockchain and / or Decentralised Application according to their Needs by “sub contracting” the NULS Blockchain.
Each Blockchain or Decentralised App (DAPP) have a series of Parameters that have to be programmed like it’s Concensus Mechanism / Rules, Storage, Smart contract, etc etc.
On the NULS Blockchain, an enterprise can choose from a “Menu” for each of these these parameters, and can also change these parameters at any time even if the enterprise’s blockchain is already running.
In fact, NULS aims at simplifying the process of Blockchain applications, reduce their cost and development time to finally become the Mcdonald’s of Blockchains.
To finish with a BANG, We will now show you a 2 minute video introducing NULS:
- NULS introduction in 2 Minute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rgcxxaJrWs
I would like to invite our Winning Miner for tonight to come and create a NULS wallet, as we will reward him with 100 NULS for his “WORK” ☺
What’s NEXT? Well in the hand out given to you there is an article I have written entitled: “Why the World needs NULS … now” , it’s about how our lives will change with Blockchain in the next 10 years. Our next session will focus on the different types of Blockchains and also the different categories of Crypto Assets.
I would like to thank you for your attention, we have given you some homework for the next session ☺ and congratulations, you are now Officially a Bitcoin, Blockchain and Bullshit expert ☺
Q&A (15min)
List of handouts:
Steemit article to Explain how the NULS adaptable blockchain will change our lives in 10 years:
https://steemit.com/nuls/@sebastienng/why-the-world-needs-nuls-now

So Penny, as ou can see I tried to make that intro session as fun and entertaining as possible and at the same time grab the audience attention and make them participate.
The event attracted about 20 people on the 35 initially registered, as there were torrential rains on that day. There were some people late because of the rain, and after the session, there was an informal get together with snacks and drinks for networking (face to face
I, of course attended as the main speaker
There were some interesting questions of some business people and people in IT that asked what to do next if they want to build a Dapp on the NULS blockchain, or keep records on the NULS Blockchain, I told them to prepare their business case and to get back to me and I will gladly forward to the core team for review.
So the USD 300 that NULS would invest gets NULS:
-Exposure from Pre and Post marketing on social media
-The venue for each session (The next ones will be in different parts of the island)
- The time, energy , fuel to prepare and organise the session ( I met with the Hive manager at least 4 times to prepare the first event)
- A prize for 100 NULS to show a live NULS transaction
Yes, if I manage to get the funding, I can use some funds to order some NULS banners , NULS printed polos for better branding
As for the content, it is planned as a 3 part series: INTRO, Intermediate and Deep Dive. But if I get a request, I can re-do any of them at different venues for different crowds. The Intermediate session will focus on the types of Blockchains that exist and where NULS fit in that equation. It will also describe more NULS and be more technical. The third one can then be the official NULS presentation 
I hope I have answered a maximum of your questions, thanks for asking 
Regards,
Sebastien