What is BitShares!!!
steemit·@minhazdipoti·
0.000 HBDWhat is BitShares!!!
 Answering the question “What is BitShares?” has been one of the most difficult challenges I have faced. BitShares is so many things to different people and there are a thousand different ways of understanding what BitShares is. This post will tell you what BitShares is to me, its founder. Before getting into the long-answer to this question, let me give you the executive summary. BitShares is one of the most important tools that any community can use to secure their freedom; an idea whose time has come. After reading this post I bet you will agree. All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come. - Victor Hugo There are many different layers at which we can understand BitShares. Each layer has its own benefit and usefulness.  ##BitShares is software At its most inner layer, BitShares is software. To be more specific, BitShares is a distributed multi-user database with update permissions managed by a defined set of rules and public key cryptography. At this level it isn’t very interesting to most people, but is still very important. Software is open source, easily copied and modified, and most importantly protected by free speech. This means that almost nothing can stop BitShares at this layer short of a global event that destroys almost all digital data. Governments once attempted to regulate cryptographic software as a weapon and impose export controls. Governments lost that battle long ago and no longer attempt to regulate or control the spread of free software. In the case of BitShares the software is in the Public Domain. ##BitShares is a network Moving up a layer, BitShares is a network. A network of computers owned by individuals all over the world run the BitShares software and keep their databases synchronized according to the rules defined by the software. The BitShares network can survive as long as there are at least two computers that can communicate with each other over the internet. This network of distributed computers ensures that the database is robust against failure. Every single computer on the network maintains a full copy of the database which means no one can change the public record. This immutable public record becomes the foundation of higher layers. ##BitShares is a Ledger A ledger is a database containing account balances and transfers among them. Every bank, company, and organization that deals in financial matters has a ledger that tracks who owns what. The BitShares ledger is very robust because it is built on the prior two layers: highly distributed network, that is fully transparent, and secured by the latest cryptography. Compare this to ledgers in use all around the world today. Ledgers based upon paper can be lost, stolen, modified, burned, or miscalculated. Digital ledgers managed by software such as Quick Books or Quicken are centrally managed, can be updated, changed, back dated, corrupted or otherwise misused. Advanced ledgers such as is in use by our banking system are still subject to human error, lack transparency, are only backed up a hand full of places and often times are internally inconsistent. Just ask the owners of MF Global where the depositors’ funds went? Ask any of the big banks who really owns the gold and how many times the same ounce of gold has been used as collateral; they cannot tell you with any degree of certainty. The ledgers in use today around the world are fundamentally broken when it comes to reliably tracking property rights. How do we know they are broken? Have you ever heard of cooking the books? Today’s ledgers have insufficient technological barriers against fraudulent edits; the ultimate protection is a manual audit, but audits are time-consuming, expensive, non-public and only as trustworthy as the auditor (think about Enron). The BitShares ledger changes the game by providing a badly needed advancement in accountability.