So why do we things? Why do we work at a job? Why do we trade cryptocurrencies? Why do you choose to watch these lectures? Well, it’s a pretty simple answer: Profit! Let me make that a little bigger for you.
Yes, profit! As you know intuitively, everything that anyone does is with the expectation of gaining some profit.
Each person’s definition of profit is different, but it’s pretty straightforward in Bitcoin: more money means more profit.
It’s such a simple word, yet this concept of profit will come up again and again throughout the rest of this course.
In fact, any type of incentive mechanisms within blockchain protocols focus on aligning personal profit with overall profit.
Pay good attention to this slide.
Yes, it’s very basic information, but this equation is fundamental to all incentive structures.
It is the fact that the profit equals revenue minus cost.
This means that, only if the revenue exceeds the cost, will you get profit.
Every single person in the Bitcoin network is presumably maximizing the value of their own profit to the best of their ability.