No, this isn’t an announcement of our long-awaited “DDCoin” cryptocurrency—I just want to highlight a recent update to the classification approved as part of EPC Meeting 144A.
We had been getting requests for coverage of the interrelated topics of blockchains and cryptocurrency. A few years ago, we mapped the LCSH Bitcoin to 332.4 Money and considered it in standing room there. We knew there would be more to do, but it’s common in the editorial process for an LCSH mapping to lead the way like this.
When I sat down to create the proposal, I knew I wanted to address both cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange (i.e., the type of usage we were thinking of when we mapped bitcoin to 332.4) and as an investment vehicle. Investors can buy, sell, or hold regular currency as an investment too, but this aspect is especially salient with cryptocurrency.
I also wanted to give a good home to blockchains, the type of secure database system underlying most cryptocurrencies. I knew that would probably be somewhere in computer science, since blockchain can be applied in other areas as well.
You can view the full exhibit for the whole story, since it was accepted without amendment. Ultimately, we decided to continue cryptocurrency from 332.4 to 332.4048, a new subdivision under 332.404 Forms and units of money. The new number has a scatter-see reference for usages such as cryptocurrency banking services and cryptocurrency as an investment.
In computer science, we continued blockchains to 005.7588, under 005.758 Distributed data files and databases. This means that you can build a number, via standard subdivision T1—0285 Computer applications, for blockchains in different areas, e.g., blockchains in medical records management 651.50426102857588.
For such complex topics, I think the work involved in getting them into DDC was fairly straightforward. We also considered a subdivision for specific cryptocurrencies, but most don’t have sufficient literary warrant. It’s something we could explore in the future, though.
Finally, if you’ve ever tried to learn about these topics on your own, you probably quickly realized that there are a ton of sources telling you about how great crypto is and why you should invest in it—a lot of noise that can make it hard to find reliable information. I wanted to put in a good word for Anders Brownworth’s Blockchain 101 on YouTube, which explains blockchain technology in a really clean, concise way, with good examples. If you want investment advice, though, you’ve come to the wrong blog!
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