Bitcoin Forum

Although of course it seems unlikely, all good things must come to an end and someday, in the distant future, the blockchain technology will fail. When it happens, what could replace it? Is there anything out there that functions similarly and just as good and reliable as blockchain? More importantly, if nothing replaces it, what will happen to cryptocurrencies then? Any ideas?

Yes...if bitcoin fails today, lots of lot's altcoin are ready to replace bitcoin. To mention few as to me is Ripple, ETN, etc. If one should check this altcoins, lot's of improvement has made and measures has been taken to replace bitcoin in the market if need be though it will look difficult and impossible.

OP meant the blockchain technology,which happens to be the technology on which the bitcoin was built upon..
Have the banks failed,and are they looking for any possible replacements for banks?.. Uhm...i think they answer is no..

Thus why should we look for replacements or even conceive the thought that a technology which happens to be public but unalterable,carries out transactions faster,lower transactions fees and is safer will come to an end..
There is no end for the blockchain technology,there are even more use cases for the technology this days other than the bitcoin,which just goes to show that it'll be adopted mainstream soon

Simple logic why would blockchain fail if all of us wants it ? Because as you said you are going to look for another technology with the exact use of it like now, So for me there is no reason to find another one with the same purpose instead we need to support the existing one to make it trusted by others.

I have no idea. I think no need to think too much about it for now. Blockchain is a new technology, it has just begun to be adopted massively around the world. It potentially makes its existence lasting with its various advantages. Therefore, it is not the right time to speculate the failure.    

I don't see any plausible reason why the blockchain technology would fail, it is a block ledger system and a protocol that can be used and manipulated to suit demend using different algortithms. There is no agenda set for it.

And the 'all good things must come to an end' is a common slogan, but that's all it is, common. Not factual.

blockchain will not fail, maybe the right sentence is whether in the future there will be better technology and able to replace the blockchain? because basically the blockchain itself has updated the conventional system that was before, then is the conventional system (eg a bank) called a failure? obviously not, they are quite good and useful in their time, and now it is the turn of the blockchain to take over.

Well the blockchain technology has not even started to be maximise full now so there is still a far future for the blockchain technology and it would not fail rather it would be developed on

OP is talking about blockchain not just bitcoin itself, learn how to differentiate things and read carefully.

If blockchain fail then most of cryptocurrency will fall. But it seems unlikely like you've said and its obvious. Blockchain is just in infancy stage, price doesn't matter, adoption matters. As long people use blockchain as a technology then fall is not possible.

Nothing I guess. But I think Governments from all over the world are still going to come up with a new digital currencies for their own country.

depending on why it fails, we may not need to find a replacement. we may just need to fix the immediate problem. for example, when ECDSA is broken, we'll just hard fork to a new signature algorithm, which shouldn't be too controversial because it'll fix a life-or-death protocol failure. that's why quantum computing isn't necessarily all that scary.

in my opinion if bitcoin fails then other altcoins will fail too, we'll see today where bitcoin prices go down and other altcoins follow, if the bitcoin fails then there will be no more trust for altcoins in the eyes of investors

There is currently no. If the blockchain is replaced by a newer technology that is better than the blockchain system, it can happen. But not for now. The blockchain system is present by changing a centralized approach to being decentralized so that this technology becomes the choice for carrying out financial transaction processes rather than using a banker system

fiats!

It depends on if you're talking about BlockChain technology as a whole, or Bitcoin itself.

If Bitcoin were to fail (and by failing, I'm assuming you mean falling to a price level where virtually no one takes it seriously/trades it - which is very unlikely) - then yes, a worthy alt coin opponent will probably take it's place.
If the BlockChain concept fails, well then we will probably resort to fiat methods until another type of "digital money" is produced.

No it won't fail, anymore than the internet or computers fail. Go read a book rather than start terrible threads.

Good topic as there were new technologies have been made to replace blockchain. What we're talking about here is technology that is as fast as you can imagine, so it won't be that long for it to be replaced if something has been invented to surpass its mechanism in general.

Well the only other alternative to a decentralized Blockchain are all those old outdated legacy databases that were used in the financial world. We cannot go back to those old systems and the new technologies that are in development are also based on Blockchain technologies.  :P

The next evolution of payment systems will be something that are controlled by the mind/brain or some implant.. but the network backing that must be decentralized for it to be effective and secure.  ::)

Bitcoin just started the next evolution of payment networks.  ;D

The 'failure' you are looking at is too vague to address, IMO, and hard to really give comments on. In my POV, I can't see a single point of failure for a blockchain but perhaps due to bad coding or negligence from developers that will lead to it failing on the technical side is a more plausible scenario. As of now there are no better alternatives that can match the technicalities and qualities a blockchain can offer, and if ever there is one, I'm pretty sure it will be the same concept as a blockchain would be.

Block-Chain was just a rip off from something used by BitTorrent and if it's so good then how come the BTC Lightning network
and it's banking hubs did as much as they could to distance themselves away from it ?

In programming terms it's just a linked list with Hash values of pages, useful but is not such a great revolution as parrot
speakers make out it is.

The real revolution in software that has been stuck with "OO" for the past 40 years is coming, getting closer by the day and
is going to be AGI developing it's own new programming language that will then in a matter of hours lead to a singularity and
mankind won't be needed in the loop any longer or even understand what has happened.

Good or bad it's coming and I advise everyone to do their own research on AGI not AI because that's old hat by now.

 

Blockchain isn't going anywhere. It's a fundamental technology and will continue to be developed and refined.

Whether individual coins will continue or fail and be replaced is another question.

Another technology will take its place, in case blockchain fails means that it was not as good as we thought, and did not call the interest of enough people, sure enough already in development we have some technology for transfers and development, which we have not yet heard, and is waiting for his opportunity to shine.

Block-chain is not important, it's just a rehash of something BitTorrent was using long before Bitcoin came along so stop acting like parrots in
repeating something few of you here really understand unless you want to talk about double ended link list with me.

A digital coin of some type that will scale to billions of micro transactions per hour and not just nine per second like on-block
BTC transactions is whats coming (like it or not) but it's not for the benefit of mere humans and is a fundamental requirement for
"The internet of things" and machine to machine (M2M) transactions but the big one is AGI and you should not confuse this with AI
because as a programmer this AGI scares the shit out of me and it's moving much faster towards us every time I look at it.

Did you know that not only can a machine play and win 100 grand chess master at chess and win them all at the same time but AGI can take
ten lawyers on who are all working as a team in court and still manage to win trial test cases !

When the machine says jump, jump will you because this is where we are heading and it won't take twenty years but more like five and
remember that no one asked you if you liked the new rules of the game.

See DTube if you want to see how only those with digital coins will have a say on the internet of tomorrow and then guess what will happen
when bits of software own all the coins and see robots become citizens, sorry already happened, Hi Sophia

   

First of all, there is no sign have seen yet to happen what you said. As crypto users and the different organization wants this amazing technology so there is no logical way to think blockchain will fail rather than it will exist in order to meet people's demand. From my point of view, we should not think alternative one instead of the blockchain.

Blockchain technology is disruptive and revolutionary and in my opinion it will increasingly be used by all types of industry, mainly because it is able to provide transparency, security and trust in transactions.

maybe DAG like BlockLattice by Nano
it's more efficient than Blockchain
but who know just IMO

The OP isn't asking about if bitcoin fails, s/he is asking about if blockchain fails.

There is no replacement for blockchain technology today. Your question is as mind blowing as saying "if the internet failed" what could replace it? The answer is nothing. But the only way for blockchain to fail is if people stopped using it. Blockchain is an infrastructure...like roads or a highway. It exists. It can't fail. It can only not be used.

As long as people are willing to invest on the block chain technology there is no chance for it to fail and it would be upgraded time after time. I think it would be upgraded on the different name too when the people want some innovation from it. off course we have also the crypto currencies supporting it all the time for the block chain to be success.

If the blockchain fails then we will all have to live with a centralised financial system. However, crypto is too big to fail now, we even have countries like venezuela depending on it. Soon others will follow and crypto will get bigger

We are currently adopting the tech behind of all cryptos which is blockchain and what gives the benefit of this technology in our society? Well we need to have a secure network, decentralized process and transparent transaction.

I fully expect there to be something better eventually. The things that make blockchains appealing are immutability and decentralisation. As it stands you pay a heavy price for that in terms of inefficiency and expense. There must be a better way and one day it'll be revealed. I don't think that'll means the death of the existing ledgers. I expect there'll be an orderly migration across to better systems. By that point there'll be untold amounts of valuable information that needs maintaining.

In what terms that blockchain fails us? Well, in 9 years of bitcoin existing, there is no problem dealing with blockchain technology. As a matter of fact, it is used by many companies around the world by now. If blockchain technology will fail to give us decentralization then it fades long time ago. But because of its good usage in our society, it becomes the trend.

maybe blockchain will changed by the other system that will have more good system and more good benefit. maybe blockchain will obsolete and will changed with other system

And you came up with this thesis how?? That is an opinion first of all, and one I belive is a bit foolish.  The blockchain is a program, and therefore it is programmable.  For instance Forks, installation of SegWit and the Ligtning Network.  The blockchain can me reworked over and over and will only become more effecient with time.  To simply say "all good things must come to an end" is really a missinformed statement.  You didn't provide any solid material for your predictions here other than that opion.

Probably a powerful human microchip implant capable of transmitting and receiving signals wherever you are connected to a central monetary database controlled by the government.

Maybe you're wrong. the question is if the blockchain fail, not bitcoin fail???

I strongly believe that at that time there is no technology can replace blockchain.

why should it fail when it is growing stronger every day?
bitcoin is being developed and improved on consistent basis and on the other side of the market among altcoins despite all the shitcoins that have taken up the top ranks, you can still see improvements of the technology with interesting projects although they don't thrive because of pump and dump altcoins on top.
and don't forget that the technology is new and is advancing so it can not fail. it is like asking what will replace the telephone when Bell first created the first one!

Not all things come to a horrible ending, I don't think Blockchain will fail either, In my mind I am thinking of Blockchain in the future but with an improved overall, they'll probably team up with some big companies and when this happens, I think Blockchain is going to be bigger and better and most especially stronger that what it is right now.

Artificial intelligence and Big Data are the next big things. It will take 20-30 years maybe, but we will turn to use it for sure in the future for anything in our life. It's already used but by the time we will have a better technology.

Blockchain is a special combination of three technologies, namely the internet, private key cryptography, and protocols (software) that regulate incentives. and if the blockchain fails it needs to be added maybe its security technology because the crypto market is still often hacked

First of all, I really can't think of any foreseeable reason why the blockchain that is underlying the bitcoin network would fail.

As long as there are people using it, and that the network doesn't get exploited big time (which it has shown the ability to be secure over the last decade), then blockchain will not "fail" and will continue to run even if prices do drop drastically which I don't think is that probable either.

Potentially quantum computing will see problems for blockchain, but right now, that still seems distant. But for sure, it's not like blockchain is going to be something that will not be replaced in the future by potentially better technologies, but it's the best practical one for decentralised online transactions right now. I'm not sure practically speaking anything else would be able to replace it at the moment.

This is only if and I think will not happen. Because the blockchain worked out since the bitcoin was born 10 years ago, and I think it's enough to say that it's the root of each other. To say if it could just be a weaker blockchain than before and no blockchain will disappear :-\.

blockchain unlikely to fail. even now many programmer improving it. with better hardware, blockchain will only getting better. its not gonna fail as long internet is still here.

That's one of the things that I wonder about. It must be something better. But there is nothing that goes bad for Blockchain yet. Only the price of Bitcoin is falling.

I think that manyy cryptocurrencies will fail before blockchain. Purpose of blockchain is not only related to crypto.

Blockchain is here to stay,for the fact that adoption of the blockchain is becoming so viral with a massive adoption,it is becoming impossible for a fail and should in case Bitcoin falls than other altcoins will also fall as well.

Block chain is the core in which BTC is built and regardless BTC's destiny, it has a wide range of ways how it can be used. It is already being used separately from BTC and for completely different industries. The progress will definitely move it forward and force it to upgrade or fail, but I don't believe it will happen in the near future. At some point, some AI will replace it, but not anytime soon.

Blockchain won't "fail" because it's simply a technology and methodology to enable the flow of value and data that is immutable and transparent. There are tons of use cases that benefit from these factors, and just as the internet enables the information superhighway, blockchain enables the value superhighway, where value can flow freely and efficiently, and we can do commerce, and transact trustlessly.

I have read somewhere about quantum computers.

Blockchain probably won't fail, along with the advanced tech upgradation it will grow and develop more rapidly. AI and Big Data as you said will also be the next big thing. IT industry is in the search of AI, Blockchain and Data professionals and it is growing, showing good signs of the upcoming revolution. Probably Blockchain is a system, and upon which cryptocurrencies function, so coin might fail but the technology will be there.

Blockchain as a system justifies itself so far and will justify itself for a long time. There are no problems with it - it functions as clearly and correctly as possible and will develop and function further. If you mean what will happen to bitcoin if it is fully depreciated, then another cryptocurrency will come in its place and the process will be repeated again.

Do you  mean BTC fail or blcokchain ? i dont think blockchain could fail its realy great technology and even people who dont like BTC and cryptoes, talk about blockhain as a great thing,even some countries start do elections on blockchain and as i know some countries even have notary on blockchain.

Blockchain is here to stay, its not desgined to fail.

I'm going to go against what the others are saying and think that it's possible some other technology might come to replace it. Blockchain is a technology, and technology is advancing fast. Old school televisions have been replaced with flat screen TVs, then it was upgraded to Smart TVs and now there's even curved TVs. All same "technology" but just have been upgraded and evolved from its predecessors. It will be the same with blockchain. We don't know why and how it will "fail" but if and when it does, some other technology will emerge to take its place.

The world is progressing and technology, too, but if the blockchain is compared with the opening of the Internet and if so it is unlikely that it will replace something in the future.

I don't think Blockchain will ever fail. If it does in the coming future, all coin including Bitcoin and other altcoins will not be used anymore by people. Basically, they will use back the corporate bank instead.

Why does it happen, we should first solve what is the problems with it right now, and leave other things for people to come. Blockchain is the crux of the technology in this era and now we have to get this accepted first.

If Blockchain fails, it's back to centralised databases for everyone. At best, they might construct immutable databases. But, that's a poor fix for the "trustless, permissionless" requirement problem. Hence, some might be tempted to try out the half-way fix of the Hyperledger, and sharding, etc. But then, that's still technically "Blockchain". So, it's difficult to imagine how Blockchain might fail entirely, because there are layer upon layers of it's functionality; most of them being the ones that won"t disappear even if one or a few of the other layers gets discredited.

I agree more when you speak 'it seems impossible' because until now there is no country that has refused the existence of blockchain, even most of them are amazed by this technology. Blockchain is the first digital ledger in the form of decentralization, the blockchain function is very broad not only as a tool to record all transactions, even a hospital can safely store disease diagnoses on the blockchain. Only a little chance the blockchain will fail, even in the future blockchain will develop as with other technologies.

But then if it collapses and the governments from all over the world came up with new digital currencies, where would it run on? Do you think they will create a new technology that will make crypto exchanges possible?


Of course, it can always be fixed. However, I was thinking a worst case scenario where what if changing algorithms doesn't work? Could something else arise that is similar to blockchain but also not?


Really? There is? Like what? I don't know such a thing actually exists. Can you share with us please?