Bitcoin Forum

This question has been pondering me for sometime now,

Blockchain technology is revolutionary right? But can blockchain really took off without bitcoin? or are they really interconnected as others may have put it?
So imagine:

1. Bitcoin without Blockchain or;
2. Blockchain without Bitcoin

It's like the Chicken-Egg causality dilemma, which comes first?

bitcoin is built on blockchain technology, it can not be built in it's current form without the underlying technology because it relies on it's features.

Blockchain technology is used in many other projects, even outside the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Bitcoin not blockchain.

Why? Simply because Bitcoin is the only one that's somewhat proven to actually have a viable use-case. Sure, you could argue that Ethereum smart contracts and whatever, but man people are overly underestimating how clunky and how centralized the Ethereum ecosystem is. We're yet to see a different blockchain that could actually get to the level Bitcoin is at.

I think bitcoin (the currency) is the native coin of its Blockchain/network.
It is more like asking "can an independent country survive without it own "independent" currency?" I guess yes, but not a good idea.

You could however build a centralized "blockchain" and include external currency/currencies, or probably without any currency.

It would be just like your subject sans the question mark-- Bitcoin and Blockchain.


Bitcoin wouldn't have come into existence without Blockchain. However, later developments would allow you to transact BTC outside the Blockchain.


The idea of blockchain came way before Bitcoin was born. And until now blockchain is in use outside Bitcoin.

Even though Ethereum has its issues but it set up new benchmark for cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Earlier developers were only concentrating on currency aspect but Ethereum gave equal weight-age to currency as well as data. It facilitated storage of static data in blockchain which could be used to run applications (smart contracts). It surely opened new dimension on how people looked towards blockchain and many coins/projects were founded thereafter concentrating on the idea of storing data on blockchain and use it with cryptocurrency.

Maybe we don't have blockchain as decentralized as Bitcoin's currently but I am sure blockchain will emerge as a big player in SaaS market in upcoming years. It's use-case isn't limited merely to record transactions.

PS: Custom data can be saved on bitcoin's blockchain as well but we all know how expensive and useless that is.

Yes, in fact many argue that blockchain is the real winner in terms of technological achievements versus bitcoin or cryptocurrency.  There are a lot of companies out there working with the blockchain but not with bitcoin at all.  Two large companies to note are both Amazon and Microsoft.

Sure. Ethereum has always been really interesting for me, and yes you can do those "smart contract" stuff. But it's missing one of the main points of having a cryptocurrency— decentralization. The DAO hack is one unfortunate but perfect example of this; the fact that the blockchain could significantly easier to be manipulated one way or another.

We could say blockchain is the way that bitcoin storage it's data, you could try to make a bitcoin with SQL and it will work, not as efficient as blockchain but is the way you can understand blockchain role.

Bitcoin was the first application blockchain has ever, but now you can see a lot of people building some nice tools with blockchain, even i could bet in the future the banks will use that technology, It is the right way to storage info.

Blockchain was outlined in early 90's and was first used with bitcoin, because why not? bitcoin transaction needs to be recorded digitally and so the blockchain helped it to made possible. I could not agree more, bitcoin would not exist without blockchain. Developments such as off-chain transfer does not have any effects, the value is still there no matter what and they can only send it to another wallet by swapping private keys.
I'm just worried on it when it comes to traceability, it may be used in some illegal ways.

The reason why blockchain is a big word right now is because it fully scales digitally, so there is a huge possibility that we are getting an adaptation more on blockchain than bitcoin.

Maybe you are confused. Bitcoin works thanks to blockchain, or in other words, the mechanism of action of Bitcoin is Blockchain. Bitcoin is a product of Blockchain. When Satoshi defined Blockchain, he created a product that works on that principle, which is Bitcoin. If comparing between Bitcoin and Blockchain, I consider Bitcoin as fish and Blockchain as water. Fish without water, fish will die. As for the water without fish, it still holds its value!

What the people above me are saying is that Blockchain can work without Bitcoin nor any other currency. It doesn't need to have a currency to work, there are projects that only use blockchain as part of saving information as database. There was a project which is about an electoral system which is using blockchain to process all data and counting.

I think this is not really true. Maybe because bitcoin which is the first to be built on blockchain technology. You cant do anything on bitcoin blockchain except to send and received bitcoin. Other blockchain technology such as Ethereum have been able to make the usage of the technology not only limited to send and receiving crypto but creation of other smart contracts for extendable usage. If you say bitcoin blockchain technology is most decentralized it is ok but that does not take out the fact that it is being made centralized by third parties such as the centralized exchange platforms in which most people trade on them today

I think it can. Blockchain is more than just bitcoin or any cryptocurrency. It is slowly changing the world. There are a lot of projects in any industry that are incorporating blockchain technology such as in retail, healthcare, cybersecurity, and I think some government. It is really one search away.

I had never thought about it but I did an internet search and found a good explanation of the idea of ​​separating Bitcoin from Blockchain or Bitcoin without Blockchain. I share the idea that we can support all the improvements that are being made in blockchain and bitcoin should exist because it is the main and only currency that has achieved this revolution.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/blockchain-without-bitcoin-possible-or-practical-2015-06-03 (https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/blockchain-without-bitcoin-possible-or-practical-2015-06-03)

your question is somewhat like asking "can Linux take off without C language". you can't remove C from Linux because it is written in C (and assembly) so such question makes no sense. but at the same time C is used for other things, for example Windows is also partially written in C. there are also lots of other programs that are written in C because C is the building block.

same here, bitcoin introduced the technology and it is using it the best way so far. others can also use the technology to build different products and they have done it hundreds of thousands of times so far and been poor products.

Theoretically blockchain was the first. The first work on a cryptographically secured chain of blocks was described in 1991 by Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta. In 1992 they incorporated Merkle trees to the design, which improved its efficiency by allowing several document certificates to be collected into one block. But the fist "modern type" blockchain was conceptualized by Satoshi Nakamoto. Although, now blockchain is separated from Bitcoin, Bitcoin can't exist without blockchain.

I believe you can't use paper money without having the records on paper, be it's you who keeps it on paper or on your mind (by doing cash transactions) or if you do it through banks then the banks have your records. If you don't have records, everything is black money. So, for your money to remain clean in a centralized climate, records are kept either by you or banks. Same is the case here, as when Bitcoin was introduced, it was meant to be used as money and so, Blockchain was the technology that deemed fit in order to keep the transactional records transparent as well as accurate.

It's difficult to argue with the chicken-egg thing. Which comes first?  :D
Don't use that in your everyday life.  ;D

How about a lady with an affair.
Blockchain (lady) experienced love at first sight with Bitcoin and marry him.
But she got infatuated with another and tried to fool herself that she is in love with the new guy. 
She(blockchain) at a distant future tried to weigh the performance of the gentlemen.
But she will never forget the first love which is the best of all.

There will always be a new creation in the blockchain but there won't be anything the same as Bitcoin ever.
They might copy it or mimic how it works but starting from scratch is not that easy.
It's the roots of it that keeps it standing.

Blockchain can do without Bitcoin, but Bitcoin can't do without Blockchain. Blockchain has been around for long, but there was no use for it for as much as I can remember. So, Bitcoin played the key role of making Blockchain popular. It was after Bitcoin was created that people started to think of other ways that the Blockchain can be used. As for now the only thing that has been achieved with Blockchain is just the transaction part and nothing else. Other things that has been said to be possible includes voting, education, etc. Let's look forward to all that.

So, you can understand now that blockchain technology is something which makes bitcoin possible. It is kind of distributed ledger where our bitcoins resides and our transactions are recorded in a manner no one could manipulate on own wish.

I always wonder on in what other possible ways bitcoin would have been designed along with no central authority to issue bitcoins and to verify bitcoin transactions? I could not find an answer for it. So, to have a decentralization, we must need blockchain to govern all these things yeah blockchain is taking care of what a central authority or a engine (the core part of a software) in a software/business is doing for example paypal (issuing of new money is missing).

Bitcoin is not the first blockchain project but it is the first successful blockchain project that serve a purpose,especially in finance. Now we have some developments with blockchain idea and purpose but does not bear the name. Some of the improvement in the blockchain line is the smart contract but we later see the improved version that looks more secure and gave the second coinmarket cap a threat for the adoption and use.

So right now, the rise of blockchain technology is owed to bitcoin. It makes this technology popular to many. It paves the way on realizing that blockchain tech has a lot of benefits if utilized correctly. So right now, we are grateful that bitcoin is invented via blockchain tech. It opens a lot of doors for this technology.

Blockchain without bitcoin comes first. Blockchain can exist without bitcoin existing but it can’t be the opposite way because bitcoin and other coin are built on the blockchain. Blockchain is the foundation.

Before claiming that blockchain is more important than bitcoin, please consider some features that make blockchain an unique technology. What is interesting about blockchain in case of bitcoin network. It holds an information about transactions made within the network. That information cannot be erased or rewritten without doing some expensive work. Everything is slow inside blockchain, it is essential aspect to provide a decent security, otherwise full nodes wouldn't be able to check if consensus rules are followed. No one would want to maintain security in the network on blockchain without an incentivizing aspect such as block reward in native currency. To provide a security on a decentralized basis, the network must have something that makes its participants to operate honestly. If consesnsus rules are not respected by someone, that participant cannot recieve a reward or propagate a transaction. If there is only technology without any rules then it will be look like an ordinary database where you can change everything you want. Blockchain like that had existed before bitcoin, but it wasn't interesting and unique back then.