"European Central Bank: Still Too early for Blockchain Technology"

[iamTom123]

The blockchain technology holds a great promise and enormous potential but the way I see it we can understand that it is never perfect and there are still so many things to do and improve to make it as it should be in the future. The current debate on the problem of scalability is something like a little of a black eye for Bitcoin. I am sure that soon things can be good for the blockchain technology as it can be evolving making it perfect for anyone to use and adopt.

[aardvark15]

The European Union's central bank today once again shot down the idea that it might use distributed ledger tech as part of its market infrastructure in the near future.

Published alongside the latest annual report from the European Central Bank, released on  tuesday, was a feature on the tech. While largely written in broad strokes, the paper reiterates a position expressed in the past by ECB officials – namely, that the central bank isn't likely to tap distributed ledgers in the near future.

Do you think eurozone central banking should embrace distributed ledger technology?

I assume the blockchain technology they are talking about would be a private blockchain that they would create. I would expect that it would not be an open ledger but instead would be private.

The great thing about the Bitcoin blockchain is that it is an open ledger so it is public information. This is fundamentally different than some private blockchain that a bank or government would create.

[Ayers]

The European Union's central bank today once again shot down the idea that it might use distributed ledger tech as part of its market infrastructure in the near future.

Published alongside the latest annual report from the European Central Bank, released on  tuesday, was a feature on the tech. While largely written in broad strokes, the paper reiterates a position expressed in the past by ECB officials – namely, that the central bank isn't likely to tap distributed ledgers in the near future.

Do you think eurozone central banking should embrace distributed ledger technology?

it's no use for them now, they have their system which work good and don't have scaling issue, like bitcoin, if they are going to implent their own coin this coin would have the scaling issue, because could not handle what visa can today, and segwit isn't helping, segwit with LN could help bu still it's too new for them to grasp how it really work

[digaran]

DARPA is where usually new technologies come to life studied, developed, figuring ways to use it as weapon-in military and after 20-25 years they release the tech to the world, we can't possibly know what they have now, what kinds of extraordinary gadgets-applications-hardware-software they're using because that's the way for every country though not just US.

Bitcoin was like a shock to the tech communities and still is, there are people specialized in searching and finding for ideas and new tech constantly and that's the reason why Satoshi vanished after less than 2 years of blockchain launching.

Bitcoin should've stayed in labs, private and used for private sectors at least 15 years and then released as an open source and essentially free technology, and that's why price is high, community trust the system-concept because we all can see what sacrifices Satoshi made for the good of the people, his intentions were pure.

Now why would we care what some central bank thinks or uses? hell with them, because of them we're in crypto jungle, as decentralization is equal to a lawless jungle.

[deisik]

The European Union's central bank today once again shot down the idea that it might use distributed ledger tech as part of its market infrastructure in the near future.

Published alongside the latest annual report from the European Central Bank, released on  tuesday, was a feature on the tech. While largely written in broad strokes, the paper reiterates a position expressed in the past by ECB officials – namely, that the central bank isn't likely to tap distributed ledgers in the near future.

Do you think eurozone central banking should embrace distributed ledger technology?

I assume the blockchain technology they are talking about would be a private blockchain that they would create. I would expect that it would not be an open ledger but instead would be private.

The great thing about the Bitcoin blockchain is that it is an open ledger so it is public information. This is fundamentally different than some private blockchain that a bank or government would create

The blockchain technology is of no use to the government

As well as to banking systems, especially those built around a Central bank (read all fiat banking systems in existence today). This technology is useful in circumstances where people don't trust each other but trust the consensus (i.e. Bitcoin network). In the case of a banking system with a Central bank in the center, the Central bank is the blockchain ("I'm the law"). The same basically pertains to government. As you can see, there is no viable application where the technology could be of any help for centralized systems. It is excessive for them, they don't need it

[stompix]

The European Union's central bank today once again shot down the idea that it might use distributed ledger tech as part of its market infrastructure in the near future.

Published alongside the latest annual report from the European Central Bank, released on  tuesday, was a feature on the tech. While largely written in broad strokes, the paper reiterates a position expressed in the past by ECB officials – namely, that the central bank isn't likely to tap distributed ledgers in the near future.

Do you think eurozone central banking should embrace distributed ledger technology?

It is not question whether they should or shouldn't  - they simply cannot do it at all. How exactly would that work?
Blockchain which is not backed by significant number of hashing power is nothing more than glorified name for  standard database.
Do you think that few government servers would be enough to provide serious level of security for this tech?
Because I can't imagine that central bank would share their database with citizens or allow them participate in this project.

You're talking about bitcoin blockchain not the blockchain technology.
They will not use a blockchain that requires people to hash, they will use an internal blockchain not a public one.

There will be no hashing the way we know it, there will be no reward block.

They just aim at replacing their internal databases with this. It will not affect the the way they deal with clients.

[bitart]

The European Union's central bank today once again shot down the idea that it might use distributed ledger tech as part of its market infrastructure in the near future.

Published alongside the latest annual report from the European Central Bank, released on  tuesday, was a feature on the tech. While largely written in broad strokes, the paper reiterates a position expressed in the past by ECB officials – namely, that the central bank isn't likely to tap distributed ledgers in the near future.

Do you think eurozone central banking should embrace distributed ledger technology?

It is not question whether they should or shouldn't  - they simply cannot do it at all. How exactly would that work?
Blockchain which is not backed by significant number of hashing power is nothing more than glorified name for  standard database.
Do you think that few government servers would be enough to provide serious level of security for this tech?
Because I can't imagine that central bank would share their database with citizens or allow them participate in this project.

You're talking about bitcoin blockchain not the blockchain technology.
They will not use a blockchain that requires people to hash, they will use an internal blockchain not a public one.

There will be no hashing the way we know it, there will be no reward block.

They just aim at replacing their internal databases with this. It will not affect the the way they deal with clients.

This is really similar to what I wrote few weeks before, that it's possible that the clients won't notice that anything has changed or not behind the scenes. Banks only needs to change the 'software' that runs in the background, people will use the same UIs. If banks start to use an international blockchain system, clearing the payments for themselves (not for the clients'), the clients will only notify anything if the process times becomes shorter. If the process times won't be shorter, blockchain technology could be still interesting for the banks if they can cut down some of the costs with this kind of new system.
One thing could be also interesting to banks, it's the POS network. Most of the banks have a lot of POS terminals at the merchants, shops, and if bitcoin becomes mainstream somehow, they can just update their POS terminals' software to accept bitcoin payments, and they can redirect the payments to given addresses. In this case, they can make some profit on the fees, because they already have the hardware, so it won't cost them more.

[stompix]

The European Union's central bank today once again shot down the idea that it might use distributed ledger tech as part of its market infrastructure in the near future.

Published alongside the latest annual report from the European Central Bank, released on  tuesday, was a feature on the tech. While largely written in broad strokes, the paper reiterates a position expressed in the past by ECB officials – namely, that the central bank isn't likely to tap distributed ledgers in the near future.

Do you think eurozone central banking should embrace distributed ledger technology?

It is not question whether they should or shouldn't  - they simply cannot do it at all. How exactly would that work?
Blockchain which is not backed by significant number of hashing power is nothing more than glorified name for  standard database.
Do you think that few government servers would be enough to provide serious level of security for this tech?
Because I can't imagine that central bank would share their database with citizens or allow them participate in this project.

You're talking about bitcoin blockchain not the blockchain technology.
They will not use a blockchain that requires people to hash, they will use an internal blockchain not a public one.

There will be no hashing the way we know it, there will be no reward block.

They just aim at replacing their internal databases with this. It will not affect the the way they deal with clients.

This is really similar to what I wrote few weeks before, that it's possible that the clients won't notice that anything has changed or not behind the scenes. Banks only needs to change the 'software' that runs in the background, people will use the same UIs. If banks start to use an international blockchain system, clearing the payments for themselves (not for the clients'), the clients will only notify anything if the process times becomes shorter. If the process times won't be shorter, blockchain technology could be still interesting for the banks if they can cut down some of the costs with this kind of new system.
One thing could be also interesting to banks, it's the POS network. Most of the banks have a lot of POS terminals at the merchants, shops, and if bitcoin becomes mainstream somehow, they can just update their POS terminals' software to accept bitcoin payments, and they can redirect the payments to given addresses. In this case, they can make some profit on the fees, because they already have the hardware, so it won't cost them more.

Well I agree with the first part.
The second about pos and terminal I think it's out of question for a few or more or a lot more years to come.
It would mean such a radical change and just take a look at the credit card "revolution" in the us where it a headache to add a damn pin number.

And, sticking to the subject, it was the European central bank making the statement, and the ECB is not a commercial bank.
For them it will be far easier to implement the technology.

[deisik]

The European Union's central bank today once again shot down the idea that it might use distributed ledger tech as part of its market infrastructure in the near future.

Published alongside the latest annual report from the European Central Bank, released on  tuesday, was a feature on the tech. While largely written in broad strokes, the paper reiterates a position expressed in the past by ECB officials – namely, that the central bank isn't likely to tap distributed ledgers in the near future.

Do you think eurozone central banking should embrace distributed ledger technology?

It is not question whether they should or shouldn't  - they simply cannot do it at all. How exactly would that work?
Blockchain which is not backed by significant number of hashing power is nothing more than glorified name for  standard database.
Do you think that few government servers would be enough to provide serious level of security for this tech?
Because I can't imagine that central bank would share their database with citizens or allow them participate in this project.

You're talking about bitcoin blockchain not the blockchain technology.
They will not use a blockchain that requires people to hash, they will use an internal blockchain not a public one.

There will be no hashing the way we know it, there will be no reward block.

They just aim at replacing their internal databases with this. It will not affect the the way they deal with clients

Could you explain in simple words what advantage it gives them?

As I understand this banks don't make payments directly to themselves, they basically use their accounts in the Central bank to effect such payments. The blockchain technology as it can be applied to banks (at least, in the sense you mean it) would mean excluding the Central bank from the process altogether. And why would the CB want to endorse that? Banks can't do that on their own since that would mean inevitable and inexorable recall of a banking license

[zimmah]

Trying to use a private blockchain is like trying to use intranet.

it just doesn't offer much value at all over old systems. 

the power of blockchain (and the internet) is the accessibility. If you try to close it down, it loses its purpose.