Blockchain Rant

[rupy]

The web is slowly saturating with these blockchain > bitcoin statements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43e6eAAeGCs
http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2015/04/02/how-bitcoin-will-end-world-poverty/
etc.

I would argue that the blockchain tech is really poor at doing anything else than virtual liquid functions.

The reason is simple, you don't want to put something physical and/or monolithic (like your house) in a system where; if you get hacked or loose your private key, you loose the physical goods!?

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[NUFCrichard]

Blockchains and the blockchain are good things and people are realising that instead of writing everything down, then having copies stored right left and centre, they can just have an online secure blockchain that will bring all modern transactions into the 21st century.

I agree that it isn't the main point of Bitcoin, but it is a big point of bitcoin.  Especially give that it is the best defended blockchain in the world, by a long way.

[Q7]

If your definition of having something physical which you can hang on to and touch in order to call it as having a value, I don't think there's any justification to it. Any form of wealth with value has the potential to lose it worth or even get stolen. House or property for example can lose its value due to geographical change like having something undesirable built close to it like factories, or destroyed by natural disaster and even when talking about gold, you can be robbed of it. So if you compare that with bitcoin, it is comparable in a way or another would be much better than any of these.

[ensurance982]

A blockchain could be are really, really useful backbone technology for banks for example. They need a specific protocol and means to "clear" their transactions from bank to bank. The blockchain is a very promising technology for that. And the token need to have value in order for the miners of said chain to have an incentive to keep the chain safe.

[pozmu]

The reason is simple, you don't want to put something physical and/or monolithic (like your house) in a system where; if you get hacked or loose your private key, you loose the physical goods!?

And how do you think it does currently work? Land registration system also rely on some form of information stored on paper or electronically.
You could argue that there are means to recover lost data... yeah, unless something catastrophic occurs e.g. war. And the ease of modifying your records means someone could alter them in their favor.
Blockchain data would easily survive war and it's impossible to tamper with. Lost private key? I don't think you would rely on single key for such things, you would have multiple people holding different keys + multiple backups etc.
Even if we would still need notary public offices to deal with real estate transactions so they could be somehow insured against lost key scenario I think it would be beneficial for everyone to have public ledger of... everything.

PS Private key could be derived from your body which would eliminate risk of losing it 

[iGotSpots]

I think the blockchain will eventually find more uses. Finances are really just the tip. For example, I could see them becoming useful is elections for smaller countries, in a very modified sense. The blockchain is a very solid backbone, but it's really just been born and needs time to mature a bit so people can see all the other uses a verifiable, public ledger can have

[Ron~Popeil]

I think the blockchain will eventually find more uses. Finances are really just the tip. For example, I could see them becoming useful is elections for smaller countries, in a very modified sense. The blockchain is a very solid backbone, but it's really just been born and needs time to mature a bit so people can see all the other uses a verifiable, public ledger can have

It can be used for elections in any size country. Before an election they could distribute wallets and each voter gets a coin or coins to send to the candidate or candidates of their choice. You could then watch things unfold in real time with a block explorer program. It would cost a lot less to have elections and virtually eliminate fraud.

[nextblast]

Admittedly Bitcoin is the first app of bitcoin blockchain. And blockchain can be used for other purposes besides bitcoin currency.
But the genius within Satoshi's solution to Byzantine's problem is the trio of Blockchain, PoW and Bitcoin the cryptocurrency.
Just like PoW has been there for a long time, it is not thought to be disruptive until the advent of Bitcoin. If blockchain is not tied the other two: the incentive mechanism and POW mining algorithm backed by huge hash power, this technology alone can be deemed worthless. It is no better than any (distributed) relational data base.

[Denker]

Admittedly Bitcoin is the first app of bitcoin blockchain. And blockchain can be used for other purposes besides bitcoin currency.
But the genius within Satoshi's solution to Byzantine's problem is the trio of Blockchain, PoW and Bitcoin the cryptocurrency.
Just like PoW has been there for a long time, it is not thought to be disruptive until the advent of Bitcoin. If blockchain is not tied the other two: the incentive mechanism and POW mining algorithm backed by huge hash power, this technology alone can be deemed worthless. It is no better than any (distributed) relational data base.

[/b]

That's it. But many "experts" on several "Blockchain conferences" seem to forget that. Andreas Antonopoulos was giving a very informative 30 min presentation to it at the MIT Bitcoin Expo. As you said a Blockchain without miners, giving security to it and the consensus if a transaction is a valid or not by proof of work, and without a reward where miners are doing their work for is nothing more than a classical database.
It's like MS Excel without the cells and lines for instance. Maybe not the best example but I guess you know what I mean.

[DeboraMeeks]

Admittedly Bitcoin is the first app of bitcoin blockchain. And blockchain can be used for other purposes besides bitcoin currency.
But the genius within Satoshi's solution to Byzantine's problem is the trio of Blockchain, PoW and Bitcoin the cryptocurrency.
Just like PoW has been there for a long time, it is not thought to be disruptive until the advent of Bitcoin. If blockchain is not tied the other two: the incentive mechanism and POW mining algorithm backed by huge hash power, this technology alone can be deemed worthless. It is no better than any (distributed) relational data base.

I think that blockchain 'technology' is going to be the next big buzzword. I can't wait for my boss to ask me when we're moving from the cloud to the blockchain!

[rupy]

And how do you think it does currently work? Land registration system also rely on some form of information stored on paper or electronically.
You could argue that there are means to recover lost data... yeah, unless something catastrophic occurs e.g. war. And the ease of modifying your records means someone could alter them in their favor.
Blockchain data would easily survive war and it's impossible to tamper with. Lost private key? I don't think you would rely on single key for such things, you would have multiple people holding different keys + multiple backups etc.
Even if we would still need notary public offices to deal with real estate transactions so they could be somehow insured against lost key scenario I think it would be beneficial for everyone to have public ledger of... everything.

PS Private key could be derived from your body which would eliminate risk of losing it 

Ok, today you have papers, one original paper I have in my banks vault and one attested copy of that paper the government has in their vault, both prove I own my house with signatures.

I agree loosing the private key is less of a problem than getting your key stolen. What then?

[Lexi Price]

I think the blockchain will eventually find more uses. Finances are really just the tip. For example, I could see them becoming useful is elections for smaller countries, in a very modified sense. The blockchain is a very solid backbone, but it's really just been born and needs time to mature a bit so people can see all the other uses a verifiable, public ledger can have

It can be used for elections in any size country. Before an election they could distribute wallets and each voter gets a coin or coins to send to the candidate or candidates of their choice. You could then watch things unfold in real time with a block explorer program. It would cost a lot less to have elections and virtually eliminate fraud.

I love the idea of the "votecoin" - but I doubt very seriously any world government will ever adopt it because it will thwart them in their habitual corrupt election rigging. If it's proposed in the most reasonable manner and the government rejects it, it's absolutely a confirmation they do't want the oversight and want to keep rigging elections and faking votes.

That said, if someone with the ability could set it up independently, even as your illustration so people could "vote with their wallets" (see what I did there!) it could be used, at the absolute least, as an "un-corruptable" mirror election to contrast whatever usual one is taking place. If Candidate A wins on the blockchain but candidate B wins real time, it'll go a long way in exposing election fraud. Or at least point a spotlight at it for further investigation.

The problem would be getting the masses to do it...after getting them to understand it to begin with. 

[ed_teech]

Blockchain is great technology for settling matters that give rise to dispute. Intellectual property is a great example. I remember a startup which settles diamond ownership through the blockchain.

[rupy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-ZTSao8HPk&feature=youtu.be&t=661

Ok, people are reacting to this blockchain > bitcoin crap... good!