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Author is making an argument against any blockchain or distributed ledger. To quote from article. "Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be b

Author is making an argument against any blockchain or distributed ledger. To quote from article. "Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be better done on a centralized database. Except crime." I'd like to see people look past the noise of cryptocurrencies to see how important digital trust and new applications of cryptography will be as we try to scale the ability of humans to work together effectively at scale.

vesinisa 5y ago
So, can you name one single successful application of blockchain in the real world? Apart from crime. I believe this is exactly the point of the author - there's lots of handwavy bubblebabble about this technology, but we're now well into the second decade of blockchain/distributed ledgers, and yet to see one single non-criminal real world application.
- chuckcode 5y ago
  I'd argue that git is a distributed blockchain that has been pretty impactful, it just doesn't use proof of work for validation. If it needs to be a company Ripple uses blockchain to help companies move currency safely around the globe. (https://ripple.com/ https://ripple.com/)
- anon9001 5y ago
  It's hard to believe $2.6T worth of crypto is all for criminal applications. Maybe you've overlooked something.
  - vesinisa 5y ago
    From just before the dot-com bubble burst to when it had fully deflated, the tech stocks had lost some $5T of stock market valuation - in 2002 dollars. So no, it's completely feasible that there is $2.6T of hot air speculative investment in cryptos. In fact, considering how divorced from practical and technical reality all of the proposed crypto schemes so far have been, that sounds like a low estimate. There is some value in providing shadow banking to the global criminal underworld, but I don't think it will be the next technological revolution.
exdsq 5y ago
Which is dumb because he works on a digital coin on a distributed ledger

vesinisa 5y ago

So, can you name one single successful application of blockchain in the real world? Apart from crime. I believe this is exactly the point of the author - there's lots of handwavy bubblebabble about this technology, but we're now well into the second decade of blockchain/distributed ledgers, and yet to see one single non-criminal real world application.

chuckcode 5y ago
I'd argue that git is a distributed blockchain that has been pretty impactful, it just doesn't use proof of work for validation. If it needs to be a company Ripple uses blockchain to help companies move currency safely around the globe. (https://ripple.com/ https://ripple.com/)
anon9001 5y ago
It's hard to believe $2.6T worth of crypto is all for criminal applications. Maybe you've overlooked something.
- vesinisa 5y ago
  From just before the dot-com bubble burst to when it had fully deflated, the tech stocks had lost some $5T of stock market valuation - in 2002 dollars. So no, it's completely feasible that there is $2.6T of hot air speculative investment in cryptos. In fact, considering how divorced from practical and technical reality all of the proposed crypto schemes so far have been, that sounds like a low estimate. There is some value in providing shadow banking to the global criminal underworld, but I don't think it will be the next technological revolution.

exdsq 5y ago

Which is dumb because he works on a digital coin on a distributed ledger