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Ask HN: Should I Learn Blockchain?
11–15 of 15 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should I Learn Blockchain?
#12James Mickens gave an entertaining presentation about why blockchain is poorly suited for most application use cases: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15RTC22Z2xI
This is a good lecture. It gets at the heart of the matter. The best use-case I've heard is adversarial companies who need to cooperate on a project and share data. However, in real life, they don't need blockchains because if a party can't be trusted to share data then they don't meet the minimum requirements to participate in the project. Real life has incentives that mitigate the need for blockchains to the degree…
The big application is b to c transactions. A store owner can be trusted because of reputation level but a new customer less so. This solves the chargeback problem stores face.
Re: Ask HN: Should I Learn Blockchain?
#13It’s interesting to understand how it works. It’s not completely useless knowledge and it’s a good exercise. A bit like learning advanced maths at school. You will probably never need to do the same maths after but it’s good training and brain exercises.
Now, as others said you will probably never want to use a blockchain so you may not have to go too deep into the topic.
Re: Ask HN: Should I Learn Blockchain?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a good lecture. It gets at the heart of the matter. The best use-case I've heard is adversarial companies who need to cooperate on a project and share data. However, in real life, they don't need blockchains because if a party can't be trusted to share data then they don't meet the minimum requirements to participate in the project. Real life has incentives that mitigate the need for blockchains to the degree…
The big application is b to c transactions. A store owner can be trusted because of reputation level but a new customer less so. This solves the chargeback problem stores face.
For large transactions, consumer trustworthiness is why credit agencies were invented.
For smaller transactions where it doesn't make sense to run a credit check, there are other systems in place that would still need to be in place in some form even if all the transactions were recorded on a blockchain.
Like chargebacks as you mention. They're a consumer protection process that some unethical consumers abuse. The chargeback process can be initiated for stated reasons that are not related to how the transaction was recorded or stored.
Let's say the shady buyer can't dispute the monetary part of a transaction because it's on a black chain. They can still request a chargeback because they claim the product or service is not as expected.
The process and evidence to fight that would look like how it currently does. The blockchain doesn't solve the problem.
For the parts it can help with, those are already handled with well established processes. Transactions are stored and kept. Receipts are retained. The blockchain would add overhead without much real world gain.
Re: Ask HN: Should I Learn Blockchain?
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
The big application is b to c transactions. A store owner can be trusted because of reputation level but a new customer less so. This solves the chargeback problem stores face.
For large transactions, consumer trustworthiness is why credit agencies were invented. For smaller transactions where it doesn't make sense to run a credit check, there are other systems in place that would still need to be in place in some form even if all the transactions were recorded on a blockchain. Like chargebacks as you mention. They're a consumer protection process that some unethical consumers abuse. The ch…
That's a benefit. Removing expensive chargebacks and the cost to business. Customers can get refunds in the same way they do with debt cards or cash.
The benefits of not having Visa as the moral police. The potential privacy. Removing the fear /cost around chargebacks make this a very useful application.
Blockchain has good uses. Adoption / implementation are the challenges that must be overcome.