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Introducing A16Z Crypto

a16zcrypto.com

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Re: Introducing A16Z Crypto

#171

Post by dfox »

endlessvoid94 wrote: post #29

The skepticism of blockchain technology is borne out of a lack of specific problems it solves. Which happens to also be the bedrock of the conventional startup wisdom -- value derived from solving a problem or exploiting an opportunity. So much of the blockchain hype is focused purely on the technology and the valuation of the tokens / coins. Not the problem it solves. It's distributed trust. That's the problem it so…

The problem that blockchain solves is trusted timestamping and in that realm exactly same mechanism was used for a long time before it was called that. Various proof-of-something mechanisms layered on top of that solve the "distributed" part of the problem with varying degrees of trust and efficiency.

Re: Introducing A16Z Crypto

#172

Post by s73v3r_ »

unabridged wrote: post #79
hacknat wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the people on hacker news, myself included, aren’t skeptical of the technologicy of block chain. I grant Block Chain’s central technical premise, no other medium/platform/whatever can create decentralized trust wherein all you have to trust is the network. Where I think most of the criticism comes from is that many of us don’t see why this decentralization is actually all that valuable. Currency seems like th…

Decentralized trust is a way to "open source" a customer/merchant database. If centralized trust is required the company controlling it can charge people to use it, for example think of listing fees as ebay charging people for access to their seller ratings. Or uber charging people to access its driver ratings. With decentralized trust we could create a decentralized uber, where drivers get 99% of the money and 1% go…

"With decentralized trust we could create a decentralized uber, where drivers get 99% of the money and 1% going to developers and providers of decentralized insurance."

Why do we want decentralized Uber? Do we not want some basic vetting of the people who are driving us around? I imagine decentralized Uber isn't going to be too quick to remove drivers who sexually harass riders, if it does so at all.

Re: Introducing A16Z Crypto

#173

Post by tomc1985 »

dd36 wrote: post #170
tomc1985 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh.... oh it is. It's an old one. There are at least a dozen parties and counterparties involved in most trade because of currency, political, legal, and delivery risks. You, your trade partner, your bank, your bank's correspondence bank, their bank, their bank's correspondence bank, customs at ports of entry, shipping agents, and others, and they're all taking their time and their cut to manage your risks for you. I…

How does it tamper-proof better than existing solutions?

By reducing the coordination of truth between so many parties to an offline, distributed data-structure, in a way that assures integrity mathematically. As alternative to the constellation of approaches (email, IT integrations, filing cabinets full of records, etc) currently in use. With a global peer-distributed database you can change the risks with your truth provider to risks that the data doesn't update. Depending on a lot of factors I think that may be more desireable

That said I don't work anywhere near international trade, just recalling some stuff I learned in an old college class

Re: Introducing A16Z Crypto

#175

Post by adventured »

TrevorAustin wrote: post #70

Speaking as a longtime skeptic, A16Z has actually produced the single clearest answer I've seen to that question: blockchains may be good for bootstrapping new network effects by giving early participants in a network (in a Metcalfe's Law sense of network) an incentive to participate. Pure utility tokens can be like call options on the eventual value of the network if it gets off the ground. It's a novel way of solvi…

The problem with that approach, is it also destroys the network. You can never revoke the bribery once it becomes a core component of how the system functions and what drives it. The hyper contributor actions on the platform, which always make up a very large share of total contribution, ultimately drifts toward maximizing the gain of tokens and away from creating / contributing content solely based on quality.

Simply put, the quality of contribution when monetary consideration isn't the primary, is going to be higher.

Re: Introducing A16Z Crypto

#177

Post by narrator »

CPLX wrote: post #148
madeofpalk wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is solvable without blockchain though. Supply chain tracking already happens at the moment without Blockchain.

Indeed. And more to the point blockchain doesn't do a damm thing to improve trust. If someone in step three tosses the carrots out the window and uses a different batch the blockchain isn't going to get that information. The blockchain in this example doesn't add or reduce trust at all it's just a time stamped database of stuff people said. We have those already.

People lying has always been a problem with grand internet visions. Remember the semantic web? It never went anywhere because people lie in metadata. There would have to be some sort of reputation system for participants, but with that comes an independent adjudication system to determine who is telling the truth. This brings back centralization.

I was talking with some people I know who work on HyperLedger, which is really lightweight blockchain stuff connected to the Linux foundation, and they say the most used blockchain is the one used for tracking where diamonds came from. I guess they are unique enough, or identifiable enough that they can't be easily replaced by diamonds that came from outside the system.

Re: Introducing A16Z Crypto

#178

Post by karlmcguire »

> Second, the space is developing extremely rapidly, partly because the code, data, and knowledge is largely open source, and partly because of the increasing inflow of talent.

They seemed to conveniently leave out the biggest driving force behind blockchain technology: greed. I don't see how you can talk about the "rapid development" of blockchains and not mention ICOs and the type of armchair investors who gravitate towards them...

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