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Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

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Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#101

Post by rohamg »

Asking "what is blockchain good for other than cryptocurrencies" is like asking "what is internet good for other than websites" pre-broadband

Blockchain TODAY is the backbone for a $200B financial system that lets you store or transfer billions of dollars worth of value within minutes for cents in transaction fees, completely peer-to-peer with no middle men

Scalable blockchains will generalize this same benefit to let developers add crypto into any kind of application (just like we had web-apps, we'll have crypto-apps):

– Instant global p2p payments

– Completely transparent, efficient marketplaces / clearinghouses with no switching costs

– Ability for users to own their own data and assets, removing liability for platform operators but also eliminating lock-in

– Open source, open state, serverless code that runs directly on-chain and thus can be built on with no platform risk (google "blockchain composability")

– Software that can be governed / controlled by the users that have stake in it

Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#102

Post by louwrentius »

alanfalcon wrote: post #100

In this whole thread, there's not one mention of the word "scarcity". Blockchain allows for digital scarcity. For me, the problems that blockchain solves, it solves through the creation and enforcement of real digital scarcity. I find that it's not hard to imagine some problems that exist due to the lack of digital scarcity (pre-blockchain). I invite you to open your mind and imagine some for yourself.

I don’t understand what this ‘scarcity’ would mean. And you give no relevant examples.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#103

Post by rohamg »

rohamg wrote: post #101

Asking "what is blockchain good for other than cryptocurrencies" is like asking "what is internet good for other than websites" pre-broadband Blockchain TODAY is the backbone for a $200B financial system that lets you store or transfer billions of dollars worth of value within minutes for cents in transaction fees, completely peer-to-peer with no middle men Scalable blockchains will generalize this same benefit to le…

That said there are many examples of blockchain being useful in smaller settings, e.g.:

> "Last June, 10 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies – including Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline – announced they would pool data for an AI-based search for new antibiotics, which are urgently needed as antibiotic-resistant bacteria have proliferated across the world, threatening the growth of untreatable disease. > That historic agreement was made possible by the development of a secure, blockchain-based system that allows an algorithm to search rival companies’ data with full traceability – but without revealing commercial secrets to competitors. The advantage of using blockchain is that companies can trust the code rather than their partners." [1]

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/02/corona...

Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#104

Post by louwrentius »

xupybd wrote: post #24

I understand it can make for hard to tamper with historical data. For things such as temperature records of transported food and medical goods this can be very valuable. As you can have mobile record taking and storage. While having confidence that the data has not been altered.

I can imagine so many conventional options that would be good enough though.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#105

Post by louwrentius »

leu-mas wrote: post #94

Self-sovereign identity is probably the most viable use case at the moment. No third party needed to manage your identity, replace keys, and broadcast updates to the world. Additionally adding the dimension of time, where you can differentiate between something signed while a key was active vs something signed after the key was retired. Some argue this is the only data necessary on-chain — all other application data…

I wish you all the best but I don’t really understand the problem you are trying to solve here.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#106

Post by louwrentius »

Thomashuet wrote: post #72

Certificate transparency ( http://www.certificate-transparency.org/ ) solves the real problem of allowing website owners to check that no one issues illegitimate certificates for their domains. I believe it is technically a blockchain although it doesn't have most attributes traditionally associated with blockchains (decentralized, PoW).

So this is not really blockchain tech right?

Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#108

Post by louwrentius »

tyingq wrote: post #16

Assuming the only real use case is when all parties don't want to trust a central authority, the use cases do seem limited. Because once you have to trust anyone, you might as well use a simple ledger/database. In the airline space, for example, all the airlines pay OAG to file schedules. OAG is a central authority they trust, and pay. Blockchain could replace that, and save them all some money. Hasn't happened thoug…

Thank you, your remarks about trust seem to hit the core issue at hand to me.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#109

Post by louwrentius »

koonsolo wrote: post #85
WnZ39p0Dgydaz1 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a counterexample, look at how sure people and companies were that AI would take off and solve most problems in the 80s. Historically, you can find plenty of examples for both over- and underhyped technologies. It's a complex world, and trying to project these historical events onto new technologies is useless. It's like saying, "well, look at what the stock market did 20 years ago, it has to go up today!" - You ma…

I agree with you. Maybe the main point I wanted to bring across is that blockchain will not live in the present, it will live in the future. The polaroid picture in my email comparison it really nice in that sense. Nobody was taking digital photo's. For a long time it was even unclear if digital photography would ever surpass traditional. (and some companies made some painful decisions here). Nothing important is in…

I find your examples / analogies not convincing.

Email and digital photography have very clear benefits and those where totally transparent from the beginning . I can see none for bt.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem?

#110

Post by louwrentius »

Taek wrote: post #36

The strongest use case right now in the blockchain space is Bitcoin as a sovereign money. It's an asset with substantial liquidity that has incredible protections against asset seizure and strong independence against capital controls. It's the type of thing that you go 30 years without needing it, but then when you do need it you really badly need it. Bitcoin does this well today and there are plenty of people who pr…

The coins went down hard in march along with the financial markets...
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