Ask HN: Are there any substantial examples of blockchain solving a real problem? • Hacker News Board

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

#121

Post by acdha » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

koonsolo wrote: post #78

I'm an old man, so let me show you how to frame thinking about blockchain. I experienced the 90's, so let me tell you why email will never take off, since we have a trustworthy postal service: 1. Almost nobody you know has an email address, but everyone has a real address. 2. People want to have something they can touch, a personal, perfumed handwritten letter. Not a cold virtual thing with printed letters. 3. You ca…

The problem with that analogy is that everyone jumped on email in the 80s and 90s because the immediacy was compelling: it was one of the first services which businesses adopted since it quickly saved money and improved performance, even if you were just using dialup.

In contrast, we’re a decade in with much lower barriers to entry, huge media presence, and massive VC cash infusions but nobody has managed to make something which anyone outside that world needs. The closest I’ve seen are the companies successfully using FOMO to sell centralized databases with digital signatures to large companies.

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

#122

Post by acdha » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:12 PM UTC

rorykoehler wrote: post #59

chpmrc wrote: post #57

Git uses, in fact, a "blockchain". There's no mining involved (although, given how hard some code reviews can get I'd argue there is still "proof of work" lol) and anyone can create new blocks and is free to accept or reject them. Like someone else already said I think it's less about the "blockchain" and more about finding ways to decentralize traditionally centralized services.

Yet all our git repos are centralised on github

… and the millions of other computers containing our working copies, which is why you can still work during an outage and attempts at modification are immediately noticeable.

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

#123

Post by bdcravens » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:17 PM UTC

nvoyageur wrote: post #98

I’d like to go back to 1988 and ask “Is anyone actually using the Internet?” I’m sure the responses would be similar. Blockchain is still in its infancy, give it a decade or two and I think you’ll be surprised how it became “an overnight success”.

Not equivalent. In 1988, we didn't have the levels of investment in Internet we've seen in blockchain. We didn't have Internet-only companies launching. I suspect very few people had the word "Internet" on their resume. To compare things based on nothing more than the number of years, and ignoring the context of the times, is intellectually dishonest.

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

#124

Post by rohamg » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:19 PM UTC

acdha wrote: post #120

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…

> Asking "what is blockchain good for other than cryptocurrencies" is like asking "what is internet good for other than websites" pre-broadband You mean, email and group messaging, file transfer, reference lookups, access to remote servers and other things which people were paying for and generating real business value from? There were plenty of companies which were generating value significantly prior to broadband b…

i would argue what blockchain has given us today with permissionless open finance, decentralized organizations / voting, NFTs / digital art, etc. is plenty of early indications of value. also the fact that the token business model exists is precisely the reason there's less of a traditional "ARR" mindset in the tools and apps.

the criticism isn't entirely invalid: the blockchain space has a lot of proving to do – there's a lot more work ahead than behind

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

#125

Post by acdha » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:26 PM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #66

amelius wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but why wouldn't governments simply prohibit the use of these systems then? It seems easy to do because anyone wanting to pay or be paid has to somehow advertise this.

Some will, some won't. The ones that don't will win the 21st century. The ones who embrace draconian measures and disincentivize innovation to protect stale and outdated institutions will lose big time.

That’s a very big claim without supporting evidence. Remember when the internet was going to bring freedom everywhere and China’s economy would fall behind until they embraced democracy? That was gospel in many quarters in the 90s but there’s a reason it’s not mentioned much any more.

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

#126

Post by acdha » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:28 PM UTC

rohamg wrote: post #124

acdha wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Asking "what is blockchain good for other than cryptocurrencies" is like asking "what is internet good for other than websites" pre-broadband You mean, email and group messaging, file transfer, reference lookups, access to remote servers and other things which people were paying for and generating real business value from? There were plenty of companies which were generating value significantly prior to broadband b…

i would argue what blockchain has given us today with permissionless open finance, decentralized organizations / voting, NFTs / digital art, etc. is plenty of early indications of value. also the fact that the token business model exists is precisely the reason there's less of a traditional "ARR" mindset in the tools and apps. the criticism isn't entirely invalid: the blockchain space has a lot of proving to do – the…

Okay, so where’s an example of that providing value for anyone outside of the blockchain field? None of those are new activities so it should be easy to find areas where a blockchain reduces cost or adds value in comparison.

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

#127

Post by my_usernam3 » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:40 PM UTC

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…

THIS! I'm surprised that it took me so far down this list to find it. The first use case has so far been the only use case in practice that I'm aware of. Its also a HUGE use case, money makes the freaking world go round!

Good or bad, it's exciting to see what the future holds for these currencies. I have my own theories on whats going to happen, but no one actually knows. Obviously some peoples theories will prove correct and they will come out with "yeah I was positive this was going to happen". Not looking forward to that part.

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

#128

Post by acqq » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:41 PM UTC

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…

> Blockchain could replace that, and save them all some money.

I don't think that can be proved to be true? I can easily imagine that any blockchain would introduce obvious weaknesses in the process for everybody, and such which can be avoided by having a central authority, which keeps the central authority option being cheaper for everybody.

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

#129

Post by pleasereadthis » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:43 PM UTC

government land ownership records

this is being tried already in parts of the world

here: the ledger is public, the government is a body made of many independent small entities with not necessarily aligned incentives

would help to avoid corruption and maintain a legitimate source of truth

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

#130

Post by momokoko » Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 9:46 PM UTC

Paying bribes to government officials.

Large transactions for illegal goods such as drugs.

Transferring money out of controlled currencies.

This isn’t meant to be a joke. I’m illustrating that the price of cryptocurrency is indeed backed by some of its utility and not 100% a money making scheme.