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Can someone explain how blockchains work outside of Bitcoin? My poor understanding is Bitcoin only works because you get paid to mine (compute the chain). Since

• wmf 10y ago
  These blockchains shouldn't use mining at all; they should use algorithms like PBFT or SCP. Such algorithms require out-of-band agreement on who is and isn't running a node, but once that has been set up they are similarly secure as POW.
• dTal 10y ago
  It's a great point that often gets lost in the blockchain hype. Basically, the "coins" have to have some value, which comes from the intrinsic value that the blockchain in question provides - which may not be financial as such, though of course money is generally fungible with value. Namecoin is an example of an appropriate non-Bitcoin, non-"financial" use of a blockchain; the "coins" allow you to "purchase" space on a global namespace, which becomes more valuable as the namespace grows in popularity. [edit: having read wmf's sibling comment, I was not aware that blockchains could be separated from mining. So take all of the above with a grain of salt.]
• zardo 10y ago
  >How will there be any incentives to mine in non financial chains? You could could pay miners with some other blockchain's assets. Say zoos trading animal tokens (because they don't believe in buying and selling animals) with a small Bitcoin transaction processing fee to pay the miners.