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This should be one of the few things governments _should_ be in charge of. But wouldn't using a blockchain be a better idea for something like this?
by anonbanker 10y ago
This should be one of the few things governments _should_ be in charge of.
But wouldn't using a blockchain be a better idea for something like this?
- lisper 10y agoNo. Blockchains are horribly inefficient. The only reason to use a blockchain is if you don't have a trusted third party. If you have a trusted third party you get the same functionality for a lot less cost. Because the government is already the final arbiter of who is a citizen we may as well just let them publish the ledger. Blockchains are useful in financial systems because there are strong incentives to cheat, and hence it is much more difficult to find a trusted third party to keep the ledger. It should also be noted that blockchains only protect their direct participants. Secondary actors can still be cheated every bit as easily as they can in traditional financial systems. And even the direct participants are not fully protected. Bitcoin is by far the biggest blockchain in terms of mining capacity, and well over 50% of that capacity is in China. If the Chinese government wanted to attack the Bitcoin network it very likely would succeed.