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Your comment is just one big ad hominem so I'm going to guess what your position is: tokens on the blockchain are great to bootstrap users. (correct me if I'm w

by hudon 9y ago

Your comment is just one big ad hominem so I'm going to guess what your position is: tokens on the blockchain are great to bootstrap users. (correct me if I'm wrong) Given my assumption, can you explain why I can't do this: 1- Have a great idea for a decentralized marketplace app (think OpenBazaar) 2- Store 21 million BazaarCoin in a MySQL database and give these coins some purpose in my app (eg. used to buy stuff) 3- Setup APIs so people can easily trade them (use public-key crypto to track ownership) 4- Make all my code open source and also provide read-only APIs so anyone anywhere can quickly audit the database of coins. 5- Have various exchanges setup USD/BazaarCoin trading pairs 6- Explain all this in a white paper and organize an initial-bazaarcoin-offering to "bootstrap the network" Where does the blockchain fit in to add value?

avsa 9y ago
Your site can be taken offline either because it can't handle too much traffic, because authorities seized your servers or simply because you decided you didn't want to play anymore. If that doesn't happen and your site becomes very popular, you might be tempted to create a bunch of coins on your own mysql database to pay yourself. Blockchain prevents all that: your code is committed and public
- hudon 9y ago
  > because it can't handle too much traffic The two most popular blockchains, Ethereum and Bitcoin, can't "handle too much traffic". They both suffer from severe congestion the moment people start using them actively. Distributed databases that have existed for a while scale much more efficiently. Blockchains do not prevent this. > you decided you didn't want to play anymore If the coins have value, users are incentivized to keep the app running to preserve their wealth and to preserve the value of having a network of users participating in the decentralized app. Because all the code is open source and all the data is readily available, I can easily sell off the write keys to the highest bidder. There will be bidders because the BazaarCoins and userbase has value. If it does not have value, then there is nothing lost in me burning the write keys. The blockchain does not add value here. > you might be tempted to create a bunch of coins on your own mysql database to pay yourself I cannot do this without hurting the network. The data is all readable so people will know. If I'm lying about the data being available, I will be sued or worse: arrested for fraud (because I'm selling something that is not in the contract). The blockchain does not prevent this either, by the way. If anything, it is worse: for example, the Ethereum Foundation broke their promise of honoring "code is law" by reverting transactions on the blockchain and paying people who should not have been paid. In the real world, this is fraud. > because authorities seized your servers Bingo! I agree with this argument. The blockchain allows anyone to use the app and disregard authority.

by hudon 9y ago

avsa 9y ago

Your site can be taken offline either because it can't handle too much traffic, because authorities seized your servers or simply because you decided you didn't want to play anymore. If that doesn't happen and your site becomes very popular, you might be tempted to create a bunch of coins on your own mysql database to pay yourself. Blockchain prevents all that: your code is committed and public

hudon 9y ago
> because it can't handle too much traffic The two most popular blockchains, Ethereum and Bitcoin, can't "handle too much traffic". They both suffer from severe congestion the moment people start using them actively. Distributed databases that have existed for a while scale much more efficiently. Blockchains do not prevent this. > you decided you didn't want to play anymore If the coins have value, users are incentivized to keep the app running to preserve their wealth and to preserve the value of having a network of users participating in the decentralized app. Because all the code is open source and all the data is readily available, I can easily sell off the write keys to the highest bidder. There will be bidders because the BazaarCoins and userbase has value. If it does not have value, then there is nothing lost in me burning the write keys. The blockchain does not add value here. > you might be tempted to create a bunch of coins on your own mysql database to pay yourself I cannot do this without hurting the network. The data is all readable so people will know. If I'm lying about the data being available, I will be sued or worse: arrested for fraud (because I'm selling something that is not in the contract). The blockchain does not prevent this either, by the way. If anything, it is worse: for example, the Ethereum Foundation broke their promise of honoring "code is law" by reverting transactions on the blockchain and paying people who should not have been paid. In the real world, this is fraud. > because authorities seized your servers Bingo! I agree with this argument. The blockchain allows anyone to use the app and disregard authority.