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It seems to me the key here is "Can you use an always online trusted third party?" I think generally, a TTP is going to be more efficient than a system without
by jmull 9y ago
It seems to me the key here is "Can you use an always online trusted third party?"
I think generally, a TTP is going to be more efficient than a system without a TTP. "Trust" at its essence is a shortcut. Without it you have to create a general enforcement mechanism which is going to cost something. E.g., the cost of incenting miners. You can slice it difference ways, but in the end you need the distributed network of nodes to exist and the people who control them to be invested in the continued existence and integrity of the system.
I say "generally" for a reason, because I think it's certainly possible that there are cases where the cost of the third-party is too high or the third-party may not be reliable enough, etc. But generally, it seems to me that blockchain is an inherently inefficient mechanism.
On top of that, the only effective use so far has been to create an investment bubble. Once enough money has been lost on that I think there's a good chance blockchain will get a black eye which will cause people to steer clear even if they may have a use case that's a good fit.
- lostctown 9y agoThis is all true at the moment. Heavy research is going into making blockchains more scalable and energy efficient within the Ethereum ecosystem. If fruitful, these improvements will address the concern you have about efficiency.
- CodeCube 9y agoI _think_ I'm aware of some of these things you're referring to (raiden network, etc), but I wonder if you could list some of this research ... I'm trying to keep up with the latest developments.
- dajohnson89 9y agoYeah I'm guessing he's referring to Raiden network, and the planned move to Proof of Stake.
- skilesare 9y agoAnd scalability, and stateless transactions.
- lostctown 9y agoSorry. Took off after I wrote this. Here's a good discussion that reveals the the debate/thinking going on around scalability. https://ethresear.ch/t/future-compatibility-for-sharding/386 https://ethresear.ch/t/future-compatibility-for-sharding/386
- drexlspivey 9y agoWe are at -70% from the ATH. At what point does it stop being a bubble?
- dogma1138 9y agoProbably when it either recovers to ATH or close to it or goes bust completely. A crash does not necessarily indicates a bubble a crash without recovery does.
- sanderjd 9y agoFor me, the answer to this is that it stops being a bubble once I see a compelling (to me) analysis of the link between the price and some underlying utility. I've heard one compelling (to me) use case for bitcoin - removing big banks from large long-distance cash transfers - but I strongly doubt there is enough value in that to support the current price. Another meta-metric I'm watching is for mainstream media and word of mouth to lose interest, ie. once this no longer comes up at all get-togethers with friends and family, it will seem a lot less bubbly to me.
- Yizahi 9y agoAssuming we talking only about "removing big banks from large long-distance cash transfers" which is also one of the few sane possibilities for crypto that I would want. I suspect that if it will ever work then in the fully regulated marked (e.g. we are transferring from regulated country to regulated) then the recipient will have to pay capital gain tax for cashing out on his side. This kinda defeats the whole purpose of the system. The more I think and read about crypto and blockchain the less practical applications I see.
- Asdfbla 9y agoOf course, the trusted third party can also be decentralized and spread among multiple trusted parties (some of which could even turn out to be adversarial, as long as you use some Byzantine consensus algorithms). I think that weakens the case for full trustlessness further, since most real world applications require some level of trust anyway - but it would still not make you dependent on a single trusted entity.
- tlrobinson 9y agoThe fact that no digital currency until Bitcoin really caught on seems to suggest "full trustlessness" is pretty important, at least for the digital currency use-case.
- dajohnson89 9y agohttps://www.nasdaq.com/article/dtcc-to-launch-blockchain-credit-default-swaps-reporting-in-early-2018-cm794771 https://www.nasdaq.com/article/dtcc-to-launch-blockchain-cre...
- lou1306 9y agoJust saying, you can do lots of stuff without a trusted third party and with no blockchain, just public-key encryption. [0] Anyway, the flowchart in the paper says it all. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbled_circuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbled_circuit
- buildawesome 9y agoI don't think most people will know if blockchain is used in an underlying technology. If Company XYZ comes out with product A, I think most people will say, "Does it fulfill my needs? Sure, I'll use it". Unless XYZ touts blockchain, most people will eat their sausage without knowing where it comes from. Hmmm, which gives me an idea. Gluten free, Paleo Blockchain.