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> It's really not hard to think of useful applications for blockchain. Then please list some useful, concrete applications of blockchain that would not be solv

> It's really not hard to think of useful applications for blockchain. Then please list some useful, concrete applications of blockchain that would not be solved better and cheaper by a normal database.

hapnin 9y ago
The first sentence of the Bitcoin white paper describes a problem that can't be solved by a normal DB. "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution."
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  But that problem isn't solved by Bitcoin (not can it be solved by any digital currency); Bitcoin doesn't allow online payments to be sent from one party to another without the need for third party clearance, it just increases the number of parties required for clearance.
  - hapnin 9y ago
    That's a different point altogether. The original question was what does a blockchain solve that a normal DB can't.
- spookthesunset 9y ago
  > "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution." Except it failed completely at that. The blockchain has proven through real world use that it is unusable as a currency. By its very design, it is fundamentally impossible to scale it to even serve even a moderate sized city worth of transactions.
  - hapnin 9y ago
    The initial problem was solved. It couldn't be solved using a mundane DB. Scaling is a separate issue. I don't believe scaling is even mentioned in the original white paper.
  - kerkeslager 9y ago
    > By its very design, it is fundamentally impossible to scale it to even serve even a moderate sized city worth of transactions. 1. This is far from proven. Scaling is definitely a problem, but I don't think it's at all been proven to be impossible. 2. You still have to admit that bitcoin has solved this problem at a small scale, which isn't nothing. Transactions without a trusted central authority are literally impossible with previous technologies.
kerkeslager 9y ago
Better/cheaper don't enter the equation for things that can't be implemented on a centralized data structure: - Financial transactions without a trusted authority - Elections without a trusted authority - Anonymous messaging (this is admittedly solved by federation if the federation is distributed enough, i.e. Tor).

hapnin 9y ago

The first sentence of the Bitcoin white paper describes a problem that can't be solved by a normal DB. "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution."

dragonwriter 9y ago
But that problem isn't solved by Bitcoin (not can it be solved by any digital currency); Bitcoin doesn't allow online payments to be sent from one party to another without the need for third party clearance, it just increases the number of parties required for clearance.
- hapnin 9y ago
  That's a different point altogether. The original question was what does a blockchain solve that a normal DB can't.
spookthesunset 9y ago
> "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution." Except it failed completely at that. The blockchain has proven through real world use that it is unusable as a currency. By its very design, it is fundamentally impossible to scale it to even serve even a moderate sized city worth of transactions.
- hapnin 9y ago
  The initial problem was solved. It couldn't be solved using a mundane DB. Scaling is a separate issue. I don't believe scaling is even mentioned in the original white paper.
- kerkeslager 9y ago
  > By its very design, it is fundamentally impossible to scale it to even serve even a moderate sized city worth of transactions. 1. This is far from proven. Scaling is definitely a problem, but I don't think it's at all been proven to be impossible. 2. You still have to admit that bitcoin has solved this problem at a small scale, which isn't nothing. Transactions without a trusted central authority are literally impossible with previous technologies.

kerkeslager 9y ago

Better/cheaper don't enter the equation for things that can't be implemented on a centralized data structure: - Financial transactions without a trusted authority - Elections without a trusted authority - Anonymous messaging (this is admittedly solved by federation if the federation is distributed enough, i.e. Tor).