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> It can be used for storing value It can only do this for as long as ownership of a certain private key is valuable. Some keys have shown to hold value for ~1

by hudon 4y ago

> It can be used for storing value It can only do this for as long as ownership of a certain private key is valuable. Some keys have shown to hold value for ~10 years (those tied to the BTC ticker symbol), but some keys have gone from valuable to worthless pretty quick. The fact that you have to bet on holding the right kind of private key I think makes it pretty clear that blockchains do not, in fact, reliably store value. > transferring value in a decentralised way There are no longer any decentralized blockchains that also have significant value (ie. worth transferring). For instance, the figurehead known as Bitcoin has been centralized for a while [0]. [0] https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2015/07/28/analyzing-the-2013-bitcoin-fork-centralized-decision-making-saved-the-day/ https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2015/07/28/analyzing-the-2013-...

tromp 4y ago
Coordination in rollling out a bugfix is not a strong indication of bitcoin being centralized. There are certainly aspects where bitcoin is not as decentralized as one would hope, but overall and when compared against alternatives, it's pretty decentralized.
- hudon 4y ago
  > Coordination in rollling out a bugfix is not a strong indication of bitcoin being centralized. It depends on how many parties, relative to the whole, are coordinating. It is a very strong indication when 2 devs are coordinating a fundamental decision for thousands of people. You have to realize also that "bugfix" is subjective to human judgement. It's often unclear whether a given behavior is truly contrary to intent or not, and it takes humans in authority to judge this for the rest to avoid perpetual conflict.