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They will probably be using colored coins (assets issued and exchanged on the Bitcoin blockchain), not their own blockchain/altcoin. Otherwise, they would have

by mappum 12y ago

They will probably be using colored coins (assets issued and exchanged on the Bitcoin blockchain), not their own blockchain/altcoin. Otherwise, they would have to worry about keeping enough miners to make their blockchain secure. Colored coins also offer some cool features, such as trustless trading. It's possible to construct a transaction that sends Alice's Reddit shares to Bob, and also send's Bob's Bitcoins to Alice. Since they are in the same transaction, either both sides of the trade happens, or neither do.

wmf 12y ago
Or you could just not use a blockchain. I think some guy named Chaum is rolling in his grave.
- mappum 12y ago
  In favor of Reddit managing the ledger centrally? That doesn't allow for the public transparency that they would like, and it would probably be much harder legally (they would be stuck doing a bunch of KYC/AML stuff, which doesn't really make sense for a company like Reddit to need to deal with).
  - wmf 12y ago
    I thought blockchain transparency is a bug and anonymity is a feature; it's hard to keep this stuff straight. If you need KYC, a blockchain doesn't provide that anyway so you can either add hacks or just admit that it's not the right solution.
    - mappum 12y ago
      By transparency, I mean for example Reddit manipulating the ledger if it was on a central database. They could take away someone's shares, or give someone extra shares, and the community would have no way of knowing. If they issued someone more shares on the blockchain, everyone could see it happening and prove it. Anonymity isn't a factor here. The point I was making on KYC is that with blockchain-based shares the government doesn't even have an idea of how to regulate it yet, and Reddit can probably sidestep the KYC entirely. Anyway it's not them managing the books, it's the Bitcoin network doing it for them.
    - baddox 12y ago
      Blockchain transparency isn't a bug or a feature per se, but the fact that it's truly decentralized is a feature. For Chaumian ecash, anonymity is a feature, but it's centralized. Stellar (or colored bitcoins, if they ever get around to implementing that) actually provides an interesting combination of features.
- drewbug 12y ago
  Chaum's alive.
  - wmf 12y ago
    You wouldn't know it based on the blockchain frenzy these days.
cheapsteak 12y ago
>a transaction that sends Alice's Reddit shares to Bob, and also send's Bob's Bitcoins to Alice Could you elaborate on why this might be desirable? Don't both end up where they started?

by mappum 12y ago

wmf 12y ago

Or you could just not use a blockchain. I think some guy named Chaum is rolling in his grave.

mappum 12y ago
In favor of Reddit managing the ledger centrally? That doesn't allow for the public transparency that they would like, and it would probably be much harder legally (they would be stuck doing a bunch of KYC/AML stuff, which doesn't really make sense for a company like Reddit to need to deal with).
- wmf 12y ago
  I thought blockchain transparency is a bug and anonymity is a feature; it's hard to keep this stuff straight. If you need KYC, a blockchain doesn't provide that anyway so you can either add hacks or just admit that it's not the right solution.
  - mappum 12y ago
    By transparency, I mean for example Reddit manipulating the ledger if it was on a central database. They could take away someone's shares, or give someone extra shares, and the community would have no way of knowing. If they issued someone more shares on the blockchain, everyone could see it happening and prove it. Anonymity isn't a factor here. The point I was making on KYC is that with blockchain-based shares the government doesn't even have an idea of how to regulate it yet, and Reddit can probably sidestep the KYC entirely. Anyway it's not them managing the books, it's the Bitcoin network doing it for them.
  - baddox 12y ago
    Blockchain transparency isn't a bug or a feature per se, but the fact that it's truly decentralized is a feature. For Chaumian ecash, anonymity is a feature, but it's centralized. Stellar (or colored bitcoins, if they ever get around to implementing that) actually provides an interesting combination of features.
drewbug 12y ago
Chaum's alive.
- wmf 12y ago
  You wouldn't know it based on the blockchain frenzy these days.

cheapsteak 12y ago

>a transaction that sends Alice's Reddit shares to Bob, and also send's Bob's Bitcoins to Alice Could you elaborate on why this might be desirable? Don't both end up where they started?