Blockchain technology is going to change everything: the shipping industry, the financial system, government … in fact, what won’t it change? But enthusiasm for it mainly stems from a lack of knowledge and understanding. The blockchain is a solution in search of a problem.
  • Thann
    4·
    3 years ago

    One problem is that everyone conflates “cryptography” and “blockchains” with “cryptocurrency”.

    Cryptography is math that allows basically everything on the internet to work.
    Blockchains are a conceptual append-only database that use cryptography and are convenient to decentralize.
    Cryptocurrencies just combine these technologies to make a currency.

    Unfortunately cryptocurrencies are very convenient for scammers, so most people associate blockchains with scams, but that’s just because they are unaware of the ways in which they themselves depend on these technologies.
    Ostensibly, git stores commits in a blockchain, so essentially every company in the world relies on blockchain technology.

    • southerntofu
      5·
      3 years ago

      Ostensibly, git stores commits in a blockchain

      Not exactly. Yes the data structure is similar (directed acyclic graph), yet Bitcoin deals with the issue of building a centralized/global consensus, which git couldn’t care less about. git is actually decentralized and you can reference multiple sources of truth (remotes) which Bitcoin can’t handle and that’s why so much resources are burnt building consensus.

      Cryptocurrencies just combine these technologies to make a currency.

      I don’t think we need a blockchain to make a cryptocurrency. GNU/Taler seems like the best and most innovative approach to cryptocurrency i’ve seen so far (and certainly one of the very few that doesn’t look like a scam) and is not based on blockchain but rather doesn’t try to build a global consensus at all (unless i’ve misunderstood it).

      • Thann
        2·
        3 years ago

        Yeah, git is more of a block tree, but the commits have a commitment to the previous commit, so there is still an underlying chain!

        It’s true there is no consensus feature, though, I would argue that it’s a component of a cryptocurrency, instead of a Blockchain, but it’s all semantics. I could even argue that signing commits, can create a global consensus.

        “Bitcoin cash” and the other Bitcoin-derivative-forks are basically “remote heads” for Bitcoin.

        Idk exactly about GNU/Taler, but I concede that Blockchains are not essential for cryptocurrencies, or even decentralization, but it’s just that they’re common features

      • overflow
        2·
        3 years ago

        I don’t think we need a blockchain to make a cryptocurrency. GNU/Taler seems like the best and most innovative approach to cryptocurrency i’ve seen so far (and certainly one of the very few that doesn’t look like a scam) and is not based on blockchain but rather doesn’t try to build a global consensus at all (unless i’ve misunderstood it).

        GNU/Taler is NOT a currency it’s just a way to use existing currencies whether fiat/cryptocurrency to make payments anonymously. Cryptocurrency refers to any digital currency that uses a blockchain/other distributed ledger technology to record transactions and issue new units, and that uses cryptography to prevent invalid transactions

        • southerntofu
          3·
          3 years ago

          I agree with your interpretation, but from my perspective GNU/Taler is all i expect from a cryptocurrency: enable me to make low-cost/high-privacy digital payments. A promise which BTC/ETH/others are 100% incapable to hold (at least so far, and in the foreseeable future).

          • overflow
            11·
            3 years ago

            none of those are intended for private transactions.Monero is a coin that exists for the purpose you want

        • pinknoise
          3·
          3 years ago

          it’s just a way to use existing currencies whether fiat/cryptocurrency to make payments anonymously.

          Thats not true either, you don’t have to bind talers to another currency. They are just tokens that can represent whatever value you want. You can issue some at random and let the users figure out the value, just like with your cryptocurrencies.