Princeton Blockchain Reading Group

https://blockchain.princeton.edu/

by mountsbay • 8 years ago

20 8 8 years ago

blockchain.princeton.edu

danaos• 8 years ago

After years of debating, I still fail to see how the statements "Bitcoin is useless" and "blockchains have potential" can both hold true.

For a blockchain to be a blockchain, there must be a token to keep the incentive structure. Otherwise it's no longer a blockchain it's a simple database that will naturally be centralized due to economies of scale.

sandworm1012• 8 years ago

Blockchains can be run without incentives. They can be run internally by a large organization. Take the US military. I could see each service running a server to verify changes to a ledger of national orders. An effort to change the ledger would be possible but very difficult, demanding cross-branch conspiracy. Such a scheme could exist without incentives.

pvg2• 8 years ago

Why would a highly hierarchical, centralized organization with extensive infrastructure for distributing and authenticating orders suddenly blockchain it all up to solve a problem (cross-branch conspiracy) they don't at all have?

biggels• 8 years ago

I think you just described the federal reserve.

PretzelPirate• 8 years ago

Instead of saying “without incentives”, maybe saying “with external incentives” is better?

Blockchains can function when each participant running a node is incentivized to be honest. The incentive could be that they are a known party in a business consortium and if caught colluding with other members, it would be trvivial to prove during a lawsuit.

yumraj• 8 years ago

One potential scenario: in an industry, with a problem that can be solved by blockchain, the various participants can come together to create the blockchain infrastructure to solve that problem. They don't need a crypto currency to incentivize the participants as their motivation is driven by the solution to the problem.

Princeton Blockchain Reading Group

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