Freitag, Dezember 21, 2018

Blockchain - where is the hype going?

Blockchain - still a very hot topic in any kind of innovation discussion. If you need attention or money - then say you are using Blockchain. uuuh.




Don't get me wrong - Blockchain is a very interesting technology - but there are many promises in the air which are not fulfilled today.

When you read Blockchain definition or articles they typically write thing like:
"Blockchain is a distributed, anonymized list which cannot be manipulated"

That correct in theory - but what is with all the fraud we were seeing in last time?
Huge amounts of coins/tokens were stolen from the different networks.

That happens on various platforms: (just some random examples)


You can find dozens of story’s on google search.

What can we learn from that?

Either we are not able to run that technology accordingly nor there are ways to manipulate the network. The first option should be wrong as there are a lot of experts behind the platform - so I assume to this point that they configure their systems correctly.

But if the second argue is true - then this is also true for any other implementation of Blockchain.
The size of Bitcoin today assigned with the growing complexity and needed computing power to mine tokens as well as the fact that the Blockchain is highly distributed is the foundation for security and consistency across the network.

When this huge network(s) are being attacked successful - then this is a potential thread to all other Blockchain implementations in the industry as well when I like to make that Blockchain accessible to public internet.
When this risk is being combined with the lack of expertise we have today within the company teams - then this is probably an answer why Blockchain stories typically works only on Powerpoint.

A lot of smart contract ideas I am seeing in the discussion are also not really depending on Blockchain technology - for sure Blockchain could be used for that - but this complexity is not really necessary.
Automated contracts are also often micro contracts or changes to frame contract. The transaction costs are often relevant for the business case - and Blockchain is a very expensive to secure a transaction.

The Blockchain PoC we are seeing today are often creating dedicated/private chains just for that usage. But as long as all ledgers are belonging to one party - I am asking myself how this will assure availability due to distribution of the Blockchain - how to assure distribution across different parties when there is just one. If the whole Blockchain is in one hand - I still have to trust that party - like on any other "as a Service" Provider.

My summary is - Blockchain is a really cool technology - but it way further away from commercial use then many expect.




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