Over the recent year, the blockchain stepped out of the unknown and has revealed itself to everyone. Most people you ask about blockchain, have heard about blockchain and mainly associate it with bitcoin. Fewer people know what the implications of the blockchain are and even fewer people really understand how it works. In this blog I am not going explain how the blockchain works, since there are plenty of blog to find on that topic. What I want to discuss is the critical, or lack of, stance towards the blockchain and what it can really do for the world, a year after the big worldwide ‘discovery’ of the blockchain. Based on the articles of Veldwijk (2018a; 2018b; 2018c), Blockchain Debunked, where Veldwijk is critically assessing blockchain solutions. I will point out three interesting statements he makes. If you are interested to read the complete articles, I put the sources below.
Functionality for end-users
Blockchain is very innovative, but as a user of an application you don’t get to see what is lying beneath the system. Therefore, a lot of blockchain solutions could be done in a less complex, easier way.
Blockchain systems are not manipulative and thus contains the truth.
This claim is not correct. It is however so, that the ledger cannot be changed, but can be overwritten. The new information can still be wrong, so that the system would always contain the truth is not applicable for the blockchain system.
Blockchain and trust are to be combined.
Blockchain is based on a system where there is always a party involved that someone does not trust. Based on this fact complete openness of the system is something none of the involved parties would want. Therefore, the assumption that users of the blockchain should trust each other is a myth.
I am not saying I am displaying the truth in this post, I merely want to point out some critique I read online. I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter!
Sources:
Veldwijk, R. (2018a). Blockchain debunked, met Satoshi zelf als leidraad. [online] Available at: [https://www.computable.nl/artikel/opinie/development/6348989/1509029/blockchain-debunked-met-satoshi-zelf-als-leidraad.html] Accessed on 1-10-2018.
Veldwijk, R. (2018b). Blockchain Debunked 2: Blockchain wurgt bitcoin. [online] Available at: [https://www.computable.nl/artikel/blogs/security/6361484/5260614/blockchain-wurgt-bitcoin.html] Accessed on 1-10-2018.
Veldwijk, R. (2018c). Blockchain debunked 3: Balletje-Balletje
Blockchain. [online] Available at: [https://www.computable.nl/artikel/opinie/fintech/6447048/1509029/blockchain-debunked-3-balletje-balletje-blockchain.html] Accessed on 29-09-2018.
