Comment on Whatever happened to the blockchain/smart contract 'revolution' we were told about?
HubertManne@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Unfortunately distributed ledger software never seemed to get used for what it should given the crypto craze.
Comment on Whatever happened to the blockchain/smart contract 'revolution' we were told about?
HubertManne@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Unfortunately distributed ledger software never seemed to get used for what it should given the crypto craze.
spongebue@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
And what exactly should it have been used for?
HubertManne@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
really anything with a centralized database, especially multiple databases. The name itself. Distributed ledger. Says what it does. shipping in regards to supply chain management where all parties can trace without everyone have to have it all on their own databases and thing like customers can know details without having to access the companies databases. same with verification of information like health records or content. Its like having a record of authenticity
spongebue@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
But how much of that really demands a Blockchain solution in favor of what’s used currently? Aside from some developers’ time, nothing about crypto prevented what you described from happening and (presumably) it never did come to be.
HubertManne@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
crypto is a usage of the distributed ledger. not the distributed ledger itself. Its only been popular in implementations like bitcoin which are programicly scammed. Its programmed to increase in value (ie use more energy) and creates the value by burning energy for no useful return (no infrastructure created, nothing manufactured). You could say it provides a service in exchange but its far inferior to what it theoretically replaces since it uses way more energy in transaction (at least the driving popular ones still do) and this is why its not used for purchasing by and large and more like a value store. A proper implementation like gridcoin is not used because its value reflects the energy it uses. In other words its backed by the value of the service it provides. Whats funny is it can use low energy but just isn't in bitcoin. You ask what demands its usage but what does that mean. I pointed out the benefits. No longer needing to keep up multiple databases or clear them out since we are talking point to point. So I buy something at the store and I can scan a QR code to know everything about the product which everyone along the chain added as it transacted and even ones early in the chain can see the eventual endpoint as well as me, the consumer, able to see its sourcing and such. We can all see the full ledger at the time of looking it up because its distributed. Once done there is no real need to clean out a database. Don't get me wrong they would still exist to keep track for the businesses with tons and tons of supply chain items. They just would not need to keep any detail outside of the unique identifier which can be used to get the information from the blockchain.