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Are there good uses for the blockchain? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Please don't auto downvote before reading.

A little bit ago some asked a question about why the hate of the blockchain, and that got me thinking if there even was a legitimate use case where the blockchain would be beneficial, but I couldn't think of one outside maybe some sort of decentralized bank, but before I knew I was thinking it would instantly turn into some crypto scheme and strapped it, because crypto currencies are a scam on every level -- and no they aren't private or secret as some think either.

So I wanted to ask the community. Instead of using the blockchain for crypto, is there a better use where the blockchain could benefit society?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nice explanation, thanks. I would read more.

Do you also have brief, pointed argument against crypto/blockchain that you use in casual conversation? The subject comes up fairly frequently and I know it’s all bullshit but I usually struggle to explain why. What key points would you make to people who might be starting to get seduced by the hype or who are already sucked in?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Not OP, but in my circles the simplest, strongest point I've found is that no cryptocurrency has a built-in mechanism for handling mistakes. People are using these systems, and people make mistakes. Without built in accommodations, you're either

Creating real risk for anyone using the system, because each mistake is irrecoverable financial loss, and that's pretty much the definition of financial risk, or
Encouraging users to subvert the system in its core functionality in order to accommodate mistakes, which undermines the entire system and again creates risk because you don't really know how anything is going to work with these ad hoc side systems

Either way, crypto is just more costly to use than traditional systems when you properly factor those risks. So the only people left using it are those who expect greater rewards to offset all that additional risk, which are just speculators and grifters.