Ask HN: Ex-blockchain engineers, why did you get out?
I'm trying to understand more about blockchain technology, but I struggle with seeing where it's useful and where it isn't. Would love to hear from people who have actually done some work in the area.
4 comments
Blockchains increase trust and immutability at cost of scaling, speed, expense, over other digital systems. If you don't have people trying to fool you by doublespending (it's like a race condition) then you don't need a blockchain.
Blockchains aren't just for currency, but their best use case is surely currency, for only the currency project can recuperate the massive externalities (costs) of running the system, for the profit margin is almost 100 percent. What that means is, for a blockchain to make sense for you, you really, really need to need the anti attacker parts of it for it to make sense over any other system.
Current real world uses are timestamping, (recently Peter Todd timestamped all of archive.org, so people can't go back and make changes to fool people.) Bitcoin (currency). And as a tier 1 trust layer to support tier 2 protocols that have faster, cheaper, more stateful transactions (counterparty, mastercoin, rsk, sidechains, lightning, etc. a few of those need opcodes added to the btc network.)
Trust is expensive, bankers hours are comedic, much of the world loses large percentage of currency value every year, bitcoin can solve much of that. Databases and merkletrees already do a great job if you don't have advanced attackers. Blockchains are much less exciting than bitcoin.
Blockchains aren't just for currency, but their best use case is surely currency, for only the currency project can recuperate the massive externalities (costs) of running the system, for the profit margin is almost 100 percent. What that means is, for a blockchain to make sense for you, you really, really need to need the anti attacker parts of it for it to make sense over any other system.
Current real world uses are timestamping, (recently Peter Todd timestamped all of archive.org, so people can't go back and make changes to fool people.) Bitcoin (currency). And as a tier 1 trust layer to support tier 2 protocols that have faster, cheaper, more stateful transactions (counterparty, mastercoin, rsk, sidechains, lightning, etc. a few of those need opcodes added to the btc network.)
Trust is expensive, bankers hours are comedic, much of the world loses large percentage of currency value every year, bitcoin can solve much of that. Databases and merkletrees already do a great job if you don't have advanced attackers. Blockchains are much less exciting than bitcoin.
As far as I can tell the only current real-world use case for blockchain technology is flight capital from China (https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/01/19/2182669/chinese-capit... - see graph at the end).
If flight capital from China really were the only/major use case, most of these people would probably convert at least 50 percent of their bitcoins into a different currency once they moved the capital overseas. However, nearly 99 percent of the transactions are paid by CNY. These look more like domestic transactions to me.
Overstock accepted Bitcoin since 2014 https://www.overstock.com/bitcoin and now trades its own stock on it https://www.wired.com/2016/12/overstock-com-issues-stock-via...
... and raising capital of course
... and bitcoin of course.
I don't understand your comment, because that's the entire point of the person you are responding to: that only current real world product of blockchain technology is Bitcoin, and the only real world use case of Bitcoin is flight capital from China; like... what exactly do you mean by "and"?
Black and gray uses only? Create a temporary environment, allow two users enter by blockchain, let them exchange their sh*t inside and destroy the environment after that. Financials from the beginning to the end then, insiders job.
Can you explain the idea a little more? What's an example of an environment?
I'm considering entering the space as a NCG, luckily I have good connections and experience in the space. My alternative is to leverage my startup experience and just work in some other industry that interests me. My one doubt with blockchain is that there isn't a ton of non-enterprise money in the space. Seems like founding in just about any other industry is likely more profitable and more technically reasonable.
What interests you in starting a blockchain company then?