Blockchain — What's the Use?

A review of dozens of blockchain projects by John Burg and Jean Paul Pétraud, of the US Agency for International Development, and the community health specialist Christine Murphy, found no evidence of the technology’s effectiveness. They studied 43 cases “which were described with glowing claims such as ‘operation costs reduced up to 90 percent,’ or with the assurance of ‘accurate and secure data capture and storage’.”

See (https://www.techcentral.ie/blockchain-whats-it-good-for-not-all-a-lot-says-report/)

Yet despite a “proliferation of press releases, white papers and articles,” they found no evidence of the results that blockchain were purported to have achieved. “We also did not find lessons learned or practical insights, as are available for other technologies in development.” They added that they fared no better when they contacted blockchain companies via email, phone and in person. “No one was willing to share data on program results,” they said. “Despite all the hype about how blockchain will bring unheralded transparency to processes and operations in low-trust environments, the industry is itself opaque. From this, we determined the lack of evidence supporting value claims of blockchain in the international development space is a critical gap for potential adopters.”

Even Cryptocash, that Blockchain darling, has suffered — with about $700 billion wiped off the market since its peak at around $800 billion at the start of the 2018, leaving a trail of destroyed startups behind it. Bitcoin at one point closed in on the $3,000 price mark, well below both its peak of nearly $20,000 in 2017 and a so-called “floor” of $6,000. And now major Wall Street firms once rumored to be preparing entries to the cryptocurrency market—particularly bitcoin futures—appear to have gotten cold feet after a brutal beatdown in crypto prices this year, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

A bevy of major firms including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Barclays (of London) have all delayed plans to launch bitcoin-related financial services, Bloomberg wrote. Much of the caution has been due to the crash, but other factors have included a lack of guidance from regulators and a bevy of criminal and other investigations in the sector, according to Bloomberg’s report.

Now to be fair, the LASER, which was invented nearly 60 years ago, was a lab curiosity for a very long time, but now the high-speed Internet itself wouldn't exist if not for its invention. Perhaps in the future, Blockchain can serve some useful purpose. One never knows.

Thanks for this! I've been wondering about the value of blockchain given the high processing costs, even if there were real value to the technology. Any thoughts on that?

回复

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Ron LaPedis的更多文章

  • I Survived! (not COVID, silly...)

    I Survived! (not COVID, silly...)

    In addition to my earned accolades, I have gained an unearned one — I am a #cancersurvivor — of a very high-risk type…

    12 条评论
  • "Call to Service" Podcasts

    "Call to Service" Podcasts

    Many folks think that the police are the problem. Make them go away and all community-of-color problems will be solved.

  • The "Queen of the Skies" is playing a hero's role during #Covid19 crisis

    The "Queen of the Skies" is playing a hero's role during #Covid19 crisis

    Most passenger airlines retired the Boeing 747 and other 4-engine aircraft over the past few years. In fact, during the…

    1 条评论
  • Are COVID19 cases underreported by a factor of 50-85?

    Are COVID19 cases underreported by a factor of 50-85?

    In early April, Stanford University researchers conducted an antibody test of 3,300 residents in Santa Clara county…

  • Democrats and Republicans Differ on #covid19 Response For a Good Reason

    Democrats and Republicans Differ on #covid19 Response For a Good Reason

    Democrats and Republicans have widely diverging opinions on how to approach #covid19 and this has to do with where they…

  • Non-Recall of Accu-Chek Meters

    Non-Recall of Accu-Chek Meters

    Do you use a Roche Accu-Chek Guide blood glucose meter with a serial number below 92311000001? The company issued a…

  • STOP THE BLEED. SAVE A LIFE.

    STOP THE BLEED. SAVE A LIFE.

    May is "Stop the Bleed" month and there is a discount code at the end of this article to help you get started. There is…

  • Training students to prevent and respond to extreme school violence

    Training students to prevent and respond to extreme school violence

    Run, Hide, Fight was a decent start, but it certainly is not enough. PoliceOne columnist Mike Wood, wants to up the…

  • What do you do With a BA in English?

    What do you do With a BA in English?

    For those of you who may not know, one of the tunesmiths for Disney's hit, Frozen, also wrote the music for Book of…

  • Why I Still Dislike Bank of America

    Why I Still Dislike Bank of America

    I was loyal to BofA for many, many years. I opened my first high school bank account with them, and back in the days of…

    1 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了