Benefits of Blockchain Technology

[betax]

Another benefit - private blockchains allow multiple entities to share database in read/write mode http://www.multichain.com/blog/2015/10/private-blockchains-shared-databases/

Financial institutions are heavy users of today’s database platforms, and those platforms do not enable a shared write scenario. This is what banks are looking for.

Exactly, shared databases are the very basic use cases for private blockchains.

[valzav]

Another benefit - private blockchains allow multiple entities to share database in read/write mode http://www.multichain.com/blog/2015/10/private-blockchains-shared-databases/

Financial institutions are heavy users of today’s database platforms, and those platforms do not enable a shared write scenario. This is what banks are looking for.

[xeroc]

Since both public and private chains can be decentralized (or maybe more
accurate to say "distributed"), would you say that the main difference lies in
if they are trust-free?

Or private chains just do not let you read the raw
 blockchain state? Or is it that the full nodes of a private chain are picked by
 a central authority?

Yes.

IMHO a private chain i either means that the database/blockchain is not public
.. or it means that the shareholders can NOT participate in block production.
The latter also allows to use a propriatiary protocol and have data in the
blockchain that may be encrypted or only be interpreted by company X

[roadscape]

Blythe Masters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Yo8bt8JAU

Wow, how have I not seen this before... Great talk, and the language she uses to describe blockchain technology is... masterful.
distributed ledger technology is the most widely used phrase in her talk I believe.
Thanks for sharing!

Actually, I am not a fan of the term "distributed ledger" .. simply because every kind digital data can be distributed .. git is a distributed ledger aswell just for code commits/history

I'd prefer to distinguish between:

* blockchain as an immutable database of "the past" events
* a protocol that describes how the blockchain "evolves"

The protocol may contain:

* the business model
* a finite state machine for any kind of "data transitions"
* how transactions are interpreted
* how transactions are bundled to a block
* how bundles transactions

if the last question is "decentralized" .. then the protocol also contains a

* distributed conensus finding scheme


Hence, a blockchain has nothing to do with "being decentralized" and only the
"consensus scheme" can be decentralized (assuming the blocks are broadcast
publicly, else it would be a private chain, which can also be decentralized BTW)

Yes, thanks for these good points.

Since both public and private chains can be decentralized (or maybe more accurate to say "distributed"), would you say that the main difference lies in if they are trust-free? Or private chains just do not let you read the raw blockchain state? Or is it that the full nodes of a private chain are picked by a central authority?

[betax]

This is also a great article http://blogs.csc.com/2015/10/30/blockchain-in-healthcare-from-theory-to-reality/

[Ben Mason]

Blythe Masters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Yo8bt8JAU

Wow, how have I not seen this before... Great talk, and the language she uses to describe blockchain technology is... masterful.
distributed ledger technology is the most widely used phrase in her talk I believe.
Thanks for sharing!

Actually, I am not a fan of the term "distributed ledger" .. simply because every kind digital data can be distributed .. git is a distributed ledger aswell just for code commits/history

I'd prefer to distinguish between:

* blockchain as an immutable database of "the past" events
* a protocol that describes how the blockchain "evolves"

The protocol may contain:

* the business model
* a finite state machine for any kind of "data transitions"
* how transactions are interpreted
* how transactions are bundled to a block
* how bundles transactions

if the last question is "decentralized" .. then the protocol also contains a

* distributed conensus finding scheme


Hence, a blockchain has nothing to do with "being decentralized" and only the
"consensus scheme" can be decentralized (assuming the blocks are broadcast
publicly, else it would be a private chain, which can also be decentralized BTW)

Thanks Xeroc.....these are really good points and food for thought.

[xeroc]

Blythe Masters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Yo8bt8JAU

Wow, how have I not seen this before... Great talk, and the language she uses to describe blockchain technology is... masterful.
distributed ledger technology is the most widely used phrase in her talk I believe.
Thanks for sharing!

Actually, I am not a fan of the term "distributed ledger" .. simply because every kind digital data can be distributed .. git is a distributed ledger aswell just for code commits/history

I'd prefer to distinguish between:

* blockchain as an immutable database of "the past" events
* a protocol that describes how the blockchain "evolves"

The protocol may contain:

* the business model
* a finite state machine for any kind of "data transitions"
* how transactions are interpreted
* how transactions are bundled to a block
* how bundles transactions

if the last question is "decentralized" .. then the protocol also contains a

* distributed conensus finding scheme


Hence, a blockchain has nothing to do with "being decentralized" and only the
"consensus scheme" can be decentralized (assuming the blocks are broadcast
publicly, else it would be a private chain, which can also be decentralized BTW)

[lovejoy]

Blythe Masters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Yo8bt8JAU

Wow, how have I not seen this before... Great talk, and the language she uses to describe blockchain technology is... masterful.
distributed ledger technology is the most widely used phrase in her talk I believe.
Thanks for sharing!

[btstip]

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• betax: has been credited 25 BROWNIE.PTS
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• valzav: has been credited 25 BROWNIE.PTS
• Ben Mason: has been credited 25 BROWNIE.PTS

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Source: https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php/topic,19947.msg258286/topicseen.html#msg258286

Created by hybridd

[fuzzy]

http://www.wired.com/tag/blockchain/

#btstip "mint chocolate chip" 25 BROWNIE.PTS
#btstip "betax" 25 BROWNIE.PTS
#btstip "Samupaha" 25 BROWNIE.PTS
#btstip "valzav" 25 BROWNIE.PTS
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For helping bm find articles.

[betax]

Cap paper is good talking about the current state. Interesting to see they have selected the technologies I also recommend, including Bitshares.  Funny they mention things like Bonds and recurrent payments, I thought they were more active on the community but they are not.

https://www.in.capgemini.com/resource-file-access/resource/pdf/blockchain_2015.pdf

[jakub]

Blythe Masters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Yo8bt8JAU

At 10:30 Blythe asks quite a few very valid questions about the capacity of the blockchain technology.
And all of them have already been answered by Graphene.

[betax]

Blythe Masters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Yo8bt8JAU

[lovejoy]

While I continue formulating my own personal response to your question, I've been wondering about how a solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem is explained in terms of DPOS.

Beyond benefits of 'the blockchain' in general, one of the difficulties I have in communicating the value of this technology as it applies to BitShares is that the mining metaphor is so pervasive due to Bitcoin, that DPOS almost needs an equally strong metaphor to hang on.

But how does it work, this blockchain?  They say...  and people, even really old people are willing to accept the 'mining with math' idea.  It's math they say, those crazy kids figured out how to mine digital gold with cash.  However inadequate this is in expressing the true state of affairs in Bitcoin, it certainly has a strong memetic quality.

I like the Byzantine General's problem because it's illustrative in a very helpful way, but how would it be explained in terms of BitShares?  Would @bytemaster or anyone care to take a crack at it?  I haven't been able to fully articulate it yet.

[Samupaha]

Bitcoin 101 - A Million Killer Apps - Part 2 - Blockchains, The WWL & A Global Shared History

"History has always been written by the victors. But beginning in 2009, this limitation has been disrupted. Designed to be electronic cash, Bitcoin has proved to be so much more. In this video we focus on re-thinking the blockchain, and understanding why this technology can prove to be revolutionary for how humanity records, remembers and keeps track of itself. Indeed by providing an immutable and transparent database, open to anyone, blockchain technology is destined to disrupt deeds, journalism, scientific publications, patents, artistic rights, and history itself. This is much more than a public ledger or proof of publication, this is a global shared history."