Molly White: ‘Blockchain-Based Systems Are Not What They Say They Are’

Molly White:

If you go out seeking to learn from their proponents why blockchains and the systems built atop them are apparently the future of our web, you’ll begin to see some common themes. Two of the ones I see most frequently are:

  • Decentralization: data in blockchains are distributed across innumerable servers run by innumerable people and organizations, rather than stored on servers controlled by one organization

  • Immutability: what is written to a blockchain cannot be changed or deleted, unlike more traditional databases

These fall apart under further scrutiny. [...]

Blockchain technologies have somehow managed to land in the worst of both worlds — decentralized but not really, immutable but not really.

A cogent read.

Update 15 January: And another one, “It’s Not Still the Early Days”:

The more you think about it, the more “it’s early days!” begins to sound like the desperate protestations of people with too much money sunk into a pyramid scheme, hoping they can bag a few more suckers and get out with their cash before the whole thing comes crashing down.

★ Friday, 14 January 2022