[HN Gopher] Blockchain study of 43 solutions finds 0.00% success...
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       Blockchain study of 43 solutions finds 0.00% success rate
        
       Author : Bluestein
       Score  : 20 points
       Date   : 2021-03-04 21:24 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theregister.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theregister.com)
        
       | berenza wrote:
       | article is from 2018
        
         | nwah1 wrote:
         | The difference between then and now is that they have given up
         | attempting to use blockchains for anything, and simply now
         | claim it is a "store of value." In other words, they've
         | embraced that it is a ponzi scheme, and learned to love it for
         | what it is.
        
           | imtringued wrote:
           | Nowadays it's also a "settlement layer".
        
           | ostenning wrote:
           | If you had looked into the space with even just a small
           | amount of depth, you'd find there are numerous applications.
           | Decentralized finance, games, art, cdn networks, music
           | distribution, video streaming alternatives. Some of them are
           | promising and would address many issues we face; like the
           | Audius project which aims to compete with Spotify and
           | SoundCloud, but actually paying artists for their work.
           | 
           | I think it's fair to be sceptical and critical of speculative
           | investments and get rich quick schemes, and eventually I
           | imagine it will die down, and hopefully by the end of it all,
           | we will have a more decentralised world.
        
             | nwah1 wrote:
             | You can pay artists without a blockchain. No actual benefit
             | is provided to this concept by adding one.
        
           | NoOneNew wrote:
           | >In other words, they've embraced that it is a ponzi scheme,
           | and learned to love it for what it is.
           | 
           | Sounds more like Stockholm syndrome rather than a loving
           | embrace.
        
           | Bluestein wrote:
           | Indeed. It is finding its niche(s).
           | 
           | I thought the then/now comparison interesting ...
        
       | Bluestein wrote:
       | "Though Blockchain has been touted as the answer to everything, a
       | study of 43 solutions advanced in the international development
       | sector has found exactly no evidence of success.
       | 
       | Three practitioners including erstwhile blockchain enthusiast
       | John Burg, a Fellow at the US Agency for International
       | Development (USAID), looked at instances of the distributed
       | crypto ledger being used in a wide range of situations by NGOs,
       | contractors and agencies. But they drew a complete blank.
       | 
       | 'We found a proliferation of press releases, white papers, and
       | persuasively written articles,' Burg et al wrote on Thursday.
       | 'However, we found no documentation or evidence of the results
       | blockchain was purported to have achieved in these claims. We
       | also did not find lessons learned or practical insights, as are
       | available for other technologies in development.'
       | 
       | Blockchain vendors were keen to puff the merits of the
       | technology, but when the three asked for proof of success in the
       | field, it all went very quiet."
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-04 23:01 UTC)