tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post9187797409089593348..comments2024-03-16T18:42:21.178-07:00Comments on DSHR's Blog: Techno-hype part 2David.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-54300266984354544842018-02-10T19:27:13.524-08:002018-02-10T19:27:13.524-08:00Tom Morris' tweet succinctly sums up the misma...Tom Morris' tweet succinctly sums up the <a href="https://twitter.com/tommorris/status/959402325340315648" rel="nofollow">mismatch between cryptocurrency aspirations and reality</a>. David Gerard links to it and to a <i>Hackread</i> post pointing out that, like computers and phones, <a href="https://www.hackread.com/all-ledger-hardware-wallet-vulnerable-to-man-in-the-middle-attack/" rel="nofollow">hardware wallets are not a safe place to keep your money</a>:<br /><br />"Ledger hardware wallet that is currently operating in the cryptocurrency market is vulnerable to cyber attacks. The vulnerability was identified by unknown security researchers in every single hardware wallet that allows cybercriminals to show fraudulent addresses to Ledger users/customers. When funds are requested to these addresses, the cryptocurrency is transferred to the attacker’s wallet instead of the user. Needless to say that the user will end up losing their funds."<br /><br />The vulnerability is to a man-in-the-middle attack. The vendor's response:<br /><br />"CTO of Ledger replies that no fix/change would be done ... but they will work on raising public awareness so that users can protect themselves from such attacks"David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-69494792229415355772018-01-26T08:11:34.813-08:002018-01-26T08:11:34.813-08:00"Short sellers are in Nirvana with these crea..."Short sellers are in Nirvana with these creatures that had surged by hundreds or even thousands of percent in days after they announced a switch to “blockchain” in their business model or added “Blockchain” to their name. Their shares are now crashing." reports <a href="https://wolfstreet.com/2018/01/25/the-40-to-90-collapse-of-blockchain-stocks/" rel="nofollow">Wolf Richter</a>. Easy come, easy go.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-83728436378080343022018-01-11T08:26:52.675-08:002018-01-11T08:26:52.675-08:00Miami Bitcoin Conference Stops Accepting Bitcoin D...<a href="https://news.bitcoin.com/miami-bitcoin-conference-stops-accepting-bitcoin-due-to-fees-and-congestion/" rel="nofollow"><i>Miami Bitcoin Conference Stops Accepting Bitcoin Due to Fees and Congestion</i></a>. What more is there to say?David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-55725810072787251042018-01-06T20:20:46.365-08:002018-01-06T20:20:46.365-08:00David Gerard reports that first they came for the ...David Gerard reports that <a href="https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2018/01/06/bitcoin-mining-being-pushed-out-of-china-whats-happening-and-how-the-shutdowns-being-managed/" rel="nofollow">first they came for the exchanges</a>:<br /><br />"in September the People’s Bank of China told exchanges to <a href="https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2017/09/16/china-tethers-and-whats-happened-to-the-bitcoin-price-in-the-past-few-days/" rel="nofollow">cease trading</a> within the next month or two. Exchange executives were asked <a href="http://www.afr.com/news/world/china-shuts-down-bitcoin-industry-bans-executives-from-leaving-the-country-20170918-gyjuks" rel="nofollow">not to leave the country</a> while the PBOC was investigating, <a href="http://news.8btc.com/executives-of-17-digital-asset-exchanges-in-shanghai-are-asked-not-to-leave-china" rel="nofollow">“to assist refunding work.”</a><br /><br /><a href="https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2018/01/06/bitcoin-mining-being-pushed-out-of-china-whats-happening-and-how-the-shutdowns-being-managed/" rel="nofollow">Then they came for the miners</a>:<br /><br />"On Wednesday 3 January 2018, a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-03/china-is-said-to-curb-electricity-supply-for-some-bitcoin-miners" rel="nofollow">closed-door meeting</a> on how to curb mining became public. <a href="https://twitter.com/cnLedger/status/949468263800479744" rel="nofollow">Provincial governments have been asked</a> to “guide” miners towards an “orderly” exit from the Bitcoin business.<br /><br />cnLedger notes: “The first steps would be canceling preferential benefits and strict in checking taxes etc, and monitoring activities.” Local offices have been asked to report monthly on the Bitcoin mining companies — name, founding date and financial and tax details — and power consumption, rent or land price subsidies and electricity prices and subsidies."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-72680493259372237642018-01-05T10:06:31.206-08:002018-01-05T10:06:31.206-08:00Another route from cryptocurrencies to fiat curren...Another route <a href="https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/01/05/2197305/crypto-cards-just-suffered-a-major-setback/" rel="nofollow">from cryptocurrencies to fiat currencies just got cut off</a>:<br /><br />"the concept of a prepay crypto card that can instantly convert crypto fortunes into real spending power — because it is accepted by the Visa or Mastercard network — has captured the imagination of the suddenly enriched community. ... One of the biggest players offering such services for the crypto community for the last year has been Gibraltar-based WaveCrest, a principal issuing member of both the Visa and Mastercard networks which specialises in providing prepaid card solutions to industry."<br /><br />But:<br /><br />"A press spokesman for Visa gave FT Alphaville the following additional detail. “We can confirm that WaveCrest’s Visa membership is being terminated due to continued non-compliance with our operating rules. All of WaveCrest’s Visa card programmes will be closed as a result.”David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-81317203149242600902018-01-05T08:27:27.940-08:002018-01-05T08:27:27.940-08:00David Gerard continues his series with Why you can...David Gerard continues his series with <a href="https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2018/01/04/why-you-cant-cash-out-pt-3-bitcoin-is-not-a-ponzi-scheme-it-just-works-like-one/" rel="nofollow"><i>Why you can’t cash out pt 3: Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme! It just works like one</i></a>:<br /><br />"This is, again, why “market cap” is a misleading and useless number. If someone bought a fraction of a bitcoin at $19,000 per BTC, that doesn’t make anyone else a “Bitcoin billionaire” whose bitcoins could be sold at $19,000 each — the total actual money recoverable from the system hasn’t gone up."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-82370129600495115182018-01-02T16:06:48.089-08:002018-01-02T16:06:48.089-08:00Absolutely not a bubble:
"Chanticleer Holdin...<a href="https://gizmodo.com/hooters-whispers-blockchain-and-its-parent-company-s-1821706292" rel="nofollow">Absolutely not a bubble</a>:<br /><br />"Chanticleer Holdings, which owns nine Hooters restaurants and other regional burger chains like Little Big Burger, announced today that it was putting its loyalty programs on the blockchain. And just like other companies that have recently issued press releases with the word “blockchain,” its stock price shot through the roof.<br /><br />The Nasdaq-listed stock, BURG, was up 50 percent this morning, jumping to $4.87 per share after the market opened. The price dipped down a bit from its morning high, but it’s still up 40 percent today."<br /><br />Hat tip to <a href="https://boingboing.net/2018/01/02/hooters-stock-price-jumps-50.html" rel="nofollow">Mark Frauenfelder</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-34104140432008622422018-01-02T09:18:39.417-08:002018-01-02T09:18:39.417-08:00Danny Bradbury at The Register has a report on the...Danny Bradbury at <i>The Register</i> has a report on the <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/hyperledger_at_three/" rel="nofollow">state of the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger</a> permissioned blockchain project:<br /><br />"The Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger project was announced in December 2015. When Apache Web server daddy Brian Behlendorf took the helm five months later, the Foundation’s blockchain baby was still embryonic."<br /><br />An example of the hype around Hyperledger is that Bradbury writes:<br /><br />"We're three years into Hyperledger. The project has come a long way in that time while Behlendorf has form to take it further. He co-founded the Apache Foundation and wrote a lot of the underlying server, still the industry’s most popular web server after all these years. Behlendorf sits at the intersection of technology and community building."<br /><br />Well, yes, but December 2015 is actually only two years ago.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-2238167327122234732017-12-30T07:47:34.797-08:002017-12-30T07:47:34.797-08:00The cost of bitcoin payments is skyrocketing becau...<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-payment-mining-fees-hit-new-high-2017-12" rel="nofollow"><i>The cost of bitcoin payments is skyrocketing because the network is totally overloaded</i></a> by Becky Peterson at <i>Business Insider</i> catches up with the phenomenon:<br /><br />" The surge in fees was a matter of supply and demand. As bitcoin's price surged from $10,000 to $20,000, increasing numbers of people wanted to invest in the cryptocurrency. The upsurge in users and transactions increased the demand for miners' services.<br /><br />At the same time, supply is constrained. The blockchain system that underlies the cryptocurrency can only process around 3 to 7 transactions per second. So at any given moment, a greater number of transactions were competing for a relatively small number of slots in the ledger."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-84822563686031373042017-12-28T07:44:31.345-08:002017-12-28T07:44:31.345-08:00Oops, I was looking at the wrong chart. This is th...Oops, I was looking at the wrong chart. This is the <a href="https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactionfees.html#3m" rel="nofollow">average transaction fee chart</a>, showing fees in the range of $50. The <a href="https://blockchain.info/charts/cost-per-transaction" rel="nofollow">wrong chart</a>, showing the $130 range, includes the reward of 12.5BTC/block. Which, of course, represents inflation of the BTC and thus is an indirect cost to BTC holders.<br /><br />But the argument that transaction costs are (a) unrealistically high, and (b) will be high when you need to transact, are unaffected.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-47635468581533871322017-12-28T07:18:18.123-08:002017-12-28T07:18:18.123-08:00Brian Krebs points out that:
"Critics of unr...<a href="https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/12/skyrocketing-bitcoin-fees-hit-carders-in-wallet/" rel="nofollow">Brian Krebs points out that</a>:<br /><br />"Critics of unregulated virtual currencies like Bitcoin have long argued that the core utility of these payment systems lies in facilitating illicit commerce, such as buying drugs or stolen credit cards and identities. But recent spikes in the price of Bitcoin — and the fees associated with moving funds into and out of it — have conspired to make Bitcoin a less useful and desirable payment method for many crooks engaged in these activities."<br /><br />Credit card thieves are the latest vendors to drop BTC.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-20832526613241319602017-12-24T09:19:38.637-08:002017-12-24T09:19:38.637-08:00Kai Stinchcombe's Ten years in, nobody has com...Kai Stinchcombe's <a href="https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-a-use-case-for-blockchain-ee98c180100" rel="nofollow"><i>Ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain</i></a> is a pretty comprehensive take-down at the proposed uses for blockchains:<br /><br />"Each purported use case — from payments to legal documents, from escrow to voting systems—amounts to a set of contortions to add a distributed, encrypted, anonymous ledger where none was needed. What if there isn’t actually any use for a distributed ledger at all? What if, ten years after it was invented, the reason nobody has adopted a distributed ledger at scale is because nobody wants it?"<br /><br />Its the marketing analog of <a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/summer2017/perlman" rel="nofollow">Radia Perlman's technology view</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-43322063858972930872017-12-23T17:49:46.842-08:002017-12-23T17:49:46.842-08:00Buttcoin sums up the situation.<a href="https://twitter.com/ButtCoin/status/944346981840965637/photo/1" rel="nofollow">Buttcoin sums up the situation</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-27889908728316626582017-12-23T17:46:34.093-08:002017-12-23T17:46:34.093-08:00David Gerard's Why you can’t cash out pt 2: Bi...David Gerard's <a href="https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2017/12/23/why-you-cant-cash-out-pt-2-bitcoin-and-know-your-customer-anti-money-laundering-laws-kyc-aml/" rel="nofollow"><i>Why you can’t cash out pt 2: Bitcoin and Know Your Customer/Anti Money Laundering laws (KYC/AML)</i></a> is now up:<br /><br />"The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer" rel="nofollow">Know Your Customer</a> anti-money laundering (KYC/AML) regulations are an endless source of woe for the Bitcoin trader.<br /><br />“Know Your Customer” as we know it came in as part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act" rel="nofollow">USA PATRIOT Act</a> after 9/11. The idea was to catch money laundering by terrorists and criminals.<br /><br />The tricky part for you, the customer, is that it requires your bank to treat you as the threat. And Bitcoin is notoriously a favourite of criminals and drug dealers, so it gets special attention from bank compliance officers."<br /><br />Blockchains may be "trust-free", but turning your cryptocurrency into something you can buy things with typically involves trusting (a) an exchange and (b) a bank. And at <a href="https://blockchain.info/charts/cost-per-transaction" rel="nofollow">$130/transaction</a> its only worth doing for relatively large sums, which tend to get more scrutiny.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-12509560935486727122017-12-22T07:31:18.952-08:002017-12-22T07:31:18.952-08:00To oversimplify, the argument for Bitcoin and its ...To oversimplify, the argument for Bitcoin and its analogs is the argument for gold, that because the supply is limited the price will go up. The history of the block size increase shows that the supply of Bitcoin transactions is limited to something around 4 per second. So by the same argument that leads to <a href="https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/12/22/2197074/the-hodl/" rel="nofollow">HODL-ing</a>, the cost of getting out when you decide you can't HODL any more will always go up. And, in particular, it will go up the most when you need it the most, when the bubble bursts. As I write, the <a href="https://blockchain.info/charts/cost-per-transaction" rel="nofollow">transaction cost</a> is around $130! And its chart looks just as exponential as Bitcoin's recently did.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-63399949955165340712017-12-22T07:13:57.921-08:002017-12-22T07:13:57.921-08:00A wave of selling has hit cryptocurrencies:
"...A <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/bitcoins-price-is-down-33-percent-from-highs-earlier-this-week/" rel="nofollow">wave of selling has hit cryptocurrencies</a>:<br /><br />"After rocketing to a high above $19,500 last Sunday, bitcoin's price has been steadily dropping this week. Those losses accelerated overnight, with the cryptocurrency falling below $13,000.<br /><br />Bitcoin's losses come amid a broad cryptocurrency selloff. As of Friday morning, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/" rel="nofollow">every major cryptocurrency</a> was posting double-digit 24-hour losses. Ethereum is down 28 percent over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin Cash is down 37 percent, and Litecoin is down 32 percent."<br /><br />And, of course, the additional demand for transactions pushed their price up:<br /><br />"One factor weighing on bitcoin in particular is the network's skyrocketing transaction fees. Two weeks ago, the daily average fee to send a bitcoin transaction <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/bitcoin-fees-are-skyrocketing/" rel="nofollow">hit an all-time high of $26</a>. This week, the network left that record in the dust, with the average fee on Thursday reaching more than $50."<br /><br />Because the transaction fees are going up, they will go up!David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-68471928604232850862017-12-21T07:18:06.029-08:002017-12-21T07:18:06.029-08:00Totally not a bubble:
"The Long Island Ice T...<a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/iced-tea-company-stock-triples-after-adding-blockchain-to-name/" rel="nofollow">Totally not a bubble</a>:<br /><br />"The Long Island Ice Tea Corporation ... announced a significant change of strategy that would start with changing its name to "Long Blockchain Corporation." ... The stock market loved the announcement. Trading opened Thursday morning more than 200 percent higher than Wednesday night's closing price."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-34709032910530918652017-12-20T19:09:20.504-08:002017-12-20T19:09:20.504-08:00Another day, another Bitcoin heist. North Korea su...Another day, another Bitcoin heist. <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/north-korea-suspected-in-latest-bitcoin-heist-bankrupting-youbit-exchange/" rel="nofollow"><i>North Korea suspected in latest bitcoin heist, bankrupting Youbit exchange</i></a> by Sean Gallagher:<br /><br />"Attackers made off with 17 percent of the exchange's cryptocurrency assets, including an undisclosed amount of bitcoin. In the wake of the attack, Youbit has declared bankruptcy and is allowing customers to withdraw only 75 percent of their accounts; the remainder will be paid out after the company is liquidated.<br /><br />There have been three documented attacks attributed to North Korea against other South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges this year, including one against Youbit's predecessor company, Yapizon, in April—in which even more cryptocurrency was stolen.<br /><br />This is the second major bitcoin-related digital heist reported this month. On December 7, the Slovenia-based cryptocurrency-mining exchange service NiceHash was robbed of more than $60 million dollars' worth of bitcoin in a security breach."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-66825727028805880262017-12-20T13:57:31.003-08:002017-12-20T13:57:31.003-08:00HOW TO MAKE A MINT: THE CRYPTOGRAPHY OF ANONYMOUS ...<a href="http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/money/nsamint/nsamint.htm" rel="nofollow">HOW TO MAKE A MINT: THE CRYPTOGRAPHY OF ANONYMOUS ELECTRONIC CASH</a> is by the NSA from 1996. Tip of the hat to <a href="https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/12/20/2196980/further-reading-2401/" rel="nofollow">Kadhim Shubber at <i>Alphaville</i></a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-16865825541039485922017-12-20T09:40:54.839-08:002017-12-20T09:40:54.839-08:00Tim Wu drinks the Kool-Aid in The Bitcoin Boom: In...Tim Wu drinks the Kool-Aid in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/opinion/bitcoin-boom-technology-trust.html?_r=1" rel="nofollow"><i>The Bitcoin Boom: In Code We Trust</i></a>:<br /><br />"Bitcoin’s rise may reflect, for better or worse, a monumental transfer of social trust: away from human institutions backed by government and to systems reliant on well-tested computer code."<br /><br />While his criticisms of governments may be well-chosen, and be part of the reason for the obvious loss of trust in government, Wu hasn't noticed that, in order to use Bitcoin in practice, you need to trust human institutions such as exchanges that are far less trustworthy than governments.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-57291277636239435712017-12-19T06:41:27.433-08:002017-12-19T06:41:27.433-08:00David Gerard is back with Why you can’t cash out p...David Gerard is back with <a href="https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2017/12/17/why-you-cant-cash-out-pt-1-why-bitcoins-price-is-largely-fictional/" rel="nofollow"><i>Why you can’t cash out pt 1: Why Bitcoin’s “price” is largely fictional</i></a>, which you should read <i>before</i> putting your money in.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-2931374321315328342017-12-19T06:35:32.689-08:002017-12-19T06:35:32.689-08:00The Hard Math Behind Bitcoin's Global Warming ...<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-global-warming/" rel="nofollow"><i>The Hard Math Behind Bitcoin's Global Warming Problem</i></a> by Adam Rogers at <i>Wired</i> is a good overview:<br /><br />"32.71 terawatt-hours consumed by the Bitcoin network—or 0.15 percent of the total world consumption of electricity. ... Google—all of Google, the whole Google—used only 5.7 TWh in 2015 and went completely renewable in 2017."<br /><br />Bitcoin bumper sticker: "I'm warming the planet, ask me how"<br /><br />In the bad old days when BTC was only about $10K, <a href="https://grist.org/article/bitcoin-could-cost-us-our-clean-energy-future/" rel="nofollow">Eric Holthaus calculated that</a>:<br /><br />"at bitcoin’s current growth rate, ... By July 2019, the bitcoin network will require more electricity than the entire United States currently uses. By February 2020, it will use as much electricity as the entire world does today."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-6090444297691881682017-12-19T06:25:03.844-08:002017-12-19T06:25:03.844-08:00Wonkblog makes a good point: "When the next f...<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/18/of-bitcoin-body-snatchers-and-buffett/" rel="nofollow">Wonkblog makes a good point</a>: "When the next financial crisis comes, societies dependent for liquidity on bitcoin miners would starve."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-31518284851698112672017-12-18T19:20:36.175-08:002017-12-18T19:20:36.175-08:00Bitcoin Could Make Banks Extinct: Israel Prime Min...<a href="https://news.thestreet.com/independent/story/14420899/1/bitcoin-could-make-banks-extinct-israel-pm-netanyahu-says.html" rel="nofollow"><i>Bitcoin Could Make Banks Extinct: Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu</i></a>:<br /><br />"The 70-second video shows Netanyahu discussing the function of banks, which he says act as middlemen and to protect their customers by offsetting risks and preventing theft, according to ETHNews. "The truth behind what I just said is what's <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/video/14418531/video-here-s-how-to-use-bitcoin-to-buy-real-estate.html" rel="nofollow">propelling bitcoin upwards </a>," Netanyahu concluded.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-8802983851060635902017-12-17T19:41:13.557-08:002017-12-17T19:41:13.557-08:00"One sceptic is Internet Hall of Famer, Radia..."One sceptic is Internet Hall of Famer, Radia Perlman, who gave the keynote presentation on the subject at last month’s Asia Internet Engineering Conference — <a href="http://www.interlab.ait.ac.th/aintec2017/" rel="nofollow">AINTEC 2017</a> — held in Bangkok, Thailand. ... For Radia, blockchain is currently undergoing a ‘honeymoon’ phase that many new technologies before it have experienced; one where hype and FOMO (fear of missing out) are clouding people’s perception of what the technology actually is, and how it compares to other things." reports <a href="https://blog.apnic.net/2017/12/14/dont-get-caught-blockchain-hype/" rel="nofollow">Robbie Mitchell</a>.<br /><br />The bullet list at the end of the post is good. As usual, Radia is making a lot of sense. Here is <a href="http://www.interlab.ait.ac.th/aintec2017/perlman.html" rel="nofollow">her abstract</a>:<br /><br />"So much of what is written about "blockchain" gives the impression that it is a revolution in computing, will completely transform society, and any forward-thinking engineer should base all future designs on it. Most of what is written treats it as a black box with magic properties, including low latency commitment of data, and “immutability”. Does “blockchain” actually have those properties? How do blockchain security and efficiency properties compare with traditional solutions? To add to the confusion, the term "blockchain" is a moving target buzzword that has been used to describe anything that involves computers, cryptography, storage, and networks. This talk will focus on the technology behind Bitcoin, where the term "blockchain" originated. This talk is an invitation to technical debate."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.com