Guest Post: What Is the True Meaning of "Decentralization" in Blockchain Technology?
Recent years have brought significant misunderstanding of the term decentralization as it pertains to Bitcoin. Literally, it means the dispersal of nodes, data, miners and developers; according to some, the dispersal of miners (everyone mining with a consumer PC) is the original vision of Satoshi, and that vision supports One CPU/One Vote, meaning every....
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It’s been referred to as a "revolutionary technology" by IBM, and a "once in a generation opportunity" by PricewaterhouseCoopers. But perhaps the most descriptive title came from The Economist when they dubbed blockchain "the trust machine". It is a breakthrough in computer science that holds the promise of reducing the cost of establishing and maintaining trust for both individuals and organizations. "Blockchain" is a relatively new term that refers to a specific type of computer database. The Oxford English Dictionary defines blockchain as "a....
You can add R Jesse McWaters, financial innovation lead at the World Economic Forum (WEF), to the growing chorus of industry voices warning that we’ve reached a "peak" when it comes to the hype surrounding blockchain technology. "I’m trepidatious about inflated expectations re: the blockchain," McWaters said in a new interview, the comments coming as he described the ongoing "awakening" he’s seen among major financial institutions in regards to the technology. While even the WEF itself has lauded blockchain as a global....
SingularDTV CEO, Zach LeBeau, believes that achieving a decentralized and equitable global film and video ecosystem is likely to result from building more, not fewer, bridges among blockchain, digital currency and legacy players. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, LeBeau confirmed that SingularDTV, which is building an entertainment industry ecosystem on the Ethereum blockchain, is having exploratory conversations with at least one legacy studio and with "one of the more prominent" production companies. LeBeau said that as recently as 2014, he saw virtually “100 percent” of....
A new resolution submitted to the US House of Representatives calls for the development of "a national policy for technology" that would include digital currencies and blockchain technology. It invokes the idea of bitcoin without calling it by name – referring to "alternative non-fiat currencies" – and blockchain tech, which it says has the potential to "fundamentally change" how trust and security are established in online transactions. The non-binding resolution is sponsored by Rep Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Indiana; and Representative Tony Cardenas,....
If Ayn Rand were involved in the bitcoin or crypto world, she might well identify "consensus" as an "anti-concept". The anti-concept, she said, is a "rationally unusable term". It conveys an approximate sense of meaning, but lacks the precision needed to fully communicate an idea. "In the realm of cognition," Rand said, "nothing is as bad as the approximate." "Consensus" mischaracterizes the decision-making processes that exist around bitcoin. Adoption or non-adoption of network software says nothing about the broader....