Thoughts on Blockchain
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My thoughts on blockchain are very difficult to convey. I see both pros and cons to using it. This extends from blockchain the data structure to blockchain the currency. I will present what I believe to be the pros and cons below.
Pros
I think blockchain has a lot of potential for federated tasks like voting and moderated content. For voting, I appreciate the way each node can “vote” for the correct chain if a bad block is injected into the chain. This validation was used in several states (and even countries) for voting in past elections. I also see other federated utilities like currency being a very likely path. Blockchain currency (called cryptocurrency) is making a lot of progress with rich investors and some countries starting to recognize and regulate it. This is huge for places where the official currency is inflated or the government is too invasive in their citizen’s activity.
Cons
The data structure of a blockchain requires too much resources. In order to participate in a blockchain, you have to process the whole chain. This means you receive a copy of every block and have to process all the past blocks before you can start processing the new ones. This operation takes a lot of time, bandwidth, and storage. This also takes a decent amount of energy before you can benefit from the blockchain. There are many issues with blockchain and energy on a large scale. Most blockchain technologies use significantly more energy than their counterparts.
In terms of security, there is a “majority rule” to voting. When deciding if a block is legitimate, all nodes will cast a vote if they think the block is correct. This makes it trivial to inject a bad block in a blockchain. All you need are a lot of nodes that outnumber all other nodes. For large networks like bitcoin, this is not affordable for anyone considering the number of computers you would have to purchase. There are other logistic concerns like storage for all those computers, the cooling solution, the energy lines, etc. For small blockchains, these logistic concerns melt away and you can easily seize control.