Hey @blockchainttmft, a really nice article and nice explanation, especially for children, or in general people who are not familiar with the technical aspects of the blockchain etc.
Let me bring in some thoughts, almost nobody is talking about in my opinion.
This is not going to be a post agains crypto-currency, as the technology as is, is very fascinating, and makes sense to use nowadays, but I would like to highlight some points.
Value of crypto is actually determined by the community. Almost nobody is talking about the intrinsic value, which gets to zero if the internet or power lines crash. Cryptocoins are totally dependent on energy and the infrastructure of the internet. Without it, it gets useless, which would actually mean, that your toys or what ever you have attached to the blockchain are lost or at least non accessible, til functionality has been restored.
The whole security depends on the private key. If the latter is owned, the coins can be claimed yours. Sure, you should keep your keys save, but what if someone breaks cryptography. Think about quantum computers, which are
being highly developed at the moment.The whole blockchain transactions etc. are depending on hash-sums. There is this problem with so called hash-collisions, which basically means, that two different values lead to the same hash-sum. As a programmer I haven't gone into this specific part of the whole topic yet, nevertheless I am quite sure if one can produce hash-sums that fit to the chain in a "wrong" way, attack vectors will emerge.
Would love to read some opinions.
Hi @n3bul4 I'm not a programmer so the last point about hash-collisions is beyond my knowledge.
You're right that crypto value is determined by the community and there is a very strong community behind crypto. Internet or power lines crashing means temporary inaccessibility which is no big deal. I mean the chances of there being no internet or power lines for any extended period of time are extremely unlikely other than for periods of time where dictators may do so in small countries.
I've definitely heard the argument about quantum computers potentially being able to break the cryptography. I read up a bit more on it just now:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11224058/How-quantum-computers-will-undermine-cryptography.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11224058/How-quantum-computers-will-undermine-cryptography.html
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Quantum_computing_and_Bitcoin
It appears that if they take down cryptocurrency they will also have been able to take down all the internet in the US. They would also need hundreds of millions of Dollars so it would be far from easy to take down if it were possible.
Bitcoin is also working on quantum resistance and although their attempts at becoming quantum resistant are experimental at this stage, QC is nowhere near able to crack cryptography yet.
Hey there, haven't you heard about the Internet Kill-Switch? Could be a conspiracy theory but, what I wanted to point out is, that I think elites will always try to take control about important things like money in this case. I am afraid, that all this bitcoin topic sounds too good to be true, as I can't imagine, that they won't do anything about trying to keep control.
Don't get me wrong, as I am a fan of crypto-coins, I am just a bit skeptic, but if there is an "Internet Kill-Switch" you could globally shut down at least broad areas of the internet. This would mean even more control, than they have today.
I haven't heard about Bitcoin's quantum resistance so far, but it's kinda obvious, that the guys are thinking about doing something about it. Anyway I am not so trustful regarding that topic, because if you look back f.e. at the whole SSL security and Snowden, he had actually revealed that there were totally unknown new ways of breaking SSL, not known to the public til that time.
Every software can be broken, that's sadly a fact... Money in my pocket may be stolen, but there is no hidden outside threat I am not aware of, endangering my money in the pocket... or lets say the money of a million people in their pockets...
Hard to say...
Thanks for sharing your opinion. I agree nothing is perfect and if blockchain technology were to stay stagnant and not evolve, it would one day likely get hacked by QC. I have a lot of confidence that we will find a way to create a system that is decentralized and that remains as good as unhackable.
We simply have to if we want to get to the next level, i.e. the decentralized revolution.
Yes, I totally agree. Let's hope the best. In general we should try to get to the next level, where we stop fighting each other and concentrate on the good things we can do. That would change a lot....
Also thanks for your well thought out response and criticism. I checked out your blog again and you have some interesting view points, followed!