Well, it looks like BLURT went poof! The web sites built on the BLURT blockchain are showing a variety of errors. Blurt.blog url forwards to a page showing a funky graph thingy which I pasted into the image above. Blurt.World hangs. The sign up sheet on Blurt.buzz says: "We'll be back soon!"
The BLURT Discord Service has a comment about an attack. But none of the sites seem to show detailed information. The BLURT swap coin on HIVE engine is quite active. This is the only comment on the problem:
we are currently in the middle of an emergency, we are mitigating an attack on the chain,
As I recall, the BLURT hardfork took place in June (shortly after Justin Sun confiscated the funds from SteemIt accounts).
Before I continue, I should emphasize that BLURT might come back. Since most of the infrastructure for the BLOCKCHAIN is still in place, the BLURT infrastructure could reappear just as easily as it disappeared.
Blurt Features
I only wrote a few posts on BLURT. The site had interesting features. The most interesting feature is that it charged users for transactions on the blockchain. Charging people to interact the chain forced users to assess the financial effect of each of their actions on the chain.
Charging people for using the chain reduced spam, but it also reduced interaction. I wrote some comments on BLURT. Since comments rarely receive upvotes, I realized that would exhaust my account through such actions.
Because BLURT charged for using the service, users needed to make an investment in BLURT.
I confess. I bought 2000 BLURT (about $10) days before BLURT went poof!
The Effect of BLURT on HIVE
I was hoping that the SteemIt hardforks would have a positive effect on the space.
I think BLURT had a negative effect HIVE. A large number of whales dumped their BLURT on HIVE Engine. They then dumped this HIVE on the open market. Cookie cutter sites issuing coins depressed the entire space.
I fear that many of the tokens that appeared on Hive-Engine had the same effect.
Why the BLURT Collapse is Important
Since the BLURT blockchain was based on STEEM and HIVE, the current problems at BLURT shows a possible end-of-life scenario for this class of blockchains.
If the witnesses lose interest in maintaining the blockchain, the blockchain simply goes poof.
There would be no forewarning, we will just try to log in and the entire blockchain will be gone.
Legal corporations usually have to go through bankruptcy procedures and lawsuits when they collapse. BLURT was a cyber-asset. As it existed in the cyber world, it could simply disappear leaving nothing but broken links.
Millions of websites have failed. All that is left of most Web 1.0 sites are broken links and entries in the WayBackMachine.
BLURT Autopsy
In many ways, the failure of a project shows the substance of a project better than its creation.
We like to brag about SteemIt and HIVE being decentralized entities, but it failed like a centralized entity.
We pride ourselves on the fact that there is no legal entity that owns HIVE. The lack of legal entity meant that the failure was more abrupt.
Because BLURT was based on the same core structure as HIVE, I think its current problems should be a key discussion on HIVE.
A discussion about the problems suffered by BLURT might help us find ways to make HIVE more resilient.
The Resurrection of BLURT
I am not a BLURT insider. BLURT could reappear as easily as it disappeared. BlurtChat talked about recovering from an attack.
Perhaps a resurrected BLURT will have a firewall to protect the blockchain from DDOS attacks.
Who knows, a resurrected blurt might have nifty new features. A discussion of the fate of the BLURT hardfork should make the HIVE hardfork stronger.
OMG it’s all over! I was just taking a liking to blurt! What a scam too! I bet it comes back after they fix it though!! 😳
BLURT is back!
As I said in the piece, I bought BLURT last week to give it a try. The thing that had me worried is that the lack of communication about the downtime. There is usually a great deal of chatter when sites are experiencing technical glitches and are rushing to get back online.
You feel HIVE has/will fail?
For me, the jury is out at the moment - but this elephant in the room (of servers going offline, and the end of any particular block chain), will not be addressed openly.
As you know, I've been 'the naysayer' for years - but 'trustless' is simply not true.
I'd hate to have $20,000 of hive, - knowing that it could - quite literally - just disappear.
This was one of my contentions back in 'the steem' days.
(and if anyone is naive enough to think that most people on here wouldn't be bought off with VERY large amount of fiat, is gullible in the extreme)
I did not think that Blurt would fail. The very fact that I bought 2K BLURT as the servers were powering down shows that I was bullish on the project.
I don't even know if BLURT did fail.
I would not be surprised to see it reappear.
That said: Anything can fail. Thousands of web sites that I thought were sound went belly up in the Dot Bust.
I can see scenarios where HIVE or STEEM fail. My experience in life is that discussing such matters decreases the likelihood of failure.
The current outage of BLURT can provide insight into the end of life for HIVE-like blockchains.
More importantly, examining the BLURT bust might provide insights on how we could make the HIVE ecosystem more resilient.
Both BLURT and HIVE are dependent on the witnesses. If witnesses decide that the risk of maintaining the servers is greater than the benefit, then the platform is doomed.
We can suffer the failure of one or two witnesses, but we can't suffer the failure of the witnesses as a group.
I think HIVE has a solid foundation and I personally don't think it is failing; but this is the type of topic that people should BLURT about.
Agreed and retweeted. Thanks for your insights
If the witnesses lose interest in maintaining the blockchain, the blockchain simply goes poof.
There would be no forewarning, we will just try to log in and the entire blockchain will be gone.
The elephant in the room that NO ONE wants to address.
I've been trying for three years - on and off.
Hopium is a terrible drug...
There are quite a few issues that people on HIVE are unwilling to discuss.
IMHO: The unwillingness to discuss taboo subjects makes the platform less stable and also prevents HIVE from being a force for change in monetary policy.
The community stake held by Steem Inc was a big exposure. The failure to properly discuss the exposure made STEEM a takeover target.
The unwillingness to discuss the brand name for the hardfork gave us a brand that simply doesn't work with search engines. There are thousands of network products with variations of the brand hive.
The unwillingness to discuss the life cycle of crypto currency stifles conversation.
All currencies come to an end. People are happy to discuss catastrophic scenarios for the dollar, but unwilling to discuss catastrophic scenarios for HIVE.
We can't have substantive debates about monetary theory because some subjects are taboo.
There is a strong argument that all currencies are a Ponzi sheme. There is no intrinsic value to the US dollar. The value that we give it is based on the fact that we expect future buyers to accept our dollars. We cannot mention the P word in regards to crypto.
I found out recently that the term ICO is taboo as people fear that discussing ICOs might invite regulation.
Anyway BLURT is back. This shows that a blockchain can disappear and reappear if there is a will to keep it alive.
I don't dump airdrops for at least 12 months. If you give me free money, I'm going to keep it long enough to give your project a chance. Be a shame if it's gone; guess we'll know soon enough.
BLURT is back!
My BLURT airdrop was small. It was 200 BLURT.
When given an airdrop, I investigate and support the service. I really don't see it as my money until after I made some effort to benefit the community in question.
The possibility that the site was down had me more upset than the fact that I lost some BLURT in the process.
Mine's around 80K, so definitely glad to hear it's back :)