[notzorbo3]

The article doesn't explain why a public distributed ledger such as the blockchain would make sense. A privately run ledger would probably also solve their problems, be cheaper and it would be a lot more secure against tampering.

[sigstoat]

which of the mutually untrustworthy parties will operate the ledger?

customs agents don't trust shipping companies, shipping companies don't trust their customers, shipping companies might trust most customs agents in western countries but they operate everywhere, and there are, as i understand it, a number of other middle-men involved in the process, who probably aren't trusted much either.

i don't see how a privately operated database would solve any of the problems, or appear more secure to the folks not running the database. (certainly it would be cheaper.)

[svara]

So are you suggesting that shipping companies, their customers, customs and middlemen should be mining a cryptocurrency? Or that they should record their interactions on a blockchain running on a peer-to-peer network of random miners around the world?

Sorry, I just don't see that. There's laws, governments, clearing houses that have allowed untrustworthy parties to work together for... ever. And if they need a database, surely there's going to be a more pragmatic solution?

[notzorbo3]

It's fairly easy to provide cryptographic signing on records. You don't need the fullblown blockchain technology for that. Not trusting other partners isn't something that was suddenly invented when the blockchain was invented. Untrustworthiness has been around as long as humanity has been. We've solved these problems a long long time ago.