[kypro]

I think I understand the advantages in this specific example and I can see how it's a great solution, even if I don't believe it's the future of banking/currency.

However, I was really asking for the benefits of blockchains more generally. I've been hearing a lot of smart people say it's the future, and I've seen news articles about numerous companies looking into building their own blockchains, but I don't really see what the general use case is for it. The only example that's ever made much sense to me is the example of cryptocurrency.

[thomasrognon]

What's the general use case of the internet? Any answer to that still leaves you to connect the dots with real-world effects. It sounds like you wants some of those real-world effects for blockchain technology listed for you. Here are some far-reaching possibilities...

* Puts the whole world on the same level of financial freedom and participation - farmer in Africa without an internet connection permissionlessly invests in a Chinese tractor company via text.

* Solves the problem of ownership - no need for house, car, etc title companies.

* Brings a new level of honesty to the financial world - auditing industry goes away because it's not possible to cook the books.

* Every movement of value becomes near-instant and doesn't require trusted middlemen - elimination of clearing houses.

* Breaks down national borders - vastly improved supply-chain logistics.

It has the potential of reshaping almost every corner of the underlying structures of modern economies. Just like the internet, it's the foundation for a new chapter of innovation. Who knows what will come of it?

[bdamm]

I’ve seen some pretty useful models for delegation of authorization come up. For example, a contract deploys trust to a root node in the chain (somewhere in the chain), then the chain allows public distributed rules regarding that trust encoded in the contract via transaction. Effectively, the holder of the trust “pays” the currency of privileges to the receiver. The advantage here is the ability to transmit privileges is entirely autonomous.

[otp124]

Do you have a source on this I can read more about this? It sounds interesting, but as someone who works in security and understands the basics of blockchain/contracts, your description was highly confusing.