[w1nt3rmu4e]

Honestly, I don't see why everyone hates blockchain these days. Two things are going on:

1. It's a potentially revolutionary technology (trust-less, decentralized, nearly tamper proof, etc) that hasn't yet found a killer app(s) at scale

2. We're in the middle of a gold rush with zillions of shit-coins really throwing off the signal to noise ratio

This period will pass. Blockchain tech is maturing (PoS replacing PoW, throughput increasing, formal verification, on-chain governance, etc). Most of the shit-coins will disappear (a common headline these days is exchange X delisting NN coins because they're worthless). Things will consolidate, the really valuable tech will bubble to the top.

If you follow the news, you'd know there's a lot of stuff in the works, from major corporations to governments trialing blockchain for different purposes. Now, you can take a philosophical position about blockchain and say it's worthless, but the rest of the world doesn't seem to care and its widespread adoption is beginning to look like a foregone conclusion.

> In energy for instance, much talk about the financial aspect of a blockchain-based energy solution but absolutely zero talk of how the physical grid and infrastructure would engage to support the financial activity.

http://news.trust.org/item/20180828095937-yg29h/

This is a project trialing in Bangkok. Excess electricity from private solar is sold off automatically.

> Helping it along is blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that underpins bitcoin currency, which offers a transparent way to handle complex transactions between users, producers, and even traders and utilities.

> Blockchain also saves individuals the drudgery of switching between sending power and receiving it, said Martin.

I don't have any details, but it seems they've figured out how 'energy on blockchain' actually works. I have heard the project has been successful enough that city decided to tax them to the point of being unprofitable (will likely correct itself in the future, was probably just a knee jerk reaction).

[the_snooze]

>It's a potentially revolutionary technology (trust-less, decentralized, nearly tamper proof, etc) that hasn't yet found a killer app(s) at scale

I'd argue it has: cryptocurrency and all the criminal enterprises it supports (e.g., ransomware). If you're willing to enter legally-enforceable contracts with other parties, then "trustless" and "decentralized" don't matter all that much to you.

[thedancollins]

Ok, but counterpoint is obvious. Are there people using blockchain for illicit purposes? Yes. And also water is wet. There are also many people using cash for illicit purposes.

And of course, you can always include as many people in your transactions as possible but what blockchain does is to make those people unnecessary. Why is this important? Because it enables micro-transactions and credit-less agreements. A blockchain provide options that fiat-based systems can never provide.

[thedancollins]

I like the Bangkok example because it highlights that one of the problems we have in the "more developed" world economies is that we have existing systems and financial institutions to hurdle. Developing economies do not and it is giving them a fast track tot he new way of doing business. There is a good chance that when blockchain takes off - it will catch Wall Street off-guard.