[acdha]

I'm aware but that wouldn't apply if Google launched a blockchain, which was the origin of this thread, and it wouldn't help with the details I listed where key parts of the system are not stored on the blockchain. If Google introduced, say, oracles which their smart contracts relied on you'd need a way to provide a new service and permission to update those contracts (this is, of course, a massive risk for fraud so that can't be done lightly).

Similarly, even if they used someone else's chain like Ethereum, if the data stored on the chain references something like a CDN endpoint where the real payload is available, the fact that the blockchain itself is still running wouldn't help you much if you didn't have a compatible alternative with a copy of the data.

[thebean11]

Yeah maybe, I'm really having trouble imagining what Google could be building here so can't say either way.

[acdha]

Yeah, I would definitely not want to say anything other than “it depends” until details emerge. This isn't even an official announcement yet so anyone who knows presumably is under legal constraints not to say anything.