
Princeton Blockchain Reading Group - mountsbay
https://blockchain.princeton.edu/
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danaos
After years of debating, I still fail to see how the statements "Bitcoin is
useless" and "blockchains have potential" can both hold true.

For a blockchain to be a blockchain, there must be a token to keep the
incentive structure. Otherwise it's no longer a blockchain it's a simple
database that will naturally be centralized due to economies of scale.

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sandworm101
Blockchains can be run without incentives. They can be run internally by a
large organization. Take the US military. I could see each service running a
server to verify changes to a ledger of national orders. An effort to change
the ledger would be possible but very difficult, demanding cross-branch
conspiracy. Such a scheme could exist without incentives.

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pvg
Why would a highly hierarchical, centralized organization with extensive
infrastructure for distributing and authenticating orders suddenly blockchain
it all up to solve a problem (cross-branch conspiracy) they don't at all have?

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sandworm101
To protect against outsiders inserting false orders to one branch. Or to
provide a record of past orders.

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pvg
Right, but they seem to do that pretty well as it is. The Sixth Fleet rarely
ends up in Antarctica because of an air force prank.

