RE: China Loves Blockchain (And Has For Many Years)

I am grateful for your comments on the development in China. The word blockchain is rather overloaded. On the technical side of things, there seems to be a lot of agreement on its merits. On the game-theoretical side it seems a bit more complex. Who will provide the security in a blockchain-no-bitcoin scenario? There won't be any block rewards. If the answer is "the government" then "blockchain" is as uninspiring as relational databases, for example. So what exactly makes it so interesting to the Chinese government that is was prominently mentioned by President Xi? I don't think it is decentralization nor do I think it is censorship-resistance. Is it the global reach. Lowering cost by cutting middlemen?

I think blockchain will be what makes all the other whiz-bang tech useful. AI and deep machine learning really are useless without data integrity. I also don't think full decentralization is necessary for a lot of blockchain applications. Yes, of course, it's useful for avoiding regulators, but there are just so many more use cases for federated blockchains and semi-decentralized ones where you want to ensure data integrity and mutually assured destruction within a defined set of actors. That being said, it's kinda funny to see the markets blow sky high on these comments, because "blockchain" does not mean "cryptocurrency" at all. There will be some use cases for a lot of these public chains but that will probably only be in relation to how they can interoperate with some of the private solutions that are currently under development or will be soon under development as a result of this initiative.