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Politics : Tell a joke - anything goes -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pogeu Mahone who wrote (4886)	2/11/2019 4:33:54 PM
From: Sun Tzu	1 Recommendation Recommended By Stock Puppy Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13780

There are a couple of blockchain VC incubators in NYC that used to frequent (and still go to when I am there). There is also a Canadian blockchain coworking/think-tank not too far from my office that deals with investigating blockchain based crimes (e.g. money laundering etc) while also helping startups with their blockchain issues. Overall, this has great potential and may become one of the most earth shattering inventions of the century. I am sure you can read up on all the hype on the 'net. Here are a few examples of what makes blockchain and smart contracts special: (1) The most practical use cause involves international trade. As it stands, if you want to import something, there are a lot of uncertainties involving whether or not the buyer actually has the money and whether or not the seller can deliver the goods. Today this is handled by getting a letter of credit from your bank and have it acknowledged by the seller's bank. Then potentially having an escrow account and contracts subject to inspection of the goods you receive. The whole thing is a mess but that is the best you can do today. With blockchain and smart contracts the process can be automated and be nearly instantaneous. The reason this has not happened yet is because nobody has manged to write the software so that it is both fast and secure. (2) Another use case is for automatically paying the payout percentages to each stakeholder without the need for accounting. Everyone simply gets whatever agreed upon share of the transaction that is in their contract. (3) A third and more esoteric, but still powerful use case is having it as a national currency. Imagine if Venezuelans did not have to suffer with their currency. Just keep in mind that Bitcoin does not equal blockchain. Rather Bitcoin is a single implementation of how one type of blockchain could be put to use.