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Comment by vinniejames | Hacker News Reader

The reason for this is the fact that large businesses profit from being the middle-man here. Moving towards automated settlement on a blockchain reduces cost and increases efficiency,it's a win-win for everybody except the middle-man

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There's nothing in fast, cheap, automated settlement that requires a blockchain. A centralized system should cost less, at least compared to a proof of work blockchain, due to energy costs.

Also, stock markets are heavily regulated. In a centralized system, it is relatively easy to enforce regulations. How do you do that in a blockchain based system?

Blockchain is the biggest "solution looking for a problem" of our time and because it looks like we've entered the meme age, I'd not be surprised if everything was reimplemented with blockchain regardless of the fit.

There is a massive overlap between /r/wallstreetbets, Elon Musk fan-boys and crypto enthusiasts I bet, and this mess has something for all of them: gaming, FOMO, evil short-sellers, beating the system, lots of diagrams with arrows and an app that's easy to use and easier to blame.

Having the stock market emit 325.95 kg CO2 per transaction [1] is one of the few ways I've ever heard to make the stock market significantly worse for society -- irrespective of your current feelings about it.

[1] https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption/

There’s more to crypto than Bitcoin.

Why would a blockchain be better than a traditional database for this? Making it decentralized is a non-goal, so what would the advantages be?

The real issue is not the specific technology, it's that it's an ancient hodge podge.

No. The issue is that you have no central ledger of ownership of stock, but instead many firms' individual ledgers. You also have various kinds of risk of fraud, etc.

T+2 is an atomic commitment algorithm that leaves enough time for humans to make phone calls and discuss the implications when there's going to be a failure to deliver or another anomaly from fraud or globally inconsistent state.

It's far more centralised than you think, dematerialization isn't 100% complete but Cede and Co. hold the ledger of who owns what - at least to the extent that is possible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depository_Trust_%26_Clearing_...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cede_and_Company

Blockchains are about decentralisation and removing the need for trust. But neither is necessary in the case of stock settlement. If you accidentally have the DTC send someone a bunch of your shares, you politely ask that person for them back and you’ll likely get them. Try doing that with a blockchain (especially if you accidentally send them to a nonexistent address)

Blockchain does not do anything a database cannot. It's a pointless application of the technology.

Who do you think "the middle-man" is here, exactly?

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