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Comment by petesergeant | Hacker News Reader

I'm blockchain skeptical, but I think you're slightly throwing out the baby with the bathwater here.

> the trusted party isn't eliminated by blockchain, because someone has to code the implementation of the software

I don't think is relevant in practice, and I think the blockchain does solve this problem regarding double-spending. Yes, there's a centralized set of developers, but that does not seem to be a problem in practice, 13 years in

> The trust 'problem' is overrated, because nothing in this world works without trust.

Bingo, this is the real problem. The world has very few problems where a trusted authority / arbitrator isn't a massive benefit.

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Why the set of developers is considered centralised? I can write an implementation according to the specification and have no relationship with developers of another implementation.

My understanding is that the specification changes over time, and if your implementation doesn't match the central one, then the rest of the network stops interacting with you. That is: there is a massive network effect of people using github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin as canon, and there is a central group of devs with write-access there. While you can fork it, unless the rest of the network gets in on it, you've just created some altcoin that nobody cares about.

You can write an implementation according to what specification? Bitcoin? Where is the specification for Bitcoin? There isn't one.

Maybe you can, but have you? Has anyone? Are there any nodes on the bitcoin network not running the same code written by the same handful of people?

Also, saying that "all you have to do to participate in this new trustless economy is to read the spec and implement your own validation node and client, and maintain it as the protocol changes" is a pretty different promise than "just download this app".

Machine 2 machine payments are a massive problem you can solve with a blockchain. Which can solve a whole lot of other problems, like automation. Which can solve another set of problems.

> Machine 2 machine payments are a massive problem you can solve with a blockchain

Right but you can also solve these with a government regulated exchange and it’s not clear what a blockchain adds

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