Ask HN: What would be an alternative to blockchain and crypto?

3 points by lildata 6y ago ↗ HN

I feel both very enthusiastic & skeptical about blockchain. In the last decade it has been designated by many as the way forward, some form of transactional, Internet of value & next step in business integration. What scares me the most is no big alternative seems to have emerged in this area to compete with blockchain? I hope I am missing something, any idea?

4 comments

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el_programmador 6y ago ↗

One alternative I could think of are chunks or clusters of centralized systems which are then inter-connected among themselves to form a decentralized whole (kinda how the internet works!).

fastneutron 6y ago ↗

You might be interested in raking a look at Holochain:

https://holochain.org/

I'm by no means an expert in the technology, but it's one attempt at a blockchain alternative that I'm aware of, albeit with different philosophies regarding global consensus.

gregjor 6y ago ↗

Blockchain solutions are touted as improvements and replacements for solutions that already exist. It's not that blockchain solves problems previously not solvable.

Read Attack of the 50-Foot Blockchain for some perspective.

s1t5 6y ago ↗

Isn't each of the hundreds of cryptocurrencies an alternative? Many of them have wildly varying implementations - different designs, levels of security, speed of transaction, transaction number limits, no blockchain at all, proof-of-stake vs proof of work etc.