Tangled Up In Blockchains (3)

There's a lot of verbiage to wade through regarding blockchains, and of course bitcoin, but a suspicion is making its way into this blogger's mind ..... isn't the blockchain just a traditional linked list with a few clever bells and whistles to make it more secure? It's still just a suspicion at present but here's what Jon Evans on Techcrunch has to say.

Blockchain Buzzword Bingo

It has become de rigueur over the last year to speak approvingly of blockchains, the technology on which Bitcoin is built ........ The Financial Times writes breathlessly about banks “racing to harness the power of the blockchain.” Forbes enthuses: “everyone seems to agree that the technology will disrupt financial services.” ......

To software engineers like me, this all seems very strange and surreal. A blockchain is just a data structure. A fascinating and powerful one, granted, but not revolutionary in and of itself.

Imagine headlines extolling “linked-list startups” or proclaiming “B-trees will transform banking.” Aren’t we supposed to be the ones who confuse interesting technology with valuable applications?

Interesting thoughts?