Blockchain misunderstanding, misinterpretation and misconception…
In this article, we’ll touch on some common misconceptions about blockchain technology. While most of the misconceptions may be valid in certain setups, all of those listed below are — in one way or another — causing misunderstanding or bias. Our experience has shown it’s important to keep an open mind with regards to blockchain implementation, so we’ll present some opinions which are intended to be food for thought.
Misconception: All blockchains consume high amounts of energy
This originates due to many public blockchain protocols, among them, Bitcoin, are causing high energy consumption because of using PoW (Proof of Work) as their consensus algorithm. However, there are alternatives that require negligible amounts of energy which can even be less prone to certain attack vectors compared with PoW.
Misinterpretation: Public vs Private/permissioned
This topic often causes (emotional) discussions. There are groups that have an aversion to ‘centralized’ permissioned blockchain solutions.
At FullBlock Solutions, we are of the opinion it’s up to the businesses to decide which solution works best. If a business can get value from running a private network that clearly has some centralization, then who are we to judge? Sometimes it may be useful to develop the application(s) in such a way that it allows migrating parts or even the entire application from the permissioned to the public network, or vice versa.
Delusion: Using blockchain requires using smart contracts
“Smart contracts” and “blockchain” are words that are often used interchangeably, yet they are two completely different things. It’s absolutely possible to use blockchain without smart contracts, and in many cases, the importance of smart contracts is extremely overrated. At FullBlock Solutions, we believe introducing complexity can only be justified when there is a good reason to do so and no way around it.
Mistaken Belief: Blockchain is a stand-alone solution
Although for some simple use cases blockchain could be used as a stand-alone solution, for most applications, blockchain is part of a technology stack, though even with dApps, we often rely on other technologies that are used in conjunction with blockchain.
Misjudgment: Protocol ‘X’ is the only suitable choice for your applications
When assessing which technology is the right one for your use case, you will likely be forced to make some compromises. There are many different flavours of blockchain protocols, and as a result, it’s highly likely your goals can be achieved in many ways, and most often by more than one protocol. One crucial piece of advice we would like to give here is to ensure bias is not a driving factor in your technology decisions.
Read the full article
https://www.fullblock.solutions/blockchain-deep-dives/blockchain-misunderstandings
