Top Pain Points Solved by Blockchain
Blockchain technology provides solutions to the trust related pain points found in most software systems. Contemporary applications and systems demand trust in central points of control. This creates a range of issues that blockchains can solve. Public blockchains are a permission-less, immutable, decentralized and secure means of transacting. The exact mechanics of a given blockchain are immaterial as long as the properties are such that trust issues are solved. The top pain points created by these trust issues include:
Pain Point #1 — Users must trust applications
Centralized applications require users to trust those that manage the application. Take Twitter as an example. Twitter is used as a global platform for expression but the company maintains the ability to censor users. Users have been banned, tweets have been deleted and Twitter can continue to take these actions or even decide to enact other forms of control and censorship. Blockchain can help build applications that are resistant to platform censorship. A “blockchain Twitter” would address these issues through being permissionless (no user can be banned), immutable (no tweets can be deleted), and decentralized (no central point of control or vulnerability). Some have concerns that without a central point of control the platform could succumb to issues such as trolling and spam but options exist to address this possibility such as community rating and ranking systems.
Pain Point #2 — Trust between users
Issues again present themselves when trust is required among competitive peers. As an example, consider a data-mart shared by financial institutions. Credit card companies want to build a collective credit rating bureau but as competitors, may not want to share data with each other. Without blockchain the solution requires creating an independent third party (like FICO in the United States) and finding a mechanism that allows competing companies to trust the third party (in this case, through board representation or established audits). Aside from creating another vulnerable centralized repository, this solution is costly. With blockchain, the parties can access an immutable record of all provided data. Any of the companies can run their own algorithm to come up with the needed analysis but the blockchain can be set up to ensure privacy for end users (who must give permission to expose data) and also ensure that information shared does not go beyond what each company is comfortable with. This solution removes the need for trust completely and also reduces administrative costs.
Pain Point #3 — Trust that actions are accurately attributed
Using Twitter as an example again, how can we be sure a tweet was actually posted by the user it is credited to and not the company itself or a government entity influencing the company? Currently, we can’t. With blockchain we benefit from verifiability. The blockchain can verify the origin of a transmitted message, requiring user’s themselves to “sign” actions taken on behalf of their account with their private keys, preventing fraudulent posts and providing other users with the certainty that their identity and message is verified.
Pain Point #4 — Trust between users and developers/service operators
Users must also accept what’s provided for them by developers and service operators and have limited recourse when changes are made. Twitter users for example could lose their favorite feature or wake up to a new user interface without any say or any notification from the company. On blockchain apps, users are not at the mercy of developers. Even if developers propose new features, users can continue on with the older version if enough decides to and third party application developers can even provide their own user interface front end.
Pain Point #5 — Trust between users and external authorities
External authorities (e.g. governments) maintain the ability to forcefully manipulate applications (through regulation or force) should they so choose and all users can do is trust authorities not to. For example, a government could potentially force twitter to delete tweets, collect and share identity information or data related to criminal prosecutions. Blockchain removes the need to place trust in the behavior of these authorities through maintaining immutable records. Decentralization further ensures users cannot be censored. Users even have options available to obscure their trail and identity if desired. Blockchain provides a mechanism to prevent external coercive control.
Blockchains: Creating a future not dependent on trust
In removing the need for trust, blockchain provides a platform for applications and solutions that address these trust driven pain points. While the differing mechanisms blockchains use remain irrelevant to these pain points, contemporary blockchains continue to require tradeoffs on different fronts that prevent any one of them from presenting ideal solutions. This tradeoff is made between security, scalability and decentralization and is referred to as the “blockchain trilemma”.
Thunder has designed a blockchain that transcends the “trilemma”. ThunderCore combines high performance with decentralized trust. Made possible by years of rigorous academic research, ThunderCore is an EVM-compatible public blockchain that offers higher throughput, faster confirmation times, and lower costs to make it quick and easy for DApps to deploy and scale. ThunderCore will be the most secure and scalable blockchain to date, offering scale at 1000txn/s and transaction fees that are negligible for end users.
Once the ThunderCore mainnet is deployed (currently the testnet is available) developers will have the foundation to create decentralized applications that truly solve the pain points listed above and more. The blockchain Twitter or blockchain credit bureau examples mentioned are only two of the many possibilities that await.
Click here to start building or migrating DApps — and let’s build the next chapter of the decentralized web, together.
Check out our Github to deploy and test DApps on your local setup on ThunderCore Local Chain ⚡️
https://twitter.com/ThunderProtocol/status/1057788425334489088
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