Blog

My response to Kai Stinchcombe

12/25/2017

The anniversary article reflecting on Ten Years of Bitcoin triggered a storm of heated debates. And no wonder–it was a great write-up launched at the best possible time—the calm silence before Christmas, when no one is working and everyone has plenty of time to lazily wander around the house and wonder, with a craving for juicy news.

Kai makes a number of excellent arguments, but he seems to be knocking at the window while missing the wide open door.

 

Let’s start with the basics...The “Ten Years” Argument

It’s common knowledge that Bitcoin was first released at the end of 2009 (version 0.1). A number of bugs were discovered and resolved between 2009 and 2013. Looking at the issues that were addressed back then (transaction malleability, unexpected network fork, etc.), it is hard to associate the word “stable” with it at any time before early to mid 2014, even with the caveats and disclaimers one often uses to handwave road bumps with any new technology. For all practical purposes, the age of Bitcoin as an applicable, functional technology rather than an abstract concept is less than three to four years old.

By all practical measures, three to four years means a technology is still in its infancy. ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet, was established as early as in 1983, but it took seven to ten years before we saw the explosive growth of the 90s. That being said, someone in 1994 could have written a perfectly logical article titled “Ten years later, no one’s come up with a use for the Internet,” for example.

It took another ten years for fundamental changes in travel, stock trading and a number of other industries to take place. In fact, the overwhelming shift to online shopping over brick and mortar didn’t happen until 2010 or later.

Social media and the online advertising industry that it facilitated didn’t hit their stride until the mid-2000s. After that it took another 10 years for online advertisement to finally wrest control from TV and print, only really occurring in the last year or two. All in all, it took 20 years or so for Internet to deliver on its promises. Why would be Bitcoin or any other manifestation of blockchain be any different?

 

Disruption of existing industries: payments, stocks, banking, distributed storage…

If history offers any lessons, the disruption of an existing industry does not happen simply as a result of the invention of new technology. New business models, fueled by the technology or creative applications in the context of existing models, are instead often the cause of a disruption to the paradigm. It’s not that unusual for existing players to embrace and prosper with new inventions rather than allowing themselves to become obsolete.

We still buy cars from dealers—but the majority of car shopping happens online. Did dealers go out of business? Not quite. The smarter ones embraced “the online” to drive even more sales than before.

Stock trading — today many investors trade using online brokerage accounts. Charles Schwab saw lots of early success as a pioneer in online trading. Did any broker go out of business as stock trading shifted to the internet? I’m sure some did. Did others survive and become even stronger—that’s not even a question.

Bitcoin and blockchain are no different than other technology innovations we’ve seen before. In fact, history is repeating itself right in front of our eyes.

Nasdaq and a few others united behind R3—the consortium looking to enable trading on the blockchain. The hope is to simplify the stock settlement across market participants—a manual, involved process that takes up to three days to complete after the purchase. Yes, you read that right—it takes around three days for your one-click purchase to finally settle and register in all affected books. Could the blockchain provide a superior alternative? It’s easy to see that it should be explored, at least.

Visa and MasterCard operate a global network of connected and mutually trusted nodes. Lots of work goes into certification, audit, and secure operation of individual nodes. Could blockchain ease some of the requirements as a result of its trustless model? Absolutely! Is it possible that payment costs will be lower as a result? No doubt. Does it mean the world of plastic cards must switch to the blockchain for each and every payment? Absolutely not!

There is no need to consider extremes—no need to aim for the extinction of a business or a vertical for blockchain to succeed. There are plenty of opportunities to compliment, enhance, and extend.

 

Where are the opportunities?

Joe—the cool guy—launched a file storage service and offers it cheaper than S3. Would you trust him with your sensitive files? Not likely. What if the payment for Joe’s service was cryptographically contingent on your retrieval of files and matching of hash codes? We just replaced the trust to the unknown party Joe with trust in the integrity of a decentralized network, supported by hundreds of billions in individual investments that is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Clearly, there is an opportunity for Joe and his customers.

Joe launches a Kickstarter campaign on a new, cool IOT device. The campaign goes well, devices are shipped, Joe maintains a server with device registration. Suddenly Joe goes out of business, taking the servers with him and rendering the devices useless. Would it be better if the registration data was stored in a blockchain, eliminating the risk of owning a device that outlived the manufacturer?

More on this point—the number of accounts and registration records is exploding with the growth of the consumer and industrial IOT. Account maintenance is becoming a serious expenditure, affecting margins and profitability. At the same time, it is almost never a core business function for an IOT maker, who would happily hand it over elsewhere. Clever developers at Xage (https://xage.com/) have already deployed an account management solution for industrial IOT (Disclaimer: I am not involved with Xage in any form or fashion).

Despite the hysteria surrounding the Experian story, anyone with meaningful experience in corporate IT would say that Experian is not any worse than the average. In fact, not better or worse, just average. The issue is not that they should have been better. It is rather the enormous concentration of data creating unbearable risks.

In absence of better alternatives, Experian must be the collector of records and the custodian, compute FICO and perform a number of other functions that leads to enormous risk concentration. An alternative that stores records on the chain and only infrequently opens access to Experian and other parties based on explicit customer authorization could be much more secure and reliable, leading to a clear win-win. Notice that credit ratings did not go away, credit agencies did not get replaced with the blockchain, but rather agencies became a participant in a new engagement model.

I could go on for hours, but hopefully the overall premise is clear by now:

  • Bitcoin and blockchain should not be evaluated in the context of head-to-head competition looking to drive incumbents into obsolescence.
  • Similar to the Internet and other innovations, Bitcoin and blockchain will take time to mature.

 

Technologies do not change the world, business models do.

Comments

Submitted by britneycz2 on Mon, 12/22/2025 - 23:49

These were the top 10 porn trends in 2022 according to pornhub
https://popularindianpornstar.moesexy.com/?monica-kate

holly woods porn teenie tiny girl porn free hardcore porn pics vids the rock doing porn retard porn free video

Submitted by jimwa8 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 00:32

Mature tube hot mom milf and granny porn maturetube
https://coloringanimalspdf.miaxxx.com/?unique-paige

sex porn bree olsen train groping porn clips porn indexes free dp porn top porn sites bro

Submitted by shanaqt1 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 01:16

Kardashian and jenner nude photos kylie kourtney and
https://blowjobtocompletion.bestsexyblog.com/?destinee-daniela

outdoor granny porn jpeg gallery hot latina porn movies busy bunny porn cartoon porn sex vampire saaya irie porn

Submitted by tamikacz69 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 02:00

64 wild dirty talk examples to make him sexually addicted to
https://mother-maggie-xxx.sexyico.com/?danielle-erica

keith porn couple porn forum free porn movie jpegs ovguide guide porn vintage porn 1920 torrent photo

Submitted by rosiefo60 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 02:43

Lucy lee pornstar streaming videos dvds and more famous porn
https://craziest-madison.alypics.com/?makena-tiara

free porn tranny lucy thai porn eskimo porn peeing masturbation miranda cosgrove fantasy porn college party porn thumbs

Submitted by alishagz7 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 03:24

Nicole sheridan porn videos hardcore pictures twitter info biography
https://moglieyuvutu-ballgagpics.energysexy.com/?mallory-brandi

mexican amateur porn fuck hentai boy porn porn drink through a tube porn massage and tube used porn movies

Submitted by gailza8 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 04:07

10 animated couples who were doomed from the start cbr
https://latinaz.danexxx.com/?makena-magdalena

porn tube home page xxxadult porn heaphy free porn sex 8teenxxx porn tube nj porn convention

Submitted by nelsonqc60 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 04:49

Bryce hall nude see this sexy youtuber exposed leaked meat
https://genuine-meant.topanasex.com/?taliyah-rebekah

the most beautiful porn latino porn movies porn sex hot realistic cg satanic porn the watchmen porn

Submitted by rauldj6 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 05:32

Monster black cocks fuck white sluts deep creampie interracial porn
https://excellent-mobibooby.topxxx69.com/?aaliyah-bethany

short mobile porn sarah fay porn sean davis gay porn meily cyrus porn retro porn vintage cunts

Submitted by erickayv7 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 06:15

Anime cartoon porn anime and hentai fucking videos featuring
https://pagalworldfunnyvideomp4download.instasexyblog.com/?abigayle-kennedi

free cross dress fetish porn roman orgy porn tube licking asshole porn videos naked porn celebrities videos porn trailer reviews

Submitted by marvinnu6 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 06:57

Ren py futanari universe v0 02 by 17moonkeys 18 adult xxx porn
https://wife-bibg.bloglag.com/?nataly-dianna

3d cartoon porn ideos death porn sns porn reality porn password heavy metal dvd porn

Submitted by mildredys8 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 08:24

Stay Ahead of the Curve: Daily Updated Videos in the Hottest Categories
https://alma-alma.allproblog.com/?addison-melany

free ffm interracial porn hree adult porn porn pecs latina solo porn pics porn no condom cums in pussy

Submitted by julieja5 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 09:07

My lactating wife s milk sucked by a beggar story indian sex stories
https://huye-huye.danexxx.com/?mandy-madalyn

hot older grannies porn alexis rose porn animal porn jokes animatio porn loosing virginity porn free videos

Submitted by myrtlewf4 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 09:50

Gia ohmy free nude pics galleries more at babepedia
https://funnysayingshirtsforguys.gigixo.com/?jazmine-breana

nasty squirting porn 3 lesbian porn free download porn sound tracks chocolate starfish porn gay porn stars bios

Submitted by jacquelinenk8 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 10:34

17 golden age porn flicks you should enjoy with your
https://realhunter.celebrityamateur.com/?amelia-kiara

buzzed head porn stars frree full length porn movies wife fucking friend porn psp amatuer porn kendra wilkinson porn after baby

Submitted by joelvz18 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 11:17

French pornstar top 25 best hottest french pornstars dieoff
https://nixk.miaxxx.com/?jaylene-veronica

sperm drink you porn free porn anal pics idian teen porn hot condom porn best ever free amateur porn

Submitted by clairecs18 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 12:00

Apolo adri porn videos apolo adri porn star 189 free videos
https://lionell-naughty.hotblognetwork.com/?deborah-abbigail

free missionary porn full lenghth explicit old fuck young gay porn free lesbian beginners porn sugar sweet porn streaming ponr list

Submitted by wendinx60 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 12:43

Ellie nova porn ellie leen alexa nova videos eporner
https://siege.titsamateur.cim/?makenna-alisa

you tube teen porn best mobie porn porn between teenagers free slutty porn animal porn free no sign up

Submitted by kennethfd5 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 13:28

Free porn videos about very old senior grandma sex heavy r
https://nymphomaniac-nymphomaniac.miyuhot.com/?kali-daisy

professors and student porn pics perfect tits in bras porn searching the internet for porn busty petite porn free medical porn site

Submitted by erinun16 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 14:11

Nifty erotic stories archive wikipedia al quds university
https://threeesomesex-sexygirls2016.energysexy.com/?rianna-mikaela

slut whore porn ipod porn sites videosbang bbw hunter porn videos oriental porn school unheard of porn

Submitted by kathleendu3 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 14:52

Pornhub and xvideos will be subject to the same strict eu rules
https://spicybigbut-caitlynn.lexixxx.com/?rachael-eden

spanked with clothes on porn mature gay porn movies free porn xxx pussy fuck movie blooded pussy porn petite barbie porn

Submitted by violakv3 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 15:32

Porno mature et videos de sexe de femmes mures youporn
https://splash-leipzig.topxxx69.com/?lyric-abbie

best porn stories porn teen blow sunpro porn reality lesbian butch porn purchase online porn movies

Submitted by ronaldes1 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 16:10

In alma s way a young latina thinks for herself like her creator
https://hdbikinipics-freehdorgyporn.kanakox.com/?alissa-marissa

big breast porn stars porn user name password heantai porn 1001 facials porn hamaphrodite porn tube

Submitted by hillarywl18 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 16:50

Aylar lie porn pics 55 photos cute xxx porn photos online
https://pteteen-sexy.sexyico.com/?jayde-kennedi

bella gay porn free old man and twink porn porn anal sex credit card porn video free fun blue tube porn video

Submitted by deannasz16 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 17:31

Today's Captivating Images: Visit Our Daily Updated Photo Galleries in Various Themes
https://flashes-queen-victoria-india.titsamateur.com/?jaqueline-amira

nastyxxx porn tube soft porn site forum nature of porn retro tranny porn conjoined twins porn

Submitted by gordonxy3 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 18:51

Watch uncensored jav online free uncensored av watch online
https://beautifulgirlshotpics.relayblog.com/?jade-mallory

porn star big al big dog porn truly safe free porn porn star rico free sex video tape hardcore porn

Submitted by rolandxv5 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 19:31

Animalistic anime sex 3d animal porn animal hentai movies cartoon
https://massivenaturals-biggestbikerrally.dudeporn69.com/?aileen-cristina

cristel porn step father and daughter porn black streaming sex porn magik ilyana porn daughter caught mom fucking porn

Submitted by nolask5 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 20:10

10 ways porn perpetuates myths about men and sex salon
https://narutosxe.miaxxx.com/?macie-alexandria

we buy used porn columbus bengali porn movie long playing porn hardcore porn on tube 8 worried boyfriend transvestite porn

Submitted by adrianle6 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 20:49

Vintage mom and son videos and hd footage getty images
https://trixi-reims.lexixxx.com/?nevaeh-kelsi

black porn hentai bunnys and kitty hentai porn free onine porn free vidios of large women porn free porn picse

Submitted by angelicaxi8 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 21:30

10 straight guys confess why they went gay for pay men s
https://assisstant.topxxx69.com/?miracle-malia

pamela anderson peta commercial cat porn chunky teen porn schoolgirl spanked porn movies free lulu asian porn prtite young porn videos

Submitted by deannqo1 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 22:10

The naughty victorians 1975 restored tubepornclassic
https://inspirationalquoteswithimagesonlife.fetlifeblog.com/?angelique-ella

amateur porn archives sex porn hub teenagers handjob force porn prisoner free porn videos audrey bitoni posh babes porn

Submitted by zelmayl11 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 22:52

The real problem with porn it s bad for sex psychology today
https://funnypicturesinschool.celebrityamateur.com/?ansley-priscilla

erotic messages porn nerdy girl porn video free bizarre nasty porn pics tokyo free porn you porn cum on pussy

Submitted by mayrasf16 on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 23:34

Free sex videos hd porn movies new xxx videos at worldsex
https://ebony-holistic.hoterika.com/?tiara-margarita

android streaming porn teen period porn incesst porn videos extreme young girl porn pics 70 s twink gay porn

Submitted by helenas6 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 00:14

Sweet and innocent looking girl shocks her little brother with
https://lesbischebar-hindixstory.moesexy.com/?dianna-araceli

dad fucks daughter written porn stories free indian actress porn film strip poker porn video sweaty balls boys gay porn megaupload porn clips

Submitted by jocelynpk6 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 00:55

Swinger party porn videos free real amateur sex pornhub
https://payment-killeen.amandahot.com/?karina-susan

lala asian porn girls licking ass porn 100 free teen porn smut porn star tina may nana gouvea porn

Submitted by christimq69 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 01:37

Babysitteuse et plus si affinit s filmplet en fran ais
https://teenlegspics-hugeroundjuggs.xblognetwork.com/?nikki-rachael

phone porn streaming latinos porn the best porn internet porn star zack asleep drunk porn

Submitted by essieht4 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 02:19

Romantic anime hentai romance porn with tender loving and
https://starfirehentia-globallanguagelinks.alexysexy.com/?maddison-alicia

sly girl porn rent porn movies online iwant porn playboy animated porn games ayane baby porn star

Submitted by ivyfi1 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 03:00

An explicit taboo hot stories best women s erotica anthology
https://sareenavelgallery.sexyico.com/?ann-meadow

peggy crowe milf porn dutch porn gallerise wife with black men porn cherry pics porn top 100 kid porn sites

Submitted by tarasm69 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 04:24

20 best pornstar directories databases the s of porn
https://datingsiteforhotpeople.energysexy.com/?izabella-marissa

women love porn couples porn asian videos porn sites similar to petite little blonde porn xxxmsn porn

Submitted by roseannxr16 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 05:06

Seth knight cris knight chris crocker gay porn mansurfer
https://sacramento-inspecting.miyuhot.com/?janice-yessenia

porn jamie adult online porn movies free sologirl porn tubes free prostitute crack head porn popular free porn websites

Submitted by ameliadt2 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 05:48

Star trek beverly crusher and deanna troi in love youtube
https://krefeld-wicked.topanasex.com/?kayleigh-jolie

mrs stevens porn videos bbw amature porn home less porn free online porn fuck line up older couple porn

Submitted by charlescb6 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 06:30

Free asmr audio sex and porn erotic stories sounderotica
https://freeponesex.gigixo.com/?jazlyn-alexus

porn celeb paris hilton pics mr blue sky porn sexy butts porn vintage porn sex tubes angie lynn porn

Submitted by nicholaspn69 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 07:12

35 best milf porn sites 1 list for mature cougar lovers
https://gayanalsex-newlesbianslave.sexjanet.com/?zaria-anne

free young porn flash videos wild cartoons of porn b2b porn owners angelique porn best cocksucker women free porn

Submitted by brendabw16 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 07:55

Us senator ben cardin angry over senate sex tape linked to
https://mservices.energysexy.com/?kayli-jaidyn

trannytube porn gay mobile porn passes personalized porn fat russian porn porn pics and clips

Submitted by sonyacy16 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 08:37

25 famous celebrities with butterfly tattoos stylinggo
https://princecess.tiktokpornstar.com/?crystal-jana

male ccelebrity fake porn strange crap porn tube hardcore swingers porn shemale porn cumshot open tip bra porn

Submitted by ameliamp69 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 09:20

Male pornstar top 25 best most famous porn actors dieoff
https://tantalizing-urgoddesscontroller.instasexyblog.com/?xiomara--jaime

punk hardcore sex porn porn movie mediafire free video porn men cumming free animal porn videos torrent jo holland beyond porn

Submitted by dansy18 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 10:02

25 online jobs for teens with little to no experience required
https://foto-editor-funny-leaking.instakink.com/?mya-brenda

porn free troal email ebony chance porn midget teens porn amature porn voyer baby sitter blows in forrest porn

Submitted by lilafr7 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 10:45

Modern day sins insane lesbian slumber partgy squirt fest
https://knit-palm-coast.relayblog.com/?alana-sydnee

jadan rain porn star maria moore porn st free porn sex sites milf muff dived and missionary porn porn for blackberry

Submitted by robertott10 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 11:27

Hot new pictures each day
https://ermm-amanitapantherina.bloglag.com/?aracely-talia

porn pic teen big bald clit porn video gallery soft porn stockings office secretary selena gomez porn sex nylon 1995 porn movie

Submitted by calvinwo18 on Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:07

Adult videos, free online games
https://nationalrailpass-girlsexy.miyuhot.com/?violet-jaliyah

porn photos young sex anna ap porn free arab teen porn indan porn vieos big cock porn thumbs

Pages