this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2025
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[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago

I thought we were doing ai now

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (4 children)

So I’m clear, does blockchain always refer to those *coin currencies? Or is it be used for other purposes too?

[–] bigboismith@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Imagine you have a database, you decide to add something to it and now you have to solve 5000 sudokus. Also you can't remove anything as well. Have fun

[–] bountygiver@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

cannot remove anything is a feature, it prevents people from changing history (imagine being able to undo all your outgoing payments)

And the reason you have to solve 5000 sudoku is by proving you have a limited resource, in this case processing power (and proof of stake makes it the money you have and skip the 5000 sudokus). Because if you are identifying people by a user account, there's nothing stopping 1 person from creating 20 billion accounts.

[–] neatchee@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

This is just plain wrong. Blockchain is not a synonym for cryptocurrency or proof-of-work.

Grifters ruin everything and this reply is a perfect example

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I do understand what blockchains are; my question is more to whether they are used outside of cryptocurrencies or not.

~I do also like your explanation.~

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[–] sip@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago

can be used for AI

[–] paulbg@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

wait, what if we created a neurotechnological device powered by AI that'll read your mind and speak to people instead of you?

[–] neatchee@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (18 children)

I hate this so much because it's absolutely false. Nobody needs cryptocurrency. But Blockchain has very real value that has nothing to do with currency, grift, or "proof of work". Blockchain is NOT synonymous with crypto and the fact that everyone believes it is shows exactly how much damage the grifters have done :(

EDIT: Haters gonna hate. Hope everyone who down-votes reads the replies too.

EDIT 2: Here you go,, everybody. I did the research for you....

Supply chain management

  • Food safety: Companies like Walmart and IBM Food Trust use blockchain to track food products from their source to the store shelf. This allows for a swift, precise response to contamination by tracing affected items, potentially saving lives and reducing waste.
  • Logistics and shipping: Shipping giant Maersk has partnered with IBM to create TradeLens, a blockchain platform that digitizes and automates shipping documents and processes. This increases transparency and efficiency across the global supply chain.

Healthcare and medical records

  • Secure data sharing: Blockchain can create a secure, interoperable system for storing and sharing patient medical records. Patients can use private keys to control who accesses their sensitive data, ensuring privacy while allowing authorized providers to get the information they need.
  • Pharmaceutical tracking: The MediLedger Project uses blockchain to secure the pharmaceutical supply chain, verifying the integrity of drugs and reducing the risk of counterfeit medications.
  • Clinical trial management: Platforms like TrialSite use blockchain to record clinical trial data securely and transparently. This helps maintain the integrity of results, building greater trust among researchers, regulators, and participants.

Government and public services

  • Land and property records: The government of Georgia has used blockchain to secure land and property records, creating an immutable and transparent public record. This reduces fraud and ensures the integrity of land titles.
  • Voting systems: The mobile voting platform Voatz uses a blockchain-based system to enable secure, transparent mobile voting for eligible service members and travelers abroad. This provides a resilient solution against fraud and data corruption.

Finance (non-crypto) and banking

  • Efficient transaction processing: Financial institutions like the Singapore Exchange Limited are using blockchain to streamline interbank payments. This reduces manual reconciliation and enables more efficient processing of thousands of transactions.
  • Supply chain finance: TradeIX uses blockchain to provide a transparent platform for supply chain finance, automating processes and streamlining transactions.

Education

  • Credential verification: Learning Machine uses blockchain for the secure issuance of digital diplomas and credentials. This provides a more trustworthy and efficient method for verifying academic achievements.

Intellectual property and media

  • Transparent ticketing: Companies like Guts use blockchain to create a transparent ticketing ecosystem that eliminates ticket fraud and the secondary ticket market.

Energy and utilities

  • Peer-to-peer energy trading: Homeowners with solar panels can use blockchain-based platforms to automatically sell their excess energy to neighbors. Smart meters record the transactions on a blockchain, automating the entire process.
[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I'd go the other way. Crypto has uses, and crypto works better when built on other Byzantine-resilient systems.

Most of your examples still would work better with a conventional database, because there's an obvious trusted party and/or privacy needs.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Of course, if there's a trusted party a conventional database is better. But that's like saying that umbrellas are useless because it's often sunny outside. Having or not consensus (or a trusted party) is usually not a choice, it's an imposition. Conflicting interests exist and it's difficult to work around them.

[–] neatchee@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Using Blockchain in these situations provides clear advantages. The whole point is removing the need for trusted parties in yes scenarios because it introduced significant risk. Centralization has implicit dangers.

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[–] Allero@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

And hey, cryptocurrency also has utility outside speculative markets and grifters!

It can be used to move money freely and often times more efficiently, and some of it can be used for private payments, too. Ability to financially support someone anonymously is important for democracy.

It also allows you to get money directly without revealing sensitive payment information or relying on third party with giant fees. This is objectively good!

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