Ripple Executive Rails Against Bitcoin in New Essay

Longtime blockchain developer, enthusiast and Ripple executive has warned in a new essay that blockchains could bring about a dystopia.
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Ripple Exec Cites Failures of Social Consensus Model
Stefan Thomas, Chief Technology Officer at Ripple Labs, a leading private and public ledger company, wrote an essay titled ‘The Subtle Tyranny of Blockchain.’
The blockchain industry, he writes, foresees a blockchain revolution across a swathe of industries like finance, international trade and health care. However, Thomas pens, ‘blockchains are a pain to work with.’
‘Harmony and consensus are valuable. But harmony taken to the extreme becomes a detriment,’ he continues. ‘In the Lego Movie utopia, ‘everything is awesome’ only on the surface. Behind the scenes, there is tremendous diversity and a rapidly changing world, which doesn’t match the established consensus.’ A picture of the authoritarian President Business from The Lego Movie graces the essay, implying that – like the movie – everything about blockchain technology is not as rosy as it seems.

This post was published at Bitcoinist on 2016/08/20.