That’s quite literally what blockchain technology is…
This is called a smart contract that is publicly accessible that details the entire origin and transfer of the item; be it art, or a collectible - or a real estate contract, Aubameyang’s employment contract, or even your Arsenal season ticket.
Blockchain technology means that millions of individual users verify any amendment to the contract; if one of those million identifies any irregularities, the transaction is stopped.
Supposed to change the world right? I remember seeing some ad about 5 years ago about a fridge connected to the blockchain or something like that and how great it all was. But selling pics of monkeys is how the world will forever associate it now.
I’d really appreciate if you could break down smart contracts based on blockchain technology if you don’t mind.
I’ve heard that particularly the maritime industry (shipping) will benefit enormously from it in terms of delivering shipping containers etc. but I’m not entirely sure how.
Something about everyone being notified and funds being settled immediately as the container reaches certain points on it journey etc. but I’d love to know more.
Without going into the actual technology you’ve pretty much answered it yourself. The simplest explanation of a smart contract is a birthday present. Cristo’s birthday is on May 18th I set up a contract so that on every May 18th my account sends Cristo some crypto so he can get hammered.
If it becomes, safe, instantaneous and cheap to set up and fulfil these contracts it could revolutionise everything but there is still a ton of room for them to grow. If that security does come the application could indeed be endless.
I think NTF’s will need a rebrand though, the public associates them too much with those silly monkeys and the technology is lost to the nonsense
How is this any different to a standing order though?
My gym and phone get paid every months thanks to a simple direct debit, I don’t need blockchain or crypto for that.
Unless, with the container example, would there for example need to be a specific unique QR code on each container and then at specific parts of the journey the QR code is scanned by a (maybe even) automated QR scanner and when it gets scanned that then triggers the smart contract to settle funds or at least part of the funds and also notifies both parties of where the container is on its journey?
It’s not any different other than the fact it’s on the blockchain, but if you believe in the blockchain and what it can do with smart contracts it’s merely the construct in its most simple example. The way I look at it is you want to use the blockchain for all your financial needs, as the technology advances and smart contracts become more advanced there will be a smart contract for everything, renting, investment, real estates, education, medical finance. Think of it as how once android was secured app developers went wild with innovations.
One of the more elaborate examples of smart contracts is data sharing being health cares systems, you could essentially deal with all your medical records and fees and insurances all through the blockchain in a single smart contract. While this is obviously in it’s infancy it shows the power behind the idea. Want to pay you university fees and get data packets for you entire semester along with your grades - smart contract with the University.
It’s why I like ADA so much, they are working in Africa to make these smart contracts part of daily life and give people a chance at using this financial technology to make life easier. At this point it all still relatively speculative to me especially when you actually start to use something like MetaMask and see the state of gas fees for things like Ethereum but I do think in the next 2 to 3 years we will start to see more mainstream adoption and far more development in this sector.
You’re backing the expanse of the idea not the real world practicality here and now, and most people think like yourself, why not stay with my bank, it’s safer and easier as of now and tbh you’d be right. Though I personally enjoy Paypal more than my bank and have for a 10 years so I can absolutely see how the blockchain might eventually disrupt the financial world in the next decade.
The shipping example is part of the supply chain process which has huge benefits from blockchain technology.
A company in America might be buying coffee beans from Africa, most of the time it works fine however sometimes things breakdown during the process, the goods arrive late somewhere, the quantity is different, they never arrive etc, do we even know for sure it was the right farm they came from?
If your supply chain are using blockchain technology they can tokenise the goods then as they flow from one part of the supply chain to the next. Each party is essentially signing the correct amount and authenticating the goods as they pass on to them which is recorded on the blockchain and visible to all parties along the chain.
This way you create a clear log of what was passed on, how much and when to who. Now if something goes wrong we know where its gone wrong and who is the party at fault and can do something about it, but not only that you can validate the authenticity of the goods because we can track where they have come from.
Blockchain isn’t just about creating “currencies” which have monetary value and can be transacted with, lots of the benefits including in shipping where you are creating a built in audit trail into the supply chain.
Security - where does it go, how do you know the holder has the right to sell what’s identified within the contract
Storage - where do you store it? Typically you get a copy, and some “body” holds the original; i.e state department or land tax office
Verification - who verifies it? How do we know that the “verifier” isn’t bias or corrupt?
Intellectual property - contracts are always “iffy” about IP; it’s a very large part of legal that is the hardest to prove.
The blockchain will verify the smart contract in the public realm; the “block” is essentially verified simultaneously by people like myself to confirm send address, content, requirements, the contract, and the end address; along with the price.
Web 3.0 is a big shift from Web2.0; it’s going from store-front (i.e e-comm websites, or social media) to experiencing the web.
Using smart contracts will also impact the real world, as you’ve stated with maritime shipping.
But for real estate; you could sell your house using a smart contract and state that you want to have 1% of future sales in perpetuity…or for your Arsenal season ticket, when it turns to an NFT, it is an asset; and you can then sell that on to someone else for the value the market dictates…
The concept of blockchain & its use in contract & ledger management to remove any scope of fraudulent activities is great & yes they are definitely the way to go if we ignore the implication of massive use of electricity it consumes to make it all work.
Blockchain is not a new concept because we already have this concept laid out decades ago in Telecommunication. That’s how your router knows which server to ping to take you to the desired web address.
What I dislike is the justification thrown about blockchain implementation to justify the scam that is cryptocurrencies & NFT.
NFT is even worse than cryptocurrency.
The whole concept of investment is there is a single asset that many people want so the value of that asset increases & if you were lucky to acquire it while the price is low, you can bank the cash.
So in a way, you can make sense of why people invest in Bitcoin.
But why NFT of bored doodle?
Out of n number of NFTs out there now, this single bunch of NFT has 2.5k individual assets.
These are the same assets with minor modifications.
Plus the creator is free to continue making the same asset with a hair strand in a different location & another NFT is added to the universe.
If Taylor Swift created two renditions of the same song with just a single word changed, would you pay more for one rendition when the other is available for 2 cents?
NFTs may be the future of copyright implementation but right now it’s a scam & an easy avenue for money laundering.
NFT’s aren’t being implemented well in the slightest. The idea is being poisoned by the application. However it is important to note the NASDAQ closed last Friday at the worst it’s been since 2008. Strangely crypto is down but not as much.
All these things need to be taken into consideration, we’re about to walk in to a recession and people think the housing market might even start to collapse- some say that it already is beginning to.
For the record I don’t own NFTs or plan to in the future- simply bringing the bigger picture into it, though I’m sure the Independent knew all of this.
Legislation literally says you that you can’t make claims like that good thing for him that NFTs and crypto aren’t regulated so he can get away with it but he could actually get sued for that when his NFT inevitably crashes and some bolshy cunt loses their money and decides to go after him