Xi Ping Pong going nuts for blockchain

For a couple of years now it has appeared as if the Chinese government is seeking to “have its cake and eat it too” when it comes to crypto assets and blockchain technology. The simple phrase “Blockchain not Bitcoin” has become the country’s defining strategy when it comes to the space, and the difference in approaches that the government has taken regarding open v. closed ledgers and assets is a study in contrast.

Let me construct a different use case fo consensus algorithms.  Let us assume we have some large connection of SQLite databases, and we want them all updated identically.  Can we derive a consensus algorithm using block chain?

Sure we can, if we understand that block chain is an access lock process.  Many user issue requests to update the collective databases.  The queue handler at each database receives the unorded arrivals of write request and forms a queue structure, with checksums.  Then the queue structure is broadcast, and all other databases will accept the largest queue structure it receives.  Eventually one block emerges as the longest queue and that portion of the access queue is accepted by all parties, since they cannot make a larger queue except by appending to the current longest. Proof of work, I think, though I have missed the critical details.

However, once the longest queue is proved, the first entry can be processed, there is no race condition all databases select the first access write which would be identical everywhere.  Then add in new incoming requests to the queue and re-broadcast until the next stable queue of access request is arrived at.

So, you see, though I use multi-access SQL with identical databases, I still use a form of 'block chain' for multi-access resolution.  In other words, block chain is simply the multi-access, multi-site distributed queueing system.  It belongs in the category of access resolution algorithms, in fact it forms the proof of existence, using block chain queue control multi-site data bases can remain consistent.

Where is the new block chain industry?  It is there, but it is not a 102 trillion industry.  All of fintech is only a 60 trillion dollar industry.  Multi-access queueing is a big part of it.

The same analysis holds for crypto. Crypto is a digital watermarking technology, a good way to put it.  There are no crypto coins, per se.  There are a number of, almost all, instances where digital watermarking is a critical tech for power of attorney, not just digital cash, but digital certificates of all kinds. Fintech relies on public key issued by the user thumbprint.

Much of what we hear is marketing hype, but not too far off the marks.  Consensus algorithms are big deal, digital watermarking are a big deal.  It is just that marketing is grabbing some key words and using them out of sequence.