16.10.1. Other Applications of Blockchain¶

Blockchain is not only a distributed ledger for use with financial transactions. It can be the foundation for building trust between people that some information has not been tampered with. In this section we explore other uses cases of blockchain, and companies that are utilizing this technology to transform how the world runs on trust.

16.10.2. Blockone¶

Block.one is a private company that creates open source blockchain solutions. Their main project is EOSIO with that allows of creating a real-world blockchain platform. EOSIO allows engineers to develop decentralized products at scale whether it be on a mobile platform, within the browser, or any other experiences. It includes a high performance database (nodeos), multithreaded smart contracts, and inter-blockchain communication (IBC) to provide limitless transaction throughput rates.

They are also working on a blockchain backed social media platform called Voice. The goal of the platform is a rewards based social network to allow users to create, distribute, and discover new content. Many social platforms today contain bots and fake accounts. With Voice, the EOSIO protocol is used to inherit blockchain characteristics such as auditability and security allowing for no fake content and attribute any content back to the original source.

16.10.3. Git¶

Most software developers are familiar with version control systems (VCS). A VCS allows developers to track the history of a code repository and view the differences between changes. Git is probably the most popular VCS today. So lets take a look at how Git and blockchain are related, and see if Git is a blockchain system.

Git is similar to a blockchain in these ways:

• It is a distributed ledger in that every developer possesses a copy.

• It is a “chain” of manipulations that is immutable. The only changes that can occur are changes that have to be appended to the “chain”. (Well, that is not absolutely true. It is possible for people with sufficient permission to do a “hard” reset to roll back or remove a commit.)

• It creates a unique hash for each commit (change) that occurs within the repository. If someone were to remove a hash, they would have to generate a hashes for the commits after the removed one. Even if you “git revert” the original change is still stored on the repository.

• It records what developer manipulated what, exactly how a blockchain will record who made a transaction.

Even though there are some similarities, there are differences that make Git not exactly like a blockchain system:

• Forking a git repository is something that developers will often do. They will clone the existing repository and add their own changes without affecting the original one. But this won’t be confused with the original version.

• It is not anonymous. Any change that is made is tied directly to the name of the developer that implemented the change. But that is not an intrinsic property of Blockchains anyway, only of certain applications (like cryptocurrencies) where anonymity is deliberatel built into the system.

• Anyone can add to the repository if they have the proper administrative access, therefore not requiring any proof of work/stake. Again, these proof of work/stake systems are application-dependent and not an intrinsic part of Blockchain.