The thing I really enjoy about non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and "smart contracts" more broadly is that there's no way to get them to point to information or objects outside the blockchain without introducing a trusted third party, the whole thing you set up a blockchain to avoid.
-
Show this thread
-
-
Sure, but anyone can put a hash of a photo of Mona Lisa in a text file, burn a forest, and claim that it makes them the owner now. Bits on a blockchain won’t influence anything in the real world without someone to physically enforce them, and that’s where ‘authorities’ come in.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @kornelski @Pinboard
Well, that's a different argument, which is valid, but also has its counterarguments (e.g. anyone can print a photo of a famous photographer, it won't cost as much as the original "signed" copy). I was responding to the "trusted third-party" argument though.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
The example he gave was about a soccer game score. Where do you get the score from? It's not a hash, not an IPFS node. The game hasn't happened on the blockchain. There's no algorithm to verify the score is true. The system has no choice but to trust some external input.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @kornelski @Pinboard
Of course there is. As long as you have a public key of an "authority" (e.g. FIFA). You can verify that the score is correct (according to that authority) at all times. Without trusting a third party. See PGP, Dat etc.
2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
Here FIFA is the trusted 3rd party (the first two parties are the people making a bet via smart contract). Once you've tied the result to a single trusted authority that decides the result of the transaction, your decentralized trustless blockchain is merely a very slow computer.
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
There's at least one more trusted third party in the scenario (whatever process gives you the FIFA public key)
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.