R3 CEV, a conglomeration of a bunch of banks funding a startup company to build a private distributed ledgers, made some statements about their Corda platform that deserve a healthy helping of "we told you so" moreover than any other statement they've made to date. These statements coming after they imply a release of heir source code for Corda.
R3's chief engineer, James Carlyle, said this to Rueters:
"We want other banks and other parties to innovate with products that sit on top of the platform, but we don't want everyone to create their own platform, because we'll end up with lots of islands that can't talk to each other, ... If we have one platform with lots of products on top, then we get something that's more like the internet, where we still get innovation but we can still communicate with each other."
Yes, he actually made this statement. If this doesn't win the "No Shit, Sherlock" of 2016, I can't imagine what could top it. It's followed up by the CEO saying that "the power of this technology lies in its network effect" which comes in a close second. Also odd coming from R3, who promotes the opposite of any network affect in their push for privatization of the ledgers they are working on.
The virtual currency and blockchain industry has been saying, and doing, this for years. These guys just now figured this out? You've got to be kidding me.
That's not what they've done. What they've done is do the exact opposite all the while others were telling them the exact same thing that they are now telling everyone else. The blockchain exists now for this, being the bitcoin network, and "one platform with lots of products on top, then we get something that's more like the internet, where we still get innovation but we can still communicate with each other." is exactly the idea. That's why bitcoin is not only a means of asset value or digital asset ownership, it's also the fuel of the blockchain.
We've been trying to tell these guys that if everyone creates "their own platform, ... we'll end up with lots of islands that can't talk to each other" since they jumped on the bandwagon earlier this year. Did it really take that long to sink in?
Likely not. Like other efforts, the idea here is to make money, and this may have well been planned all along. However, it's still a private system where only it's participants are going to be supporting the network and they have stated that those participants will only be those who are approved. So you end up with a weak network that lacks sufficient security and ends up with paper contracts being the enforcement of which is as worthless as what is in place today.
We'd love to be interested enough to say something positive about this, however, so far R3 has been the largest supporter of going backwards with technology. Perhaps the source code will reveal something innovative, but if they just offer what they've been talking about, then it's a step backwards and they've taken blockchain technology out of their offering and regardless of what they do, it won't be very secure.
It's possible, but is anyone going to hold their breath?
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