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Blockchain Hype May Have Peaked, But IBM is Still a Believer (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the never-gonna-give-you-up dept.

Blockchain euphoria is giving way to blockchain fatigue: Despite the hype, only 1% of executives in a survey reported deploying the technology at their firms. And while corporate management remains bullish about distributed ledgers, mentions of "blockchain" are on the decline during earnings conference calls. But IBM, which has roots going back more than 100 years, still thinks the technology that underpins bitcoin has untapped potential. From a report: Blockchain is a kind of tamper-proof database for keeping track of just about anything. IBM has around 1,600 employees working on such projects, and is leading other technology companies in terms of headcount and investment, according to Marie Wieck, general manager for IBM Blockchain. The Armonk, New York-based company thinks promising uses include supply chains and finance. And while the public's love affair with blockchain is showing signs of dissipating, Wieck still thinks the technology could be as transformative for businesses processes as the internet has been for personal ones.

27 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. A tool is a tool ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    I'm sure blockchain is a good and appropriate tool for some (many?) things, but it's not the best thing since sliced bread, nor can it be used to slice said bread.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:A tool is a tool ... by supremebob · · Score: 1

      No, it's just that IBM tends to be about a year or two behind the technology adoption curve. I think that they are still trying to adopt cloud computing and agile development processes now, long after everyone else has switched over.

    2. Re:A tool is a tool ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      the best thing since sliced bread

      Am I the only one who thinks that saying is stupid because sliced bread isn't all that great?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    3. Re:A tool is a tool ... by OneAhead · · Score: 1

      That does make it appropriate in this specific context :)

    4. Re:A tool is a tool ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Try living with people who:
      a) can't take one slice out without disarranging all the rest and
      b) can't close the bag properly.

      In warm weather it goes dry as a board in hours. Recently we've been throwing away more than we eat, it really pisses me off.

      It doesn't really take that long to cut a few slices unless you're an ambisinistrous doofus.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    5. Re:A tool is a tool ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      In warm weather it goes dry as a board in hours. Recently we've been throwing away more than we eat, it really pisses me off.

      Texture-wise, bread doesn't like to be refrigerated, but freezing doesn't seem to affect is at all, so I usually leave the loaf in the freezer and take out slices the day before I use them. In addition, bread seems to take *way* longer to get moldy if you freeze it first, so you can freeze a loaf over night, then put it out and it will last a lot longer... Just my $0.02.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    6. Re:A tool is a tool ... by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1
      IBM isn't that dumb. I also think the title is wrong, or at least mis-phrased, it should be:

      Blockchain Hype May Have Peaked, But IBM is Still a Believer that Others Believe In It

      As with share trading, you don't have to believe in it, you just have to recognise when others believe in it so you can make money off it. And if there's one thing IBM knows how to do, it's make money off IT services that others still believe in, or at least depend on.

    7. Re:A tool is a tool ... by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Informative

      IBM sells cloud computing services, including hosting for hyperchain, the leading non-coin-related blockchain offering. The open source one that IBM released a couple years ago.

    8. Re:A tool is a tool ... by doom · · Score: 1

      But if you slice your own bread it won't fit properly in a regulation toaster, and cranking out a thousand identical plastic-wrapped quasi-edible sandwiches would be much more difficult.

      I can't believe I need to explain the virtue of standardized components to a bunch of techies.

      (The next thing you know, someone is going to miss the brilliant design advantages of Velveeta cheese...)

    9. Re:A tool is a tool ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      identical plastic-wrapped quasi-edible sandwiches

      Hipsters aren't going to pay a tenner each for those.

      Hang on, maybe they would if the packet had that lumberjack shirt pattern background and a picture of a vinyl LP on it. The ingredients could be like the track list!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    10. Re:A tool is a tool ... by supremebob · · Score: 1

      As anyone who's worked for IBM in the past can tell you, what IBM sells to external customers and what IBM actually uses internally aren't always the same thing.

    11. Re:A tool is a tool ... by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Right, I remember 20 years ago when IBM was begging their professional services clients running AIX to please please please migrate to linux.

      But the fact is, without IBM releasing open source, I'd have spent at least another 10 years wrangling sendmail.

      Not everything they wrote was great, which is why they don't still use all of it.

  2. IBM? by yodleboy · · Score: 3, Informative

    If IBM is on it, the hype is indeed dying. They will sell this to as many dupes as they can find willing to pay those billable hours for a failed "solution".

    1. Re:IBM? by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

      IBM is still a believer in Micro Channel bus, even though public interest in this technology has dissipated.

  3. Obligatory xkcd quote: by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

    blockchain ?!?

    1. Re:Obligatory xkcd quote: by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      That's not even about blockchain, that's about voting software.

  4. When the bombardment stops ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    While I am sick to the back teeth of "blockarsechain this, blockfuckingchain that" and am glad to see the back of it, I'm left with a feeling of apprehension.

    Because as sure as little green apples evolved as a way of encouraging animals to disperse the seeds and provide them with a source of fertilizer, there'll be something else.

    Answers on a postcard, please...

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  5. Not dissipating by tttonyyy · · Score: 1

    "while the public's love affair with blockchain is showing signs of dissipating"

    Love affair maybe - if the get-rich-quick speculative investors give it a rest, the practical uses may get a chance to emerge. Venezuela's massive adoption of DASH for trading is showing no signs of slowing, and there it provides a positive social impact at least.

    --
    biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
  6. IBM's response by meglon · · Score: 1

    They're not monkeying around.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  7. $100 note by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    In my country the Mint prints more $100 notes than any other denomination. But where do they go? Co-workers, friends, retailers and shop assistants all say that it is rare to see $100 notes.

    We also have mafia and triads in a black economy, and daily deaths and crime from meth. Heroin deaths have just hit a 10-year high.

    Our tax base is eroding. Government revenue is falling as people are reducing their consumption of items that attract the GST. More efficient vehicles are cutting into the take from the fuel excise.

    These public health and public revenue reasons are good reasons to chase down where the elusive shipping containerloads of $100 notes are going.

    I look forward to blockchain on $100 notes. It's sensible.

    Indeed, anyone who opposes it automatically puts themself under suspicion of benefitting from the black economy. Think payola, kickback, bribes.

    It's a litmus test. Is your politician owned by the Mafia? What is their position on blockchaining $100 bills?

    1. Re:$100 note by edi_guy · · Score: 1

      You are posting as AC so why not just state the name of this 'country' you supposedly inhabit. Is it Wakana? Zamunda? East Texas?

    2. Re:$100 note by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      If you can't find the hundred dollar bills in New Holland, it is because you're waltzing Matilda.

      And if you really want to know where they go, save up for one, and when you finally make it to a town, spend it all in one place. You'll surely figure it out by then.

      And if it still doesn't make sense, buy a Bible.

  8. Ten minute transaction time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    An average confirmation time for a Bitcoin transaction was 10 minutes yesterday.

  9. Re:Special Purpose by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    It doesn't have to provide availability.

    And it definitely is a data store, but it has exactly zero data retrieval features. So calling it a database might be vastly overstating the features.

    Which is probably a good thing for the actual use cases that benefit from it.

    Also keep in mind, the IBM blockchain stuff has nothing to do with cybercurrencies, it is only about smart contracts.

  10. Re: The future by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Indeed. Plastics only kill fish. They have no power over terrestrial creatures!

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  11. Re:The future by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Which are...long chains?

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  12. Of COURSE IBM is a believer! by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

    They are selling it!