Calling for the end of the term 'Blockchain'

Layer 1s • October 5, 2018, 4:41PM EDT

Venture capitalist Nic Carter published a post calling for people to stop using the term 'Blockchain,' calling it an "empty semantic husk, kept alive by a thousand press releases, conveying as little meaning as possible." While most people believe that Satoshi Nakamoto created the first 'Blockchain,' he/she/it/they didn't. Blockchain never appeared in the Bitcoin whitepaper nor the original Bitcoin codebase. Instead, Nakamoto noted that a "chain of hash-based proof-of-work" is what powers the Bitcoin protocol.

Nic Carter makes a strong argument against using 'Blockchain,' for enterprise solutions as the Bitcoin "system was built with an adversarial context in mind," but there are "no shadowy organization dedicated to forging strawberry provenance records, that might seek to interfere with IBM’s supply chain blockchain."

On why the term 'Blockchain' is so popular, Carter cites 'Blockchain's' seductive marketing that it could provide the same benefits as Bitcoin without the need for tokens or costly protection. Carter also believes that the removal of 'blockchain' from popular usage, would remove their meaning.

Carter ends his post with some requests for the crypto community:

Permissioned/enterprise blockchainers should be honest about what they are building and marketing.
Computer scientists should stop mocking non-technical people for using 'Blockchain.'
Regulators should not define 'Blockchain' or create blockchain regulation.
Everyone should stop using 'Blockchain.'

(Source: Nic Carter)

About Author

Steven Zheng is a researcher for The Block. He joined The Block in August 2018. Steven graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in economics. Previously, he covered blockchain and crypto at Radicle, a startup analytics firm. He also had brief stints at Cheddar, a media startup, and Bowery Capital, a venture capital firm. He owns bitcoin. Follow Steven on Twitter at: @Dogetoshi