The Economist checks in on "The promise of the blockchain"

[jim bell]

  From: Razer <Rayzer at riseup.net>
>The Economist
>The promise of the blockchain
>The trust machine
>The technology behind bitcoin could transform how the economy works

>Oct 31st 2015 | From the print edition

>BITCOIN has a bad reputation. The decentralised digital cryptocurrency,
>powered by a vast computer network, is notorious for the wild
>fluctuations in its value, the zeal of its supporters and its degenerate
>uses, such as extortion, buying drugs and hiring hitmen in the online
>bazaars of the “dark net”.
If anything, I would say that the problem is the LACK of "hiring hitmen in the online bazaars of the 'dark net'".    Silk Road apparently worked quite well in regards to allowing people a mechanism to sell illegal drugs.  
If even a single hitman had been hired, by a single customer, and proceeded to kill even a single target, things would look very different on all subsequent days.  If Sanjuro's "Assassination Market" taught us anything, it is that the public is quite ready for a fully-functioning AP-type system, whether it be based on Tor, Ethereum, Augur, or any other such mechanism.
         Jim Bell

  
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