Von Ralf Keuper
Die Tatsache, dass einige der größten Banken ein Startup gegründet haben, mit dem Ziel, die Blockchain-Technologie für sich zu nutzen, lässt der Phantasie freien Lauf. Beispielhaft dafür ist R3 CEV – Banken kapern die Blockchain. Darin wird der Eindruck vermittelt, die Banken seien auf dem Weg zurück zu alter Größe – dank Blockchain.
Dabei wird übersehen, dass das Vorhaben der Banken, quasi eine Private Blockchain zu entwickeln, an technologische Grenzen stösst, weshalb es in Problems of Wall Street’s Approach Towards Blockchain Technology heisst:
The main problem with the approach of Wall Street banks and organizations however, is that many of them are trying to create their own blockchains and altcoins, that could be vulnerable to hacking attacks and data breaches in its early stages.
Those organizations and banks that claim that they “Hate bitcoin but love the blockchain” have failed to understand that the bitcoin network is secure because of the millions of miners around the world that are constantly verifying transactions by contributing computing power into the network.
Und auch der “Erfinder” der Blockchain, Nick Szabo, äußert in Nick Szabo: If banks want benefits of blockchains they must go permissionless erhebliche Zweifel an den neuerlichen “Welteroberungsplänen” einiger führender Banken:
But their bureaucracies are so heavily invested in the expertise and importance of local regulations and standards that it’s extremely difficult for them to cut the Gordian knot and implement seamless global systems.
“So they keep trying to re-inject points of control, and thus points of vulnerability, into blockchains, e.g. through ‘permissioning’; but this nullifies their main benefits, which come from removing points of vulnerability.”
Seinen Standpunkt hat Szabo aktuell auf dem Bitcoin Investor 2015 – Event bekräftigt.
Weitere Kritik kommt von Barry Silbert in Barry Silbert: What Wall Street disruptors are getting wrong about the blockchain.
Und so verwundert es nicht allzu sehr, dass auch der Chef von J.P. Morgan die Euphorie nicht so recht zu teilen vermag, obwohl seine Bank zu den Gründern des erwähnten Startups gehört.
Die Sicherheitsrisiken ebenso wie die Quadratur des Kreises, d.h. die Anpassung der dezentralen Blockchain-Philosophie an den zentralistischen Kontroll-Modus der Banken, werden eher zu einer Havarie als zu einer Kaperung der Blockchain führen. Weitere Argumente bringt Tim Swanson in Explore the Blockchain, Ignore the Bitcoin Maximalists:
The Bitcoin blockchain – which is just one of a few hundred blockchains – cannot as it stands provide a secure on-chain solution for the settlement of off-chain registered assets. In fact, as illustrated by the current block size debate, approximately $500,000 per month has been spent simply debating what the block size on the Bitcoin blockchain should be. It is a collective action problem that arises due to the very nature of how its cogs were purposefully arranged seven years ago. ..There is a time, a place and a customer base for pseudonymous cryptocurrency systems. But for now, the global financial services markets demand far more than the Bitcoin blockchain can handle.
Weitere Informationen:
Private vs. Public Blockchain: A Conversation with Jon Matonis