I'm pretty sure stellar uses more or less the same consensus mechanism as the XRPL and there is absolutely no way to reverse transactions. Every few seconds a ledger is closed and it can not be changed anymore. If all validators would agree on one Tx being "bad" they would need to exclude it from the very first moment and from that point on to eternity. There would be a valid signed public Tx that isn't processes. So it would be public know that the system is corrupt. People who disagree with that could fork include the Tx and move on. This is a totally different kind of risk than if Tx can actually be reversed.
I'd argue that people generally want systems where you can revert transactions that you made by mistake at almost no additional cost.
Re:Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index
by tuesdayrain on Thursday October 17, 2019 @08:04AM
(#21281099)
There's also a significant niche of people who want assurance that a transaction can never be reversed. For example online entertainers who get donations for thousands of dollars only to have them charged back months later.
it is possible if you choose to use a third party.
The good thing is that you don't have too! You are not forced. If I send money to a friend or familiy, I don't need a third party.
A third party could be either a bigger financial company or just a trusted third party in a specific domain both people trust (and make a 2 out of 3 multi-sig with it, and if I get delivered what I want and the other side receives the payment, the payment processor has nothing to do, but could in case there is a dispute)
You can take a look at the eth2.0 specification here https://github.com/ethereum/eth2.0-specs. They have solved the nothing at stake problem, and they currently have 8 independent client implementations written in different languages that can 'talk' to each other on a multi-client testnet. They are much further along then people may realize.
Re:Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index
by konschubert on Thursday October 17, 2019 @03:06AM
(#21279602)
That’s not true. YOU can create your own node and decide who YOU trust.
Re:Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index
by nightcracker on Thursday October 17, 2019 @03:58AM
(#21279858)
In exactly the same way I can print Schrute bucks and distribute it to people I trust.
Re:Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index
by somebodythere on Thursday October 17, 2019 @01:13AM
(#21279101)
In Casper proof-of-stake (Ethereum 2.0), staking on the "wrong chain" will result in part of your staking deposit being slashed on the winning chain.
What you're describing is basically Libra with slightly better entities backing it. Transactions can be reversed by those "trusted entities" with no recourse by you and at no cost to them. At least with PoW and PoS (to an extent), attempting to reverse transactions has a cost.
Speaking of PoS, were the issues with PoS ever solved? Specifically the "nothing at stake" problem. The Wikipedia page[1]'s list of implementations makes it sound like it's not at parity with PoW in terms of security.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_stake