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Re:Ask HN: What are real-life useful use-cases for blockchai... by muzani on Saturday October 24, 2020 @07:18PM (#24882669)
We do something similar at our startup. Basically we're a communication tool for construction, maintenance work and visitor management. Our selling point is simply data consistency, e.g. you can't edit posts, unlike on Facebook, and deleting will give a notice. Photos taken from the app are signed and location stamped. I think it's interesting that people comment you can just take a photo of an odometer, but that's not something that two parties do all the time; it's best to just automate that process.

Blockchain is not a "killer" feature of the app, but it's another layer of security. Databases are the core, but staff with access can edit a database in seconds. Maybe one way to think of it is like cash registers. The person operating a cash register can still steal it, but it's a lot harder than if it were just a box. It won't stop a dedicated person, but will greatly discourage doing it casually.

Re:Ask HN: What are real-life useful use-cases for blockchai... by smt88 on Saturday October 24, 2020 @07:55PM (#24882827)
I'm curious what you mean by "blockchain" here.

A lot of people talk about the benefits of blockchain and then describe a cryptographically-secured, append-only database (something like Amazon's QLDB[1], which does not have distributed trust or ownership).

If you're not actually using a blockchain, then disregard.

If you are using a blockchain, how does it add trust? Isn't your company, which controls the I/O for the system, still the central authority?

1. https://aws.amazon.com/qldb/features/