Using the blockchain to find the next prime number
summary
Critical overview that argues blockchain is oversold and often unnecessary: Bitcoin-style systems consume about 50 TWh/year, require ~210 GB per full node (growing ~5 GB/month) and deliver only 3–4 TPS (Ethereum ~20 TPS vs Visa 50,000 TPS). Useful-proof projects like Primecoin try to repurpose mining. Many niche apps (voting, medical records, weddings, photo sharing) either add costs or limits; a DAO raised ~$120M and lost $40M to an exploit, prompting a controversial fork. Cryptocurrencies offer security but no insurance or easy recourse.
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chapters (25)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:50Blockchain
- 4:00Blockchain definition
- 5:32Proof of work
- 6:00Smart contracts
- 7:07Issues with blockchain
- 9:28Disk space
- 10:08Speed
- 12:47Applications
- 13:52Mint Health
- 14:20Wedding Vows
- 14:43Marriage on the Block
- 15:22Deja Vu
- 15:42Referral Platform
- 16:08Archive
- 16:33Storing data
- 16:58Photo sharing
- 17:20Paint blocks
- 17:55Decentralized news
- 18:16Blockchain journalism
- 18:52Blockchain news
- 19:19Blockchain fact checking
- 20:21DAO
- 22:44Decentralized vs Distributed
- 23:34Security vs Insurance
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