What the heck.... Blockchain “moments”

I've never really been able to fully understand it.... but here goes:

Blockchain, it's the same tech used for crypto currencies (i.e. bitcoin). Basically, there's a giant sequence of numbers, everything is unique.

Not sure if this picture will help (I just took it from Wikipedia) but....

1280px-Bitcoin_Block_Data.svg.png


New "blocks" are added to the "chain". Each block references the prior block (in the image, they're showing that with "Prev Hash", it has a timestamp, and "new" data for it's transaction.

Because each subsequent block references the prior one, you can't change the value of a block, without affecting all future blocks. Peer-to-Peer networks are typically used to made sure new blocks are valid..... and if someone started mucking with older ones, the network would detect that.

When you hear about people "mining" bitcoins.... think of one of these blocks representing a single coin. As that chain grows, the computations needed to figure out the next block become more complex. The complexity grows with each block. People would dedicate computers to doing these calculations, and mine that coin for themselves - Which they could keep, sell, etc.

The value of bitcoin is based around the idea that there are a finite number of them, and they are verifiable as these blocks have to match their place in the overall sequence.

When I read about the use with these NBA Video things (cards?) - The company is using blockchain technology to digitally stamp the video. I scratch my head at that, and think "so what?". I understand that this means they can put a unique watermark on the video (how it was described in the article) - but I'm not sure why that makes it desirable to own...... because it will go up in value? Well, sure. There is that. If you could have bought one of these things for a few dollars, and now sell it for 100s - you're happy.

I'm just not sure why owning a video clip, that's had one of these blocks spliced into it, would be appealing.
 
The closer I get to the end of my life expectancy, the more I realize that I’m fitting into this world less and less. Thousands of dollars being spent on pretend cards. Nice.
 
I went through the flow chart several times and still can't find the gum.

30ranfordfan said:
I've never really been able to fully understand it.... but here goes:

Blockchain, it's the same tech used for crypto currencies (i.e. bitcoin). Basically, there's a giant sequence of numbers, everything is unique.

Not sure if this picture will help (I just took it from Wikipedia) but....

1280px-Bitcoin_Block_Data.svg.png


New "blocks" are added to the "chain". Each block references the prior block (in the image, they're showing that with "Prev Hash", it has a timestamp, and "new" data for it's transaction.

Because each subsequent block references the prior one, you can't change the value of a block, without affecting all future blocks. Peer-to-Peer networks are typically used to made sure new blocks are valid..... and if someone started mucking with older ones, the network would detect that.

When you hear about people "mining" bitcoins.... think of one of these blocks representing a single coin. As that chain grows, the computations needed to figure out the next block become more complex. The complexity grows with each block. People would dedicate computers to doing these calculations, and mine that coin for themselves - Which they could keep, sell, etc.

The value of bitcoin is based around the idea that there are a finite number of them, and they are verifiable as these blocks have to match their place in the overall sequence.

When I read about the use with these NBA Video things (cards?) - The company is using blockchain technology to digitally stamp the video. I scratch my head at that, and think "so what?". I understand that this means they can put a unique watermark on the video (how it was described in the article) - but I'm not sure why that makes it desirable to own...... because it will go up in value? Well, sure. There is that. If you could have bought one of these things for a few dollars, and now sell it for 100s - you're happy.

I'm just not sure why owning a video clip, that's had one of these blocks spliced into it, would be appealing.
Click to expand...
 
Honestly, the product isn't that different from sports cards. It's just such a departure from traditional collectibles that it's kind of mind blowing to me. The appeal of sports cards, specifically those with game used materials or autos, is that there's a genuine connection to the player there. Cards like Timeless Moments from Panini's recent One and One release are amazing renditions of iconic sports moments. I'm guessing that these blockchain Moments are similar to that but in a digital form and without the autos/game used materials. There's very obviously some sort of market for it but I'm very curious to see what the future of it is. The nostalgic value is there but when you can YouTube the specific moment and relive it without spending a dime, I'm not so sure that these Moments will carry their value long term. Though, with how much money is out there today, who knows?
 
At the end of the day, people like owning things. And there are people who will want to own these intangible "moment" items. These moments are licensed by the NBA whichs adds credibility and confidence for people who like intangible assets.

These will either be forgotten in 5 years or will be something that a bunch of us wish we hopped on today (as we are aware of them), simply to make money.

And the same way people like owning things, people also like money. And driven by fomo, this product has as good a chance of surviving as anything else that has no inherent value or utility besides pride of ownership.
 
30ranfordfan said:
I've never really been able to fully understand it.... but here goes:

Blockchain, it's the same tech used for crypto currencies (i.e. bitcoin). Basically, there's a giant sequence of numbers, everything is unique.

Not sure if this picture will help (I just took it from Wikipedia) but....

1280px-Bitcoin_Block_Data.svg.png


New "blocks" are added to the "chain". Each block references the prior block (in the image, they're showing that with "Prev Hash", it has a timestamp, and "new" data for it's transaction.

Because each subsequent block references the prior one, you can't change the value of a block, without affecting all future blocks. Peer-to-Peer networks are typically used to made sure new blocks are valid..... and if someone started mucking with older ones, the network would detect that.

When you hear about people "mining" bitcoins.... think of one of these blocks representing a single coin. As that chain grows, the computations needed to figure out the next block become more complex. The complexity grows with each block. People would dedicate computers to doing these calculations, and mine that coin for themselves - Which they could keep, sell, etc.

The value of bitcoin is based around the idea that there are a finite number of them, and they are verifiable as these blocks have to match their place in the overall sequence.

When I read about the use with these NBA Video things (cards?) - The company is using blockchain technology to digitally stamp the video. I scratch my head at that, and think "so what?". I understand that this means they can put a unique watermark on the video (how it was described in the article) - but I'm not sure why that makes it desirable to own...... because it will go up in value? Well, sure. There is that. If you could have bought one of these things for a few dollars, and now sell it for 100s - you're happy.

I'm just not sure why owning a video clip, that's had one of these blocks spliced into it, would be appealing.
Click to expand...

Yep. But honestly, blockchain and machine learning are all the rage right now. You can sell ANYTHING if you attach those buzz words to it. I work at a major health care organization that green lit a project using blockchain for electronic health records. Blockchain is designed to ensure that data is not tampered with, but existing electronic health records systems are already designed to track changes, who made them and when. Literally, no one I've talked to who knows blockchain understands what why the project was allowed to go forward and what benefit there was to it.
 
I remember years ago there was a booth set up in our local mall. They were selling ownership certificates for land on the moon.....
 
FrozenInferno said:
Yeah, I'd rather own a card I can hold in my hand than a digital video clip I could watch for free any time on YouTube.
Click to expand...

I'm not different. I don't get the appeal of this at all.... while also recognizing that I'm in my 40s, mostly set in my ways, and since I stopped liking new music about 15 years ago - I'm also willing to admit I may no longer be with it :)

gomaz said:
At the end of the day, people like owning things. And there are people who will want to own these intangible "moment" items. These moments are licensed by the NBA whichs adds credibility and confidence for people who like intangible assets.

These will either be forgotten in 5 years or will be something that a bunch of us wish we hopped on today (as we are aware of them), simply to make money.

And the same way people like owning things, people also like money. And driven by fomo, this product has as good a chance of surviving as anything else that has no inherent value or utility besides pride of ownership.
Click to expand...

This is very well said. We (I?) may not be the target market here.... but I think there's a great chance that in 5 years, we'll all be saying "man, I should have bought some of those" (like many do now with Bitcoins).

Of course they might flop too.


People do like owning things, so that someone would try something like this isn't crazy. The NBA is backing it with a license, and that will add credibility to it.
 

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