Post: "'Why are you using a blockchain?'"

[gingeleski]

(This post is already up on the website but needs to be fully written - see the summary there for the gist)

https://ethsec.io/blog/why-using-blockchain.html

[gingeleski]

"Why are you using a blockchain?"

Like a trusted friend, you should help your blockchain-happy clients without being judgmental.

Blockchain is still a polarizing topic in tech as I write this post.

Lots of charismatic entrepreneurs continue to praise [insert any word here] plus blockchain. Despite markets being way down as we've entered 2019, blockchain is still a buzzword.

I love that it has (seemingly) brought more transparency to the world but know that verifiable transparency has costs. For many businesses, the costs and risks aren't outweighed by benefits. This blog is all about that!

When I started dabbling in some blockchain-related work for clients, my colleagues gave me an earfull. I couldn't give them a "killer use case" for bloclchain. This frustrated me for a little while...

But then it hit me - why my client(s) used blockchain didn't matter. I didn't have to defend it to my colleagues. I didn't have to personally be a blockchain proponent.

Clients build with technologies we wouldn't personally endorse all the time. In security consulting, you help your clients understand and mitigate the risks of their development decisions. Not judge them.

This seems like a silly epiphany now but felt like a big weight off my shoulders at the time. I even forewarned the audience at EY's 2018 Product Security Summit that I wasn't a blockchain proponent before an Ethereum talk. Who knows how many heated discussions I sidestepped because of that.

Like a trusted friend, you should help your blockchain-happy clients without being judgmental.

Just like clients who are Flash, Silverlight, Drupal, or PHP heavy.

"Why are you using a blockchain?" → My clients are and my job is to help them.

"Why are they using a blockchain?" → I don't personally care.

😎