Thread by @sbetamc

Finally after two years of going back and forth with journals and reviewers our paper is published on @FrontiersIn.

The Middleman Is Dead, Long Live the Middleman: The “Trust Factor” and the Psycho-Social Implications of Blockchain

frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

thread👇

@FrontiersIn Technically the trustlessness is in regard to permissionless (public) blockchains, and permissioned (private) blockchains are generally considered as trusted systems, as the entities operating the verification nodes have control over the transactions.

@FrontiersIn However, if a known trusted entity, such as a bank, is running their private blockchain, does that add more trust for the users or not?

How can one trust in a trustless (trust-not-needed) technology?

@FrontiersIn Three key features of trusting:
- first, trust is associated with a risk and an uncertain outcome;
- second, trust involves vulnerability;
- third, trust is based on the expectation that the trusted party will reciprocate the initial trust act.

@FrontiersIn Trust in the open source code may still be questionable. “experts” still need to look at the code to ensure its “fairness” in that it actually does what it is supposed to do, while participants without adequate knowledge must trust in the characteristics of the open source code

@FrontiersIn This is in contrast with the legal contracts where lawyers—legal experts—verify the content beforehand or in the case of dispute, ensure a fair resolution.

@FrontiersIn Thanks to @gag4all for all his work and time spent to get this paper out of the door. It was a pleasure working with you and looking forward to our future interdisciplinary work 🙌