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by kristjansson·4y ago·view on hn ↗
It’s not the consensus mechanism that matters, it’s the enforcement of the relation between a record of ownership and an actual physical asset. Ownership of a token or wallet may be inalienably ensured by the blockchain. The right use that property for one’s benefit in the physical world must be enforced by someone’s violence - the owner, if not their agent, if not the state. A irrevocable deed on a blockchain is worthless if it does not also entitle me to forcibly dispossess someone of the property, and preferably the agents to do that on my behalf.

I can own a share on a blockchain, but if I execute a takeover who will cut the locks on the factory gates? I can buy a house, but who will evict the squatters? I can buy lunch with ETH, but I can’t eat it if someone with a gun suggests I hand it over.