I recently came across a paper published in 1988 called "A quorum-based commit and termination protocol for distributed database systems". I could not read it because it is not free, but to me this sounds very similar to what a private blockchain using proof of stake for consensus achieves. I have a hard time believing that's all there is to it considering all the hype going on. With that in mind, I have the following questions:
Is chaining blocks together the only innovation here? Why not just have trusted validators sign transactions in permissioned distributed databases? We have had these technologies for decades. What is the difference?
Couldn't a 51% attack where someone has private keys for a certain transaction rebuild the chain from that point on for basically free? How does this achieve any realistic level of immutability?
Why would financial institutions want to 1. Pay to store competitors data 2. Allow competitors to see their data?
I want to understand what everyone is finding so new and exciting about private blockchains.