Without the current design, you cannot have a zero trust system.
Most efficient designs are of course possible, but decrease trust. SPV is an example.
Wow, it's really powerful statement and really questionable. I hope it comes with formal proof Most efficient designs are of course possible, but decrease trust. SPV is an example.
Blockchain system can secure almost any underlying data structure (think of namecoin) and I don't see why it cannot be account ledger.
this is true.
however what makes Bitcoin unique is the 'mining' aspect. So you need a way to enforce this economy of transaction processing.
I recently developed an alternative, but it's not 'zero trust', it's more 'many trust'. In other words the block chain depends on trusting many parties not to collude. This kind of scenario is implicit in many financial schema, ie. Digital Gold Currencies, Community Currencies, etc.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwUFHE6KYsM0ZkxLVmFwbXQ3ck0/edit?usp=sharing
https://github.com/BlueMeanie/ConfidenceChainsSimulation/wiki/Features
I don't think a 'zero trust' currency actually exists. It will appear to exist up until the time someone exploits it. For instance Bitcoin trust model is very robust, but we must trust that someone doesn't overload the system with computing power(51% attack).