True. But with an Eris chain mining doesn't need to happen.

We've taken consensus and security logic which is usually baked in to a blockchain protocol and moved it into into a smart contract kernel of the genesis block - and seeing as you can script whatever the heck you want there (as the Thelonious design is smart contract-capable), you can set the security parameters to whatever you want. E.g., specify that only certain nodes known to the administrator can process data.

This isn't a blockchain to be used in currency applications - but in data management, and application-specific data management at that. Developers can parameterise a Thelonious framework to do whatever they need it to do. Think of a social network or a corporate interactive application. In such cases it's the usefulness of the database in efficiently administering data and blockchain fault-tolerance, not token rewards, which would meant to be the primary incentive for adoption.

We have rather a lot of writing on the subject - please do check out some of our blog posts! https://blog.erisindustries.com/products/2014/12/17/on-3p/

We have trouble securing one blockchain because of the consensus method it uses. The idea behind thelonious is you can still have verifiable databases with various levels of untrusted-ness. Its our work towards blockchains which allow you to experiment with various parameters regarding trusted ness for example which coinbases are allowed to mine. Not just that but the blockchain is controlled by smart contracts on the blockchain itself. So over time these things can change. Once vm-base consensus is perfected (we have it somewhat working but want to add in a lot of additional capabilities) you will be able to fully program the chain consensus model on the chain itself.

Thelonious is only one component however. We made it to address some issues we have with fully decentralized (and uncontrollable) blockchains such as bitcoin which might make some people/corporations nervous. Its designed to give dapp makers what they want in a blockchain but it isn't needed.

The decerver is the part that makes all the other p2p components work in harmony to give a single platform capable of allowing you to use bitcoin, ethereum, thelonius, ipfs etc all from a scriptable platform that runs on a local users machine. In the new year we plan on working through dynamic module loading meaning that if you want to use a blockchain employing SNARK-based proofs you can. Just write a wrapper. We will be looking into incorporating SNARK-based proofs into thelonious but with decerver you don't NEED us to give you the parts. We are hoping to make it so you can build the modules you want to use and the dapps you want to build on top of them. Thats our goal with this. Its not about one blockchain. Its about bringing together all of the P2P space.

Does that answer your question?

Love this line from your site: "This is not cloud software, but grass software. You can touch it and shape it. The possibilities are endless."

Thelonious is an ethereum derivative designed to be programmable so dapp makers can add in the consensus constraints they want. Maybe they don't want just anyone to mine but instead just trusted operators. Its a smart contract controlled chain so you can do this. We call these "locked down" chains they embrace the idea that some dapp makers might need to have more assurances about control over the database. Thelonious can provide alternative means of consensus for those people.

In addition we have the decerver which in its current iteration is compatible with ethereum thelonious ipfs (a bittorrent+git-like filesystem) and bitcoin. Allowing one platform to use all of these P2P technologies. We don't believe in one chain to rule them all syndrome we feel like all of these technologies can have something to contribute. Once we have incorporated dynamic module loading into the platform all you need is to write the wrapper for your favoured technology and you can start implementing some truely amazing dapps.

I hope this answers your question!

From the site:

> Derived from the Ethereum protocol, but built to meet differing design goals, Thelonious gives developers the control to define their own state-of-the-art blockchain.