I laughed out loud when I saw the story yesterday :) The fact that they feel the need to "protect" this wonderful "invention" with a patent shows a lot. Is there a patent for the real blockchains? No. That's old thinking that leads to old methods of getting things done. Irreversibility is the building block of trust.
If that database goes live it will be of little value to the world and of tremendous value to the few who still believe centralization actually benefits users.
I wouldn't trust a database that can change in the blink of an eye with anything of mine. imagine if Steem was editable. You wake up one day and see that your 1,000 STEEM is now 100. And all records of your transactions have been divided by ten.
or someone reduces everyone's balance by 0.1% and makes off with the balance. I think this editable thing will pose even greater risks of "things going wrong"