[geofft]

Basically yes - if your application needs neither currency nor privacy (e.g., signing Go packages), linking it to a data structure that inherently deals with both would be a mistake. Currency and privacy are both difficult, so avoid bringing in dependencies on them if you don't need them.

(Again, the Bitcoin paper is specific in how the data structure is only secure because the consensus algorithm creates financial incentives that hopefully outweigh the incentive to misbehave. If you drop that from a blockchain, it isn't secure any more.)