[darawk]

Right, but users would know when a secret transaction has been added. And no, your example does not negate the only technical advantage. Governments are not the only entities that might tamper. And most importantly, a blockchain forces even government tampering to be transparent, whereas a private database does not.

[leppr]

Yes, it's less black and white than I suggested, but the improvement is still a minimal increment compared to what someone would expect when hearing "blockchain". I guess I'm afraid the public record would just end up looking like this:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Redacted...

with citizens unable to discern between abusive and reasonable interventions.