[acdha]

> Asking "what is blockchain good for other than cryptocurrencies" is like asking "what is internet good for other than websites" pre-broadband

You mean, email and group messaging, file transfer, reference lookups, access to remote servers and other things which people were paying for and generating real business value from?

There were plenty of companies which were generating value significantly prior to broadband becoming universal and that was despite the much higher barriers to entry (computers were far more expensive, phone charges were a major barrier for non-rich people).

The blockchain comparison isn’t valid either because despite a much longer period of time before showing positive results there isn’t much real-world impact: the paper value may look high, almost all of that is within the system — the number of outside businesses which would have problems if it disappeared is close to zero, and a large fraction of the people “using” it are using a middleman service rather than directly participating.

[rohamg]

i would argue what blockchain has given us today with permissionless open finance, decentralized organizations / voting, NFTs / digital art, etc. is plenty of early indications of value. also the fact that the token business model exists is precisely the reason there's less of a traditional "ARR" mindset in the tools and apps.

the criticism isn't entirely invalid: the blockchain space has a lot of proving to do – there's a lot more work ahead than behind

[acdha]

Okay, so where’s an example of that providing value for anyone outside of the blockchain field? None of those are new activities so it should be easy to find areas where a blockchain reduces cost or adds value in comparison.

[rohamg]

i posted below about big pharma using blockchain to share private data as an example, as another: most of the gamers / digital art enthusiasts are newcomers to the "blockchain field" and only in it bc of the value they derive from the scarcity / durability and therefore tradability of these items