[crm416]

"I think the technology used to implement the Bitcoin payment system is fascinating - public ledgers and crypto and block chains will all be game changers. Bitcoins themselves? More of a necessary component to creating a new financial system."

Another article that seems to suggest that the blockchain has value with Bitcoin. I've heard others (pmarca in particular) promote this view, and I think it's far from validated. At the moment, BTC is the most important incentive to mine, and mining is the most important factor in establishing the blockchain's security.

It's true that, in the future, we might be able to come up with other incentive structures to encourage mining (the Bitmessage protocol is one such example). But if we want one blockchain, and we want it to be as secure as possible, how could we ever come up with an incentive that is as universally desirable and infinite as money?

[natrius]

There's a common view that Bitcoin's proof of work is the only way to maintain a secure blockchain. That view is the product of a herd mentality of people who have bought bitcoins and want them to increase in value, so anything that could prevent that must be wrong. This Bitcoin maximalism leads to false conclusions, and it should be avoided.

Plenty of non-Bitcoin blockchains are secure.