We already know blockchain's killer apps

Right now, many of the successful applications for crypto technology are in finance or finance-adjacent fields. For example, people are using crypto to send cross-border remittances to family members abroad and Wall Street banks using blockchains to settle foreign transactions.

Presently, the dominant blockchain/Web 3.0 application is decentralized finance, but I think it’s easier to see the value of where things are heading, and to allay worries about hype cycles, pyramid schemes and speculative bubbles, if we look past the purely financial stuff. Once you start to dig into some of the applications that venture capitalis... See more

there’s very specific things that crypto technology does well. But actually most other things, it doesn’t do so well and it introduces more trouble than it’s worth. And so we need to be really intentional about where we put the crypto as opposed to all the other stuff.

I would argue that there are two distinct categories of blockchain ideas that make sense:

Crypto has now evolved beyond bitcoin and its libertarian roots. With the rise of Ethereum and many other protocols, the focus is less on notions of private currencies and more on how the technology can be used for different applications. So while decentralisation remains an important component, the wider community is less maximalist about it and t... See more

Three years ago, I felt crypto’s only proven use case was bitcoin as a store of value was the only clear, proven use case (it was clear that would endure and build retail and institutional value). Now, I see programmable money in Ethereum and Ethereum’s competitors as the next proven use case, with the massive influx into DeFi and NFTs a critical p... See more