can someone name one successful startup that actually utilizes the blockchain to do something they couldnt have done without?
It is a decentralized name registry that maps domain names to public keys and IP addresses, removing the need for Certificate Authorities and resolving Zooko's triangle [1].
I do agree that blockchain is insanely over-hyped, has very few real use-cases and mostly used as a PR tool in ways that makes no sense. Sound money and cryptographic identity registries are among the only reasonable use-cases that I can name.
Then there is some land registry in some African country. Had it not been for the magic of the bitcoin then the evil thugs in the government would have stolen all of the peasants land.
I have been told of other examples, by cult members that know nothing of finance and nothing of programming. But, if you locked me in a police cell and the only way I could get out was to provide further examples, then I would be stuck there for a very long time!
Nonetheless the two examples provided deserve further scrutiny. In the case of Wikileaks, if I was able to respond to the assertion of the believer (which would not be possible as they do not listen), then I would point out how little it costs to host a website and how 'cryptome.org' has been going for years doing a similar/much better thing for two decades without the site owner having to solicit big bucks to keep the thing going. I would also point out that Julian Assange was in it to monetize it and how that behaviour is questionable, tantamount to warmongering.
But, when you are dealing with belief, facts are no use. Critical thinking is of no use. Experience is of no use. (Side topic, John Young from Cryptome on Wikileaks: https://www.cnet.com/news/wikileaks-estranged-co-founder-bec...).
So if the believer gets into a discussion with someone that knows facts then they a) shout louder and b) move on to the next bogus example of where blockchain goodness has saved the world, e.g. with the land registry in Africa example. Specifics are lacking, if it is all on the public ledger then surely the believer should be able to prove one instance of one poor African farmer who has his property secured by the magic blockchain? Surely this would be a Google search away? Of course they are too busy for that, trading their alt-coins 24/7, unable to stop for pedants that have trite 'I have a bridge to sell you' arguments.
But then the true cult isn't about hard fact things from the past, it is about the wonderful future that is to come. So any hard questioning of concrete evidence of blockchain success stories pivots to the paradise promised. No matter what your profession the true blockchain believer will try to interest you in how blockchain will revolutionise whatever it is that you do.
If you are a lowly fruit picker then you get told that blockchain will revolutionise things so that those organic strawberries you pick will soon be notched up to some farm to consumer blockchain 'technology' so that the consumer won't be fobbed off with those fake organic strawberries. Because it will be decentralized and on a public ledger nobody will have the wool pulled over their eyes. All sounds good but if you are that lowly fruit picker then you know a little bit about the industry and know that is not going to happen.
Or, if you are further up the food chain, e.g. in dentistry and fix people's teeth for a living, then you get told about how a blockchain startup is going to revolutionise dental records.
The patronising attitude gets worse if, heaven forbid, you are a developer. In your career you may have worked in many sectors and in many industries but you can't think of a single blockchain application that would make your work better or deliver better deliverables for a single client. However, the believer will be able to tell you that soon there is a blockchain application for whatever it is that you do, so rather than slave away for months on that complicated integration that you are working on you might as well give up now as 'very soon' this 'app' is coming out that will enable you to do it all in a fraction of the time.
The believer in the blockchain probably does not have a day job so they do not understand how preposterous is their proposition, but your domain expertise can be dismissed as you don't understand how blockchain is going to revolutionise everything.
Of course none in the cult can do any useful programming. Yes there are people with day jobs that hold a few coins and enjoy speculating on them from time to time, but these folk are not hardcore cult members. The true cult members see themselves as above the programmers of the world, they see 'developers' as like sheep that can be herded by them to do things for a few table scraps from the blockchain geniuses such as themselves.
Recently I learned of a multi-billion dollar air-drop where the founders would hold onto a few tens of billions of these altcoins and the developers of the world would be given an opportunity to develop save the world green applications. So through the generosity of the blockchain believers and their unique abilities to incentivise developers the world would be saved. There is this view that developers are simple folk and that they just need the right blockchain platform to work with. These developers are almost mystical, thousands of them from all over the world will just turn up to work for free on their blockchain platform in some open-source type of way whilst they do their 'fintech' part, holding on to the billions of alt-coins they kept back for 'the founders'.
The cult members also have an amazing excuse for being skint. Much like how real cult members in real cults of the religious flavour don't have day jobs or money, blockchain cult members can't do real work. So they are skint. But they can always claim their funds are in this greater world of crypto and they don't have any 'fiat' right now as 'everything is locked up until the EOS mainnet goes live' or some other spurious story.
So maybe that is it, a genuine 'startup' success that actually uses blockchain, the ability of the believer to scavenge real cash, food and whatnot from their parents, friends and partner because they always have a good excuse for not having any 'fiat'.