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So, can you name one single successful application of blockchain in the real world? Apart from crime.

I believe this is exactly the point of the author - there's lots of handwavy bubblebabble about this technology, but we're now well into the second decade of blockchain/distributed ledgers, and yet to see one single non-criminal real world application.

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I'd argue that git is a distributed blockchain that has been pretty impactful, it just doesn't use proof of work for validation.

If it needs to be a company Ripple uses blockchain to help companies move currency safely around the globe. (https://ripple.com/)

It's hard to believe $2.6T worth of crypto is all for criminal applications. Maybe you've overlooked something.

From just before the dot-com bubble burst to when it had fully deflated, the tech stocks had lost some $5T of stock market valuation - in 2002 dollars. So no, it's completely feasible that there is $2.6T of hot air speculative investment in cryptos. In fact, considering how divorced from practical and technical reality all of the proposed crypto schemes so far have been, that sounds like a low estimate.

There is some value in providing shadow banking to the global criminal underworld, but I don't think it will be the next technological revolution.

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