Did blockchain startups ever provide any real value to end-users? Like, at all? Speaking from my technical but not SWE perspective, the only things I'm familiar with using the blockchain are cryptocurrency (obviously) and NFTs, which as far as I'm concerned are a scam.

AI does seem different in that regard, I think it is providing tremendous value to people. Just probably not in the random places where people are throwing it in where it doesn't actually fit.