> > For all its downsides, Bitcoin is the last exciting open standard I can remember
> I get that blockchain tech is an industry nowadays but from my outside perspective 99% of it and the applications they promote seem rather, for the lack of a better word, self serving
Blockchain might have been as exciting as the internet at the start, but it has turned bad (i.e. been exploited for profit by big corporations at the user's expense) much more quickly. In my view it is because blockchain puts money before technology rather than the other way around, i.e. during the dot-com era it was often "let's just build something useful and worry about monetisation later" whereas with blockchain it is more "we've got the monetisation in place and we'll worry about actual use cases for the technology and mass user adoption later".
I think its a bit more subtle than that. Imagine on one hand if a printing press was invented that outputs the printed material to anyone in the world for free. At first there could be lots of great materials printed with it, but then the question would be asked - can we start charging money for some of it? Imagine on the other hand if a silver church collection tray was invented that could collect money from anyone of that particular religious persuasion anywhere in the world. At first it could collect great amounts of money, but then the question would be asked - can we do anything else with this silver church collection tray besides collecting money?
> I get that blockchain tech is an industry nowadays but from my outside perspective 99% of it and the applications they promote seem rather, for the lack of a better word, self serving
Blockchain might have been as exciting as the internet at the start, but it has turned bad (i.e. been exploited for profit by big corporations at the user's expense) much more quickly. In my view it is because blockchain puts money before technology rather than the other way around, i.e. during the dot-com era it was often "let's just build something useful and worry about monetisation later" whereas with blockchain it is more "we've got the monetisation in place and we'll worry about actual use cases for the technology and mass user adoption later".