Thanks for a thoughtful article Luke... and yes, I did go read the other article.

History inevitably repeats itself.

You could substitute in "dot com" or "Internet" for "blockchain" and end up with much the same set of parameters. 99% of the wildly hyped dot-com businesses of 1999-2001 had no business even EXISTING, and yet people threw billions of dollars of venture capital at them, much like a latter-day Klondike gold rush. It just seems to be part and parcel of the evolution of disruptive technologies... of which we've recently had mobile phones, the Internet and personal computers. They all changed how we "do life," and they all experienced massive turbulence and shakeouts.

You and I both know that there are probably thousands of blockchain products out there with little more than a white paper that uses the words "blockchain" and "token" rather often. They never had any business existing, and yet they are part of the evolution of the industry.

Now, we have some additional challenges to overcome... in that the ideals we hold dear of banking the unbanked and global non-bank currencies have been completely usurped by ambitious coders in search of the magic formula score themselves a lambo. As a result, we now get to wear down the perception that cryptos are these exotic super high risk asset derivatives that have become so far removed from simply being used as a way for me to buy cool hand made wood carvings from a dude in Somalia via his cell phone. Which makes no sense as long as we have a so-called "currency" that can fluctuate 300% in a week!

For as long as I have been involved in this gig, I have been railing (onto deaf ears, mostly) that we need to get some functional use cases in place if this ship is ever going to GO anywhere. Someone needs to start building peer-to-peer commercial marketplaces (like an eBay/craigslist clone) that operate 100% in crypto so you DON'T have to exit to fiat to make the transaction. Then — and pretty much only then — will we be able to authentically look at someone and answer sensibly, when they ask "Yeah, but what is this GOOD for?"

Bit of a side-rant on your blog, I realize... but I feel it can't be said enough times!