Blockchain, a way of implementing a distributed ledger (distributed record-keeping), is a novel technology with little real-world practicality. The original Bitcoin white paper published back in October 31, 2008 spurred little interest in distributed ledgers. The distributed ledger was ignored for years until Bitcoin started receiving mainstream attention and a few years had passed.
I simply couldn’t find much evidence that distributed ledgers are useful for any real-world applications (other than speculative asset bubbles). Once you understand that blockchains are bad at solving real-world problems, then you will understand why Bitcoin will fail. The blockchain imposes limitations that makes Bitcoin a bad version of something that has been tried in the past: e-gold (description here and Wired profile here).
A company’s stance on blockchain can also serve as a test of a company’s management. In my view, companies pushing blockchain technology (e.g. IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle) are disconnected from customers’ actual needs and have mediocre management. Companies that don’t talk about blockchain (e.g. Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple) are more likely to produce sensible technology that will work in the real world.
