Blockchain Use Cases That Aren't Bullshit

Most blockchain pitches are bullshit. You know this. I know this. Here are a few use cases that actually make sense (needs to be more organized)

Store of Value Outside the State

In Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Argentina - anywhere the state practices irresponsible seigniorage - people need a way to hold value that won't be inflated away by tomorrow. Bitcoin offers that.

The question I still have: Who's actually absorbing the risk here? Cryptocurrency exchanges? And if you're fleeing your local currency, why not just hold dollars or euros directly? Maybe the answer is access—not everyone can open a foreign bank account. But the on-ramps and off-ramps are still controlled by someone.

Local and Community Currencies

Projects like the Totnes Pound or Sarafu-Credit use blockchain to reduce transaction costs for local currencies—money that circulates within a community and keeps value local.

The question I still have: Why decentralize this? A local currency is, by definition, local. Maybe the answer is transparency, or maybe it's that a blockchain is just cheaper than building your own payment infrastructure. But I'm not fully convinced yet.

Publicly Verifiable Computation (TEEs, MPC, FHE, SNARKs)

This is where things get interesting. The idea: everyone executes a public algorithm on encrypted data. No single party sees the inputs. No single party controls the outcome.

The real use case? Deplatforming the platforms. You could replace Uber with a protocol—drivers and riders matched by an algorithm no one owns. No extraction. No surge pricing decided in a boardroom. Just the market, verified.

Self-Sovereign Identity

IDEN3 and similar projects let you control your own data, prove things about yourself without handing over the underlying information. A web of trust instead of a credit bureau.

This could change credit ratings entirely. Instead of Experian owning your financial history, you could carry verifiable proofs that you selectively share.

To read: Vitalik's "On Collusion" about the coordination problems that arise when we decentralize trust.

Distributed Infrastructure for the Underserved

The Althea Project builds meshnets, community-owned internet infrastructure for rural areas underserved by ISPs and telecoms. Blockchain handles the payments and routing.

This isn't about ideology. It's about the fact that Comcast isn't coming to your village. So you build it yourself.

The Common Thread

The honest use cases share something: they solve problems for people who are failed by existing institutions. Whether that's a predatory state, an extractive platform, or an absent telecom.