Summary: This article is a detailed summary of John Reed Stark’s “Blockchain’s Inconvenient Truth (Apples and Bowling Balls),” which critically examines the myth that enterprise blockchain adoption validates the broader crypto ecosystem. The original article can be found here.
Summary of "Blockchain's Inconvenient Truth (Apples and Bowling Balls)" by John Reed Stark
In his sharply critical piece, John Reed Stark dismantles the prevailing hype surrounding blockchain technology, especially its enterprise use cases, calling much of it “innovation theater.” While surveys and headlines claim widespread blockchain adoption among Fortune 500 companies, Stark argues that these are typically private, permissioned systems that offer no real innovation over traditional databases—and have little to do with crypto. He likens the conflation of blockchain and crypto to comparing "apples and bowling balls."
Stark details how numerous blockchain initiatives by major firms, from insurance consortia to financial institutions and tech giants like IBM and Microsoft, have quietly failed. Even ongoing projects, like J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys blockchain-based repo settlements, account for a minuscule fraction of existing financial flows and provide no justification for investing in crypto. In contrast, firms like Goldman Sachs appear to amplify blockchain buzz, inadvertently enabling crypto promoters to distort the narrative for personal gain.
He also cites the influential “Concerned.tech Letter,” signed by over 1,500 technologists, which denounces blockchain and crypto as offering no real societal benefit. Most so-called “real-world blockchain” projects either failed or could operate more efficiently without blockchain.
Stark’s verdict is unequivocal: blockchain is an outdated, inefficient, and overhyped database architecture. Its promises of transformation have not materialized in the past 18 years, and no credible use case has emerged that cannot be addressed by conventional technologies. For Stark, blockchain's only enduring legacy may be as a tool for scammers and hype merchants.
About the author: John Reed Stark is the President of John Reed Stark Consulting and formerly served as Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement. i...@...m
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I have a friend in the traditional digital transaction world, think Visa and MasterCard, who has been working on tools for the developing world. He has long said that blockchain wasn't better for transaction security than the world he operates in. I've always thought of him as a bit of an iconoclast. This piece is an interesting confirmation of his take.