I agree with everything in this post.
Bitcoin *isn’t* the TCP/IP of money. TCP/IP is the TCP/IP of money.
Bitcoin is a software application (or if you’re getting technical about it, a “distributed application” or “DApp”). Bitcoin is too high up conceptually to serve this function – two or three layers of abstraction – from the blockchain as a database technology.
You heard that right: blockchains aren’t about money. They’re about data. Money is one form of data, representing information the market leverages to make economic calculation – per Carl Menger, “the various computations that must be made if a production process is to be efficient.”
The currency/tokens/payments applications are too high up in the conceptual stack to be even remotely useful in the long-term. In my personal view, it’s a big distraction from the real potential of distributed computing technology. Start at the bottom of the stack – start with data, and then gradually work your way up to money and value. That’s when you know you’ve got the problem cracked.
