Blockchain is dead! Long live blockchain!

Abstract

A decade on since Satoshi’s Bitcoin paper, Blockchain is now considered to be sliding into the trough of Gartner’s hype cycle. Claims in regard to Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies being dead are on the rise, whilst at the same time many claim the contrary. The vague statement encapsulates many different aspects and perspectives of a myriad of use cases, technology and platforms including both the technique as a whole and as individual instantiations.

In this paper, we unpack the statement, break it down and investigate objectively concrete factors which provide indication in regard to whether Blockchain is dead. We examine metrics including budgets and investment; company registries and data; community engagement, projects and source code repositories; academic research and programmes; social media posts; and public interest. We individually demonstrate metrics that indicate the respective measures’ healthy activity and come to the conclusion that the collective statement ‘Blockchain is dead’ does not hold. A clear message extracted from the work proposed herein is that success is achieved where the community comes together rather than works in isolation.