Boosters of blockchain technology compare its early days to the early days of the Internet. But whereas the Internet quickly gave rise to email, the World Wide Web, and millions of commercial ventures, blockchain's only application – cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin – does not even fulfill its stated purpose.
The “blockchain” technology that underpins bitcoin, a sort of peer-to-peer system of running a currency, is presented as a piece of innovation on a par with the introduction of limited liability for corporations, or private property rights, or the internet itself.
By Primavera De Filippi , Wired 03.08.14 "As opposed to the other blockchain-based distributed applications described above — from messaging to contracts — Ethereum can be regarded as a kind of distributed operating system: a platform allowing for new applications to be developed upon it, so as to eventually create self-validating contracts and autonomous systems that operate directly on the blockchain."
Reuters 28 May Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, a top exchange for Bitcoin, the best known virtual currency, failed to register with FinCEN earlier this month and had its U.S. dollar accounts seized by authorities.