Unlike the Internet, which quickly produced 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.

Judged as of 2018-01-26. The claim's checkable parts are (a) the Internet quickly produced email, the Web and many commercial ventures; (b) cryptocurrencies were blockchain's only application; (c) cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin did not fulfil their stated purpose (for example, working as a widely used peer-to-peer electronic cash or payment system). True: (a) holds, there were no meaningful non-cryptocurrency blockchain applications in production use, and evidence shows Bitcoin was not widely used as a means of payment. Mostly true: (a) and (c) hold and non-crypto uses existed only as pilots or proofs of concept with negligible real-world use, making 'only application' a modest overstatement. Mixed: (c) is well supported but documented non-crypto blockchain applications were in production use (for example in supply-chain or trade-finance systems), so (b) is materially wrong. Mostly false: (b) is clearly wrong and the evidence on (c) is contested or inconclusive. False: evidence shows both that blockchain had substantial production applications beyond cryptocurrency and that cryptocurrencies were widely used as payment media, meeting their stated purpose.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto (whitepaper, hosted as a US Sentencing Commission 2018 seminar PDF) · 2008

   “A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”

2. E2 Bitcoin is rallying again, but it’s still not used to buy much of anything Los Angeles Times · 31 May 2019

   “Overall merchant activity is still down from its peak in late 2017, when merchant services accounted for 1.5% of total bitcoin activity during the peak of the crypto bubble.”

3. E3 Remarks on Cryptocurrencies and Distributed Ledger Technology | Speeches Reserve Bank of Australia · 26 June 2018

   “The third function of money is as a unit of account. Here, while a small number of businesses may accept bitcoin, their prices are posted in national currencies.”

4. E4 Deloitte’s 2019 Global Blockchain Survey: Blockchain gets down to business Deloitte Insights (copy hosted on afyonluoglu.org) · 2019

   “Fifty-three percent of respondents say that blockchain technology has become a critical priority for their organizations in 2019—a 10-point increase over last year.”

5. E5 Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto (whitepaper, reproduced in a US Sentencing Commission 2018 National Seminar training PDF)

   “A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”

6. E6 Remarks on Cryptocurrencies and Distributed Ledger Technology | Speeches Reserve Bank of Australia · 26 June 2018

   “Here, while a small number of businesses may accept bitcoin, their prices are posted in national currencies.”

7. E7 Deloitte's 2019 Global Blockchain Survey: Blockchain gets down to business Deloitte (copy hosted on a third-party site) · 2019

   “At Deloitte, we collaborate globally with clients on how blockchain is changing the face of business and government today.”

8. E8 The Blockchain Reality Check: Where Are We and What Can We Expect in 2018? HfS Research · 2 January 2018

   “The market is witnessing an explosion in blockchain proof-of-concepts (PoCs) and pilots, but in-production solutions are few and far between.”

9. E9 2017 Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (Garrick Hileman & Michel Rauchs) · 2017

   “still lacking maturity and, in many cases, remains undeployed and unadopted.”

10. E10 Policy Brief 17-13: Do Digital Currencies Pose a Threat to Sovereign Currencies and Central Banks? Peterson Institute for International Economics · April 2017

    “every second upto 10 payments are made in bitcoin”

11. E11 [FinTech] Mizuho Embarks on Project with IBM Japan to Conduct Actual Trade Transactions Using Blockchain Mizuho Financial Group · April 2017

    “We believe that this project will bring us one step closer to the actual commercial use of this technology.”

Bitcoin's stated purpose was peer-to-peer electronic cash for online payments (E1). Independent sources show little payment use: merchant services peaked at 1.5% of bitcoin activity in late 2017 (E2), and only a small number of businesses accepted bitcoin, pricing in national currencies (E3). As of January 2018, non-crypto blockchain work was mostly proofs of concept and pilots, with "few and far between" live systems (E8, E9, E11). That makes "only application" a modest overstatement. The Internet comparison is not addressed by the evidence but is not the main point in dispute.