Blockchain's "Verifiable Integrity"? Yeah, Right.
Okay, so here's the deal. Dinari, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and Chainlink are teaming up to bring some "S&P Digital Markets 50 Index" onto the blockchain. Thirty-five blockchain-related equities and fifteen digital assets, all verifiable and transparent, blah blah blah. S&P Digital Markets 50 Index Will Gain Blockchain Verifiability Via Chainlink
The Same Old Song and Dance
"Financial systems depend on trusted data and transparent infrastructure," says Dinari co-founder Gabe Otte. Give me a break. Financial systems depend on making someone a whole lot of money, and transparency is usually the last thing they want.
So, what is blockchain and what is the blockchain? Apparently, it's the cure for what ails ya now.
This index is supposed to track blockchain-related equities and digital assets. But, like, which assets? They haven't even published the list yet. A representative didn't "immediately respond" to Decrypt's request for comment. Translation: they're probably still figuring it out. Or, more likely, they don't want anyone poking holes in their claims before they launch this thing. Offcourse, that would be bad for business.
And "verifiable, real-time index data"? From Chainlink? I'm not saying Chainlink is garbage, but let's not pretend it's some incorruptible source of truth. It's just another piece of software, run by people, prone to bugs and exploits. What is blockchain technology going to do here?
Tokenizing equities, huh? That’s what everyone’s doing these days, I guess. Backed is doing it with xStocks, Robinhood's got a version, and even Coinbase is sniffing around. It's like everyone's trying to cram traditional finance onto the blockchain whether it makes sense or not.
Stripe's New Toy: Tempo
Speaking of things that might not make sense, let's talk about Tempo. Stripe and Paradigm's little blockchain project just led a $25 million funding round for Commonware, a crypto infrastructure firm. Tempo wants to "process blockchain payments more quickly." Stripe-backed blockchain startup Tempo leads $25 million raise for crypto infrastructure firm Commonware
Okay, cool. But wait... isn't the whole point of blockchain that it's not quick? It's supposed to be secure and decentralized, which inherently means it's slower than a centralized system. Are they trying to reinvent the wheel, or just slap a blockchain sticker on something that already exists?
Commonware, by the way, only has seven employees and four customers. Four. But they're profitable, apparently making over a million bucks per customer. That's either insanely impressive or insanely suspicious. Which is it?
And Tempo itself? They've gone from five employees to 40-50 in a couple of months. They've acquired a startup and hired some Ethereum guru. All this after raising half a billion dollars at a $5 billion valuation. It's like they're playing SimCity with real money.
What is blockchain stock? Well, it ain't Tempo, since it's private. But you can bet your bottom bitcoin that Stripe's gonna try and spin this whole thing into something revolutionary.
The Unspoken Truth
Here's what I think is really going on: Everyone's terrified of being left behind. They see "blockchain," "web3," and "cryptocurrency" and they panic. They don't necessarily understand the tech, but they know they have to do something to stay relevant.
So they throw money at random projects, make grand pronouncements about "decentralized finance," and hope something sticks.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are left scratching our heads, wondering when the hell this technology is actually going to solve a real-world problem instead of just generating hype and headlines.
So, What's the Real Story?
It's the same old story, just with a new buzzword. These companies are just trying to make a buck, and they'll use whatever shiny new technology they can get their hands on to do it. Don't fall for the hype.