From the article: &quot;Uber, Kickstarter, Airbnb, and the rest — is just a glorified listing service, enhanced with some combination of real-time connections, trust-building systems, and transaction-easing tools.<p>I don&#x27;t understand this at all. The author seems to be arguing that the blockchain, which is &quot;a cryptographically protected shared database &quot; is actually the major part of Uber, Spotify, and AirBnb&#x27;s business. That seems like a fantastical, ludicrous statement. The author is dismissing the entirety of the business logic, management tools, and user experience as being irrelevant. It&#x27;s the other way round: these business could operate with pen and paper because the storage mechanism is irrelevant. But they couldn&#x27;t operate without a all the operational and user experience in place.