Blockchain and cryptocurrency are often styled as if they were different flavors of the same ice cream. If there is a single lesson to be gleaned beyond the buzzword-laden banter in mass media, it is this: blockchain is separate and distinct from cryptocurrency. Much like email, instant messaging and web browsing are all applications of the Internet, cryptocurrency is a single application of blockchain principles.
But unlike the Internet, which relies on several tiers of agreed-upon technical standards with governing bodies and industry working groups, blockchain is not a single technology but rather a stew of broad and nebulous concepts and divergent standards and frameworks — with competing interests and contradictory goals. Some are political. Others are entertaining. But almost all are predicated on the concept of decentralization. More on that later.