Bitcoin Q&A: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Assets

Are blockchains useful for supply chain transparency, disintermediation, and integrity control? To some extent, but there is a big difference between models that use intrinsic, native assets vs. extrinsic assets. The latter is currently very difficult to do in a decentralized way or without reintroducing counter-party risk. You need to think about this problem not only as a technologist but from the perspective of each of the human components involved. Sometimes the more you try to apply technical solutions, the easier it is for that system to be gamed by human ingenuity.