This commentary explores the feasibility of blockchain technologies (and cryptocurrencies) in contesting the power of centralized, corporate platforms. While proponents of blockchain and cryptocurrencies regularly proclaim their power to decentralize and counter corporate power, I am much more constrained in my assessment and note the significant challenges facing open blockchain approaches in competing with platforms. From this, I highlight three key areas in which blockchains may complicate platform operations, albeit in indeterminate ways. These include (i) closed, state-based blockchain systems focused on making back-office processes more efficient, (ii) the use of cryptocurrencies for platform-based transactions and (iii) providing digital objects with an element of “uniqueness” that makes them tradable in new ways. In the end, blockchain and cryptocurrencies are technologies like any others, providing affordances for some kinds of action over others but ultimately their embeddedness in practice and space shapes how they impact the organization and geography of economies, societies and regions.

中文翻译：

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平台、区块链和去中心化的挑战

这篇评论探讨了区块链技术（和加密货币）在争夺集中式企业平台的力量方面的可行性。虽然区块链和加密货币的支持者经常宣称他们有能力去中心化和对抗企业权力，但我的评估受到更多限制，并注意到开放区块链方法在与平台竞争时面临的重大挑战。由此，我强调了区块链可能使平台操作复杂化的三个关键领域，尽管方式不确定。其中包括 (i) 封闭的、基于状态的区块链系统，专注于提高后台流程的效率，(ii) 使用加密货币进行基于平台的交易，以及 (iii) 为数字对象提供“独特性”元素，使它们可以以新的方式进行交易。到底，