Since its inception, blockchain technology has been heralded as a revolutionary force capable of solving numerous real-world problems. However, despite years of development, its practical applications outside the cryptocurrency domain remain limited. This article aims to dissect the misconceptions and scams surrounding current blockchain technology while exploring how to return to its true value.
Most mainstream blockchain technologies today are trapped in formalized systems of mathematical logic. In the pursuit of deterministic causal logic, these systems deliberately exclude the concept of “self-reference” to avoid vulnerabilities like the “liar paradox.” Yet, human meaning, civilization, and value are fundamentally derived from the concept of “self.” By removing this self-reference, formalized systems become inherently hollow and meaningless.
Such formalized blockchain systems cannot address meaningful and value-driven problems in the real world. Even sectors like Real World Assets (RWA) merely use blockchain platforms as more consistent cloud server tools. Gödel’s incompleteness theorem has long exposed the limitations of formalized systems—an incomplete blockchain system cannot capture the complexity and diversity of the real world.
Many current blockchain systems claim to be decentralized but rely on Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus mechanisms. This approach uses strong mathematical formalization to achieve 100% certainty. However, the Proof of Stake (POS) nodes that participate in BFT verification depend on centralized communication. The faster the BFT consensus aims to confirm transactions, the more centralized it becomes.
This formalized system, which excludes self-reference, also leads to the closed nature of blockchain virtual machines (VMs). Although VMs on various blockchain platforms appear capable of performing any formalized mathematical computation, they lack real-world meaning. For instance, tokens themselves are meaningless because they lack “self” and are limited to simple arithmetic operations.
Unlike formalized BFT consensus, Bitcoin’s Nakamoto consensus does not attempt to solve consistency problems through mathematical logic. Instead, it builds on intuitive logic through a self-referential recursive system, accommodating all truths within the liar paradox. This undecidable, probabilistic Nakamoto consensus is truly complete.
The fable of “Mr. Dongguo and the Wolf” teaches us that resolving the liar paradox—or any system that includes self-reference—requires the introduction of an observer to intuitively judge truth and falsehood. Gödelian AI logic similarly emphasizes the importance of the observer. Both the “filling the ranks” problem in the fable and the incompleteness of formalized mathematical systems point to the same underlying solution.
The world mistakenly views Bitcoin as a form of blockchain technology. In reality, Bitcoin only uses the terms “block” and “chain” in its code but does not rely on the quantitative formalization typical of blockchain systems.
By solving the “filling the ranks” problem through self-referential recursion, Bitcoin establishes its inherent meaning. When a miner produces a new block, they do not know if it belongs to the longest chain until it is broadcasted and verified by third-party miners. This observer-based mechanism makes Bitcoin’s consensus an undecidable, probabilistic consensus.
Satoshi Nakamoto ingeniously utilized this observer model to avoid the meaningless pursuit of deterministic formalized consensus, instead creating a meaningful, undecidable consensus—this is the foundation of Bitcoin’s authenticity.
The rigid formalism of mathematical logic in blockchain technology has hindered the industry’s growth for too long. We should draw wisdom from the “filling the ranks” fable, Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, Douglas Hofstadter’s GEB, and Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin to return to the essence of blockchain technology and build a new crypto industry that is truly meaningful and valuable.
It is time to say farewell to formalized blockchain technology and embrace a new era of cryptocurrency driven by real value.
