Ethereum

Head of research at a16z crypto.
Professor, Columbia University.

It boils down to who has root.

I think the fundamental innovation of blockchains is that they are open state databases, where it’s standard to have many different root users.

That’s new.
https://balajis.com/p/yes-you-may-need-a-blockchain

I like the metaphor of root access, thanks, definitely going to steal that!

I much prefer "blockchain=computer" to "blockchain=DB" though (DB metaphor emphasizes storage rather than computation; normies are familiar with computers in a way that they're not with DBs, etc.)