Some roads are paved with good intentions but end at underwhelming destinations. Blockchain, as a tool for capital markets, but also as a grand promise—of less dependency on intermediaries, increased reliability of information, and faster settlement; the list goes on—has traversed road that’s led it, in some cases, to a version of technology purgatory.

Neither useless nor as revolutionary as some initially thought, the once uber-hyped tech has been relegated to niche corners of the market such