Topic

Blockchain

A database with a cost structure looking for a problem.

4: in business
10:24: average
42 min: in total
8: across the network

Blockchain across the network →

All briefs4

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12:06

Intercontinental Exchange

Jeffrey Sprecher · 2000

ICE is a financial infrastructure consolidator — not a technology innovator or market creator. It turned energy trading into a global clearing and exchange empire by acquiring failing or exposed rivals, shutting down physical floors, and layering data and mortgage tech atop core exchange revenue. Its business model depends on regulatory moats, scale-driven pricing, and vertical integration — not speed, intelligence, or user experience.

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10:00

SIX Swiss Exchange

A national exchange built on merger, not markets — and still running the same core code that made it first in line.

9:36

PayPal

Peter Thiel & Max Levchin · 1998

PayPal is a case study in opportunistic infrastructure: built on a dead-end tech idea, it succeeded only after latching onto a specific, messy, high-volume use case — eBay auctions — and charging for reliability in a trust vacuum.

9:52

Adam Neumann

Adam Neumann didn’t pivot — he rebranded failure as infrastructure.