Putting aside cryptoeconomics for a second, a centralized database can be manipulated in a criminal activity. A decentralized, omni-inspected one with no clear

Putting aside cryptoeconomics for a second, a centralized database can be manipulated in a criminal activity. A decentralized, omni-inspected one with no clear owner and no ability to take an axe to it provides a cryptographically sound public ledger (unless it's a private blockchain of course). It'd be very difficult to--independent of the activities that the technology is being used for now--criminally tamper with the history. I think you have to split it into conceptual layers. Decentralization at the lower layer has value independently of how it's used.