You got me, lawyers can stay :) But a bunch of clerks and middleman are out. Today the job of a middleman/clerk is to modify a centralized database in a regula

You got me, lawyers can stay :) But a bunch of clerks and middleman are out. Today the job of a middleman/clerk is to modify a centralized database in a regulated way. They got their licenses, exams, special education and so on. There is a government machinery behind every such database - agencies, controllers, educators, bookkeepers, etc. While you may be paying $4 for a notary signature you might be paying way more from your tax money to keep governing bodies running across the country. My point is statement that a centralized database is cheap because it is easy to modify simply ignores governance cost which might be huge.