It’s not just the big bad wolf you have to worry about, it’s the big bad blockchain … especially when it becomes disassociated with bitcoin.

Bitcoin, which is neither good nor bad (it’s just another currency), is powered by a special type of blockchain — one that is decentralized, open, and auditable by anyone using the system. And one that is extremely hard to alter because altering a block (to steal the currency) would require not only require that every other block after it were regenerated, but all copies of such block (and there can be multiple as all nodes participating in the decentralized system can store a copy of the block) be replaced simultaneously.

Theoretically, this can be used to record supply chain transactions because we could create a virtual currency for any real world unit we want to trade (such as CELLcoins, RAMcoins, etc.) but could also encode other related information in the hash and serve as a fully auditable record of ownership of the corresponding products end-to-end, source-to-sink, but this would require that a similar, truly open, system be developed.

But right now, when you get down to it, the most “open” blockchain proposals are akin to the most “open” supplier networks … and there are no truly open supplier networks. Every supplier network of note in existence is owned by a for-profit company and even those with “open” APIs or “open” integration are not really “open”. Yes, there is an API that third parties can integrate into, but in every case there is a “catch” — either the integration is limited or integration is only permitted at a “price”. It’s not open and free — and “openness” is only “open” as long as the network decides they are “open”.

If any company owns the blockchain, then it is not truly open, and not truly decentralized, open, and auditable by anyone and everyone. And that is necessary for a true block chain solution. So until a global non-profit conglomerate with Procurement punch and tech-chops steps up and creates a truly open, decentralized, non-corporate controlled block-chain solution, let’s stop pretending blockchain is the solution we’ve been waiting for … because all we’re going to get is a prison for our data that will come with hefty prison maintenance fees. And then we won’t just be talking about how Ariba doesn’t have customers, it has prisoners. We’ll be talking about how BlockChain Company X has everyone’s supply chain data as prisoner.

So while you continue your Bitcoin Buoyancy, we’ll keep our expectations realistic.