It was not just "scrapped", they were basically forbidden from going ahead by regulators protecting the incumbents.
It's the same problem all cryptocurrency projects face. They allowed Bitcoin because Bitcoin is basically useless for payments, it's too slow and fees are way too expensive. Though Ethereum recently slipping through the cracks may disrupt the payments industry in a big way. Coinbase and Circle are already working on bringing direct stablecoin payment options to customers/merchants with USDC and other tokens afaik. Which would also be more decentralized than Facebook's Diem. Not sure how many people would trust corporate money, an open public ledger is preferable of course.
> They allowed Bitcoin because Bitcoin is basically useless for payments, it's too slow and fees are way too expensive. Though Ethereum recently slipping through the cracks may disrupt the payments industry in a big way.
Or authorities "allowed" Bitcoin because, given its lack of head to cut off, they had no choice.
Contrast with Ethereum's demonstrable central authority over its blockchain: When the developers were robbed of their coin by a hacker, they "reorganized" the Ethereum blockchain to undo the transactions associated with the theft.[0]
I regard Ethereum less as "slipping through the cracks" and more as a poison suppository greased and inserted by the powers that be.
You give plenty of examples yourself as to why it might be considered something worth prohibiting? It enables fraud above all else and doesn't offer undoing of errors from a users perspective, and thus it will never replace any of the things OP mentioned.
It's the same problem all cryptocurrency projects face. They allowed Bitcoin because Bitcoin is basically useless for payments, it's too slow and fees are way too expensive. Though Ethereum recently slipping through the cracks may disrupt the payments industry in a big way. Coinbase and Circle are already working on bringing direct stablecoin payment options to customers/merchants with USDC and other tokens afaik. Which would also be more decentralized than Facebook's Diem. Not sure how many people would trust corporate money, an open public ledger is preferable of course.
https://www.ft.com/content/a88fb591-72d5-4b6b-bb5d-223adfb89...
https://www.dw.com/en/facebook-backed-cryptocurrency-sold-am...