The conversation around blockchain and Web3 has changed dramatically over the past three years. The speculative frenzy of 2021-2022, followed by the crypto crash and subsequent disillusionment, has given way to something more interesting: actual use cases that solve real problems.

In Australia, this evolution has been particularly stark. The companies and projects that survived the hype cycle are now building genuinely useful applications, often in unglamorous sectors far removed from the NFT marketplaces and metaverse platforms that dominated headlines.

What Died

Let’s be honest about what didn’t work. The consumer-facing Web3 applications that promised to revolutionise social media, gaming, and digital ownership largely failed to gain traction. Australians didn’t particularly want to manage their own cryptographic keys, didn’t see value in owning their social media posts, and weren’t convinced that every digital item needed to be on a blockchain.

The enterprise blockchain consortiums that launched with great fanfare in 2018-2020 mostly fizzled out. The promise of shared databases between companies turned out to be more about governance and business relationships than technology. When parties didn’t trust each other, a shared blockchain didn’t magically create trust.

Most of the “blockchain will revolutionise X industry” predictions didn’t pan out. It turns out that databases work fine for most applications, and the added complexity of distributed ledgers wasn’t worth the benefits.

What Survived

What has survived is more focused and, frankly, more boring. In the supply chain sector, some Australian companies are using blockchain for specific traceability requirements, particularly in food and agriculture where provenance matters to end consumers.

A few Australian agribusitech companies are using blockchain to track agricultural products from farm to consumer, providing verifiable information about origin, sustainability practices, and handling. This works because there’s genuine value in immutable records and because the parties involved have clear incentives to participate.

In financial services, some applications around settlement and clearing have found traction. The Australian Securities Exchange’s blockchain-based CHESS replacement project, despite its challenges and delays, represents a genuine attempt to improve existing infrastructure using distributed ledger technology.

Several Australian government agencies are exploring blockchain for credentials and identity, though often in pilot stages rather than full production. The technology can provide verifiable credentials without centralised control, which has appeal in certain contexts.

The Quiet Corporate Work

Away from headlines, some large Australian corporations have been quietly implementing private blockchain networks for specific internal use cases. These aren’t the public, decentralised systems that blockchain purists advocate for, but they’re solving real problems.

Mining companies are using blockchain to track high-value materials through complex supply chains. Banks are using it for certain types of interbank settlements. Logistics companies are using it to coordinate between multiple parties who need shared visibility but don’t want to give any single party control of the database.

These applications rarely make news because they’re incremental improvements to existing processes rather than revolutionary new capabilities. But they’re working, and they’re providing value.

The Australian Context

Australia’s particular regulatory environment and economic structure has shaped how blockchain technology has been adopted. Our relatively strong institutions and rule of law mean that the “trustless” benefits of blockchain matter less than in countries with weaker governance.

Our geographic isolation and importance of export industries mean that supply chain traceability has particular relevance. Australian agricultural and mining products command premiums partly based on provenance, making verification technology potentially valuable.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission and other regulators have taken a relatively pragmatic approach, neither embracing nor rejecting blockchain wholesale. This has allowed experimentation while preventing some of the excesses seen in other jurisdictions.

The Developer Community

The Australian blockchain developer community has matured significantly. Many developers who entered the space during the hype period have either left for other technologies or have become more pragmatic about when blockchain is and isn’t appropriate.

The conversations at Australian blockchain meetups and conferences have shifted from revolutionary rhetoric to practical discussions about specific technical challenges and use cases. There’s less evangelism and more engineering.

This maturation is healthy. The developers remaining in the space are those genuinely interested in distributed systems and cryptography, not those chasing quick fortunes.

What’s Next

Looking ahead, blockchain in Australia will likely continue to find applications in specific niches where its properties genuinely matter. Digital identity and verifiable credentials seem promising. Certain types of asset tokenisation may find use cases. Supply chain traceability in specific industries will probably expand.

What we’re unlikely to see is blockchain becoming the default database choice for most applications. Traditional databases work well, are well understood, and are easier to operate. Blockchain will remain a specialist technology for specific requirements.

The broader lesson from the blockchain hype cycle is about technology adoption generally. New technologies tend to be overhyped initially, followed by disillusionment, before finally finding appropriate use cases. Blockchain is now in that mature phase.

For Australian companies considering blockchain in 2026, the question shouldn’t be “should we be doing something with blockchain?” but rather “do we have a specific problem that blockchain’s properties genuinely solve better than alternatives?” Often the answer will be no, and that’s fine. When the answer is yes, the technology is now mature enough to implement effectively.

The blockchain story in Australia isn’t about revolution anymore. It’s about evolution - finding the specific places where this technology provides value and building practical applications. That’s a less exciting narrative than what we heard in 2021, but it’s a more sustainable one.