I find this to be a little short sighted stufy. Perhaps he should ask the citizens of venezuela if it works? Or people paying taxes in bitcoin in Australia?
No doubt, there is a lot of hype. No doubt, a lot of people, including techies, have lost sight of what is important. No doubt, many in the space are impatient, and do not understand that blockchain development, the real blockchain development is more like development of aircraft frames. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. No doubt, people are trying to apply it where it is not necessary.
There are, however, a plethora of other use cases. The key though, in my opinion, is placing all of it under the hood, invisible to the user except where it is absolutely needed (ie, hi user! here is your wallet).
The truth is that many businesses already run replicated, distributed databases on replicated, distributed servers, and it is plenty fast since they don't have to worry about solving advanced cryptographic math equations for incentive purposes. However, one problem facing generalized platform blockchains, such as ethereum, is that the current entire concept of business and how its modeled is far behind what a blockchain can deliver to a business and its interested parties. The problem, as I see it, is primarily one of control, and secondly, one of trust.. I mentioned the replicated distributed stuff earlier, and I think it safe to say no current business will ever open nodes to outside participants (such as customers, or resellers), or even inside participants (shareholders, employees). Unless shareholders demand it (for instance, to ensure a fair number of shares can ever be created), a completely internalized blockchain is pointless and no more trustworthy to society than what we already have.
Another large problem is obviously power consumption. Every bitcoin maximalist needs to come to the realization that one of the strongest ways the established players will fight a new paradigm is by controlling power costs. For many in the developed world, bitcoin is out of reach, as mining equipment is expensive, and power makes it impossible to turn a profit. The best solution to this is green, _affordable_ energy sources and affordable mining equipment. Proof of Stake is not completely the answer.
Finally, I point to this part of the "study":
> We documented 43 blockchain use-cases through internet searches,
No wonder they got terrible results. Doctors tell patients all of the time to not google your symptoms, it always ends with cancer. Does this mean doctors are a failure?
The established financial systems took a thousand years to formulate into what we know today. Patience is power.