That's not actually true. Git is a blockchain, for instance. Permissioned blockchains are a real thing. Even centralized blockchains can be useful (e.g. a government publishing property record transactions, the blockchain aspect would be useful to ensure retroactive modifications weren't made, even if the gov. was still in full control of the chain itself).

No, they're just merkel trees! The attempt to co-opt them to make "blockchains" seem more useful than they really are - and to justify all the money dumped in these projects - is disgraceful.