Something equivalent to LIBOR rates could in principle be made to run on distributed markets with a great deal of transparency and little possibility for manipulation. They are a standard feature of many contracts. Whole central banks could be automated. Something like "next year's tomato quality" will obviously need a physical world mediator, but that's hardly surprising.

When the great recession started, it was not caused by an external shock, rather by the viral mistrust that the underwriters of the bad loans were solvent. A financial fragility problem that the blockchain can work to address.