Let's actually discuss the idea, theory and functionality behind a "blockchain"...

But the question is, when precisely does a block give a time? at the moment of creation? At the moment of death? For every digital pickaxe hacking away on it? I feel mining and crypto has moved much away from each other since it's earlier boosts. Unless you run a mining cartel you won't win much but a few dollars. Unlike "back then".

This is true, but lets rememeber, we would still trade in fiat? The average poorfag wouldn't have per now access to deep web nor it's ilk. So presumably they would still do deals by face.

There are an array of digital goods and services you can pay for with cryptocurrency. VPNs, porn, VPS servers, domain names, music, Veeky Forums passes, software and so on. Low fees and privacy make it a good option to many.

As far as the rewards from mining go, this depends mostly on the type of hashing used in the proof of work scheme. Some algorithms are much more ASIC-resistant than others and so lend themselves to better decentralization (see: equihash).

In countries where the fiat currency is worthless, people have started falling back on crypto. Bitcoin mining is popular in Venezuela and you can read about how some of their people are making deals in cryptocurrency now that their native currency, the Bolivar, is worthless due to hyperinflation.

It may seem unfathomable for it to catch on in first world countries, but there are some unstable shitholes in this world where the volatility of cryptocurrency pales in comparison to the volatility of their own currencies. And it can't be controlled by their corrupt governments. They don't have to get permission from their government-controlled banks to use it. There's obviously some potential here.

yeah. all databases.
blockchain is just a better way of organizing information. it'll do for all systems what double-entry bookkeeping did for accounting

Expanding on my original explanation of hashes, difficulty is part of what determines the average block time (Note that even though bitcoin has an average block time of 10mins, this does not mean each block takes 10mins to be confirmed by the network, some may take much longer or shorter amounts of time).

Difficulty is essentially how many zeros there are in the target hash that miners have to find, as they increment through nonces of the inputs they put into the hash function, in order to try and find an output which is less than or equal to the target hash.

The more zeros in the target hash, the harder it is to guess, and so, the longer it takes for miners to find the appropriate output.

Difficulty adjustments essentially adjust the "rarity" of the target miners have to find. These adjustments occur to keep the average block time of around 10 mins (for bitcoin).

Very good explanations here: bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8031/what-are-bitcoin-miners-really-solving

any system that requires trust can potentially use it