Solution: Cryptocurrency

Answer: INTUIT

Written by Kenny Young

A good place to start the puzzle is to note that based on the upper right, R is 1 or 2, and based on the lower left, C is also 1 or 2; if it were 3, the leftmost C on the bottom row would be isolated, and the rules say that all non-blockchain cells must be connected. O is at most 4, since it appears on the right edge and cannot be isolated. Y is at most 5, since it appears in the second column next to an R which itself is at most 2. P is also at most 5, since it appears in the third-from-bottom row next to a C which itself is at most 2. By process of elimination, T is 6.

The grid ultimately solves to this:

The longest blockchain (in a darker shade of red above) is a chain of pentomino blocks starting at the top of the puzzle. Reading the canonical names of these pentominoes (Golomb’s naming scheme, not Conway’s) in turn yields the answer INTUIT.