It's not so much the distributed concept, but it's the "verifiably discrete" packets that behave like a global internet protocol concept. I don't think you know the tech under the hood vs. existing tech, it sounds like. There has been no way, prior to now, to verify that my packet I'm sending over a network is a discrete entity, unless you use something like a certificate authority, and that's not really the same ballpark/use case. It's worth digging in that direction if you actually have an open mind about it.