The technology likely to have the greatest impact on the future of the
world economy has arrived, and it's not self-driving cars, solar energy,
or artificial intelligence.
It's called the blockchain.
The first generation of the digital revolution brought us the Internet
of information. The second generation--powered by blockchain
technology--is bringing us the Internet of value: a new, distributed
platform that can help us reshape the world of business and transform
the old order of human affairs for the better.
Blockchain is the ingeniously simple, revolutionary protocol that allows
transactions to be simultaneously anonymous and secure by maintaining a
tamperproof public ledger of value. Though it's the technology that
drives bitcoin and other digital currencies, the underlying framework
has the potential to go far beyond these and record virtually everything
of value to humankind, from birth and death certificates to insurance
claims and even votes.
Why should you care? Maybe you're a music lover who wants artists to
make a living off their art. Or a consumer who wants to know where that
hamburger meat really came from. Perhaps you're an immigrant who's sick
of paying big fees to send money home to loved ones. Or an entrepreneur
looking for a new platform to build a business.
And those examples are barely the tip of the iceberg. This technology is
public, encrypted, and readily available for anyone to use. It's already
seeing widespread adoption in a number of areas. For example, forty-two
(and counting) of the world's biggest financial institutions, including
Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Credit Suisse, have formed a
consortium to investigate the blockchain for speedier and more secure
transactions.
As with major paradigm shifts that preceded it, the blockchain will
create winners and losers. And while opportunities abound, the risks of
disruption and dislocation must not be ignored.
Don Tapscott, the bestselling author of Wikinomics, and his son,
blockchain expert Alex Tapscott, bring us a brilliantly researched,
highly readable, and utterly foundational book about the future of the
modern economy. Blockchain Revolution is the business leaders'
playbook for the next decade and beyond.
