Unblocked

Chapter 2. CATCHING FIRE

You probably don’t smell the smoke, and most certainly aren’t feeling the heat—but it’s coming.

While the exact path it will take is unclear, blockchains and their related family of technologies hold the potential for significant change, with far-reaching implications, for every industry and every sector. They will not only alter our digital lives—there are early indications that they could influence the very shape of how we work, live, and play. They can change what business and government are capable of. They can change what a single individual is capable of. They will kill old business models and birth altogether new ones.

Make no mistake: we are at the dawn of a next great wave of disruption.

As in any time of change, there is a chance for smart thinkers, no matter where they come from, to end up on top when the dust settles. And with this technology, that is the case almost no matter what industry you’re in, or the size or age of your business. Could we see internet incumbents topple? Heritage incumbents pull ahead? Still-young startups flip their business models and drive to dominance? It’s possible. We may not yet even know the names of some of the companies that will be powerful a decade from now.

As the shift gathers momentum, it is conceivable that every business will need to adjust, whether they use blockchain technology or not. It’s possible that tens or even hundreds of millions of people will be interfacing with a blockchain, whether they ...