Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies is Changing the World by Don Tapscott, Alex Tapscott

PART I
SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION

CHAPTER 1
THE TRUST PROTOCOL
It appears that once again, the technological genie has been unleashed from
its bottle. Summoned by an unknown person or persons with unclear
motives, at an uncertain time in history, the genie is now at our service for
another kick at the can—to transform the economic power grid and the old
order of human affairs for the better. If we will it.
Let us explain.
The first four decades of the Internet brought us e-mail, the World Wide
Web, dot-coms, social media, the mobile Web, big data, cloud computing, and
the early days of the Internet of Things. It has been great for reducing the
costs of searching, collaborating, and exchanging information. It has lowered
the barriers to entry for new media and entertainment, new forms of retailing
and organizing work, and unprecedented digital ventures. Through sensor
technology, it has infused intelligence into our wallets, our clothing, our
automobiles, our buildings, our cities, and even our biology. It is saturating
our environment so completely that soon we will no longer “log on” but
rather go about our business and our lives immersed in pervasive technology.
Overall, the Internet has enabled many positive changes—for those with
access to it—but it has serious limitations for business and economic activity.
The New Yorker could rerun Peter Steiner’s 1993 cartoon of one dog talking
to another without revision: “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
Online, we still can’t reliably establish one another’s identities or trust one
another to transact and exchange money without validation from a third party
like a bank or a government. These same intermediaries collect our data and
invade our privacy for commercial gain and national security. Even with the
Internet, their cost structure excludes some 2.5 billion people from the global
financial system. Despite the promise of a peer-to-peer empowered world, the
economic and political benefits have proven to be asymmetrical—with power
and prosperity channeled to those who already have it, even if they’re no
longer earning it. Money is making more money than many people do.

Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies is Changing the World by Don Tapscott, Alex Tapscott