Don and Alex Tapscott have published an article on Harvard Business Review about how the impact of the blockchain will not be limited to just banking, value transfer, and other financial services.
They write:
Much of the hype around blockchains has focused on their potential to fundamentally change the financial services industry – by dropping the cost and complexity of financial transactions, making the world’s unbanked a viable new market, and improving transparency and regulation. Indeed, it is already having a big impact on that sector. However, our two-year research project, involving hundreds of interviews with blockchain experts, provides strong evidence that the blockchain could transform business, government, and society in perhaps even more profound ways.
The coauthors of Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business and the World, a book on how the blockchain will transform our world, continue to explain the first generation of the internet and its effects on transaction costs. What will the upcoming second generation of the internet entail? They give several examples of what can happen, and they point out companies who are already working in blockchain: Mycelia, Ascribe, and Enigma.
The Tapscotts believe the blockchain is ushering in the second generation of the internet. We’ve already seen how the internet, social media, and technology has changed business. The impact of the blockchain will be global and, as the Tapscotts conclude: “if companies don’t want to get left behind, they’ll need to dodge the Innovator’s dilemma and disrupt from within.”
