Some people have heard of blockchain, mostly thanks to Bitcoin, but many do not understand its importance and the numerous ways it can impact the world. After stumbling across a Ted Talk by Don Tapscott (linked at the bottom of this article), I purchased his book to learn more about it. It was so inspiring that, combined with my life experience working for a STEM nonprofit in South Florida, this book galvanized me to start an initiative to diversify my home country’s economy, The Turks and Caicos Islands. A fundamental part of the initiative was launching a decentralized national identity built on blockchain technology to empower citizens to take control of their data and democratize digital wealth creation in the country. The decentralized identity program combined with new robust STEM education and immigration strategies to turn TCI into a hub for tech talent would facilitate the country’s rebranding as the technological capital of the Caribbean.

Though the initiative was unsuccessful due to various factors, the book succinctly explains how the technology works, why it’s revolutionary, a few examples of the many applications, and why everyone should know about it. According to the latest ‘EdYouCated’ survey, blockchain design is still one of the top ten hard skills employers are recruiting for in 2022 (1), investors poured over $30B in cryptocurrency (a common way that some blockchain projects are monetizing their applications) in 2021 (2), and as of September 2021, 81 of the top 100 companies by market capitalization use blockchain in their operations (3). Tapscott points out that its adoption on a grand scale will likely impact the world at least as much as the internet did.

In short, the internet allows people to share information but alone does not facilitate the transfer of value or ensure the chain of custody of data. Blockchain can automate both of these and remove the necessity for intermediaries in many fields, depending on how the technology is employed. In short, blockchain empowers people to manage anything of value – money, stocks, music, intellectual property, identities, and more – in a peer-to-peer fashion. It would accomplish this by using code that guarantees contract execution once certain conditions are met, and the distributed ledger (with public or permissioned access depending on the application design and protocol) balances transparency and privacy.

I strongly encourage everyone to become more informed about the technology because every disruptive technology can either be used for tremendous good or bad. The more people understand how blockchain works, the more likely its applications will benefit the world. The fewer people grasp the gravity of its potential, the more likely the wealthiest people in the world will be able to weaponize it against the rest of us for their benefit. “Blockchain Revolution” does an excellent job at helping the average man understand how it works, why it’s important, and its many applications.

Click here to read more about how blockchain’s first application, bitcoin, is currently revolutionizing our financial system as it decouples from the stock market and risk on assets.

Sources

(1) The 10 most in-demand skills for 2022
https://edyoucated.org/blog/best-skills-for-employees

(2) Investors poured a record $30 billion into cryptocurrency in 2021
https://fortune.com/2021/12/20/invstors-pour-record-money-cryptocurrency/

(3) 81 of Top 100 Companies Use Blockchain Technology, Blockdata Research Shows
https://forkast.news/81-of-top-100-companies-use-blockchain-technology-blockdata/