Blockchain: It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn

"Bitcoin rout!" scream today's headlines. Perfect timing for the release of The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust, which is now available.

No, seriously, my biggest worry when I finished the book draft a year ago, near the peak of the cryptocurrency bubble, was that everyone would be too fixated on speculative price action and not enough on the real potential of blockchain technology. And in particular, Today the pendulum has swung in the other direction. It's fashionable to describe blockchain as just a bubble or a fad. 

I've always felt most comfortable being a contrarian. Blockchain technology certainly hasn't yet transformed business the way some enthusiastic boosters promised a few years ago. But the hard technical and operational work of implementing systems and finding product/market fit is proceeding apace. There are many significant uncertainties and challenges ahead—that's a big part of what my book is about—but the fundamental argument for blockchain and cryptocurrencies was never about a few people getting rich through financial speculation. 

Back in 2002, in the rubble of the dotcom crash, the telecom crash, and the after-effects of 9/11, I started a technology conference called Supernova. Even though the conventional wisdom was that the internet bubble was over, I could see that the deep transformative trends that fueled it weren't going away. Timing the market is a fool's game, but appreciating the major tectonic shifts before everyone else is the way to find long-term opportunities. In 2002, I had no clue that Facebook, or Uber, or the iPhone would come along. I just had confidence that the internet revolution was more than a short-term fad.

I feel the same way about blockchain technology today. It remains the area where I see some of the most fascinating and innovative experimentation with technologies, business models, and organizational arrangements. It's still the field where some of the smartest technologists and entrepreneurs I know have staked their careers.

There is so much useful to learn from the blockchain phenomenon about the nature of trust and its manifestation in business and society, even if you never buy cryptocurrency or deploy a distributed ledger platform. If you have an open mind, I invite you to purchase The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust and see for yourself.