Top 10 Links: What is a Blockchain?

There is a massive gap between what the blockchain community of “insiders” understand about what’s coming—predominantly technologists, investors, and financial services execs—and what the rest of the world knows. I think this is dangerous.

For the uninitiated, there is great risk of missing telltale signs that portend both the peril and the opportunity that this new technology brings. But I also believe what’s coming is so big and so important that we need more minds involved in shaping it. 

Top 10 Links to Read, Listen, or Watch

Unfortunately, reading one article or watching a video isn’t going to do it. In his book Radical Technologies, the urban designer Adam Greenfield calls blockchain the first technology that’s "just fundamentally difficult for otherwise intelligent and highly capable people to understand." In his recent New York Times article, Nathaniel Popper said, “if you ask even the people who work with blockchains to define the technology, you are likely to get a stuttering response.”

That’s why I’ve gathered the Top 10 list of articles and videos that I send my own friends on a single page. And yes, I balanced more meaty content with John Oliver’s coverage.

Spend time with a solid handful of these links, and you'll start to get a feel for it, I promise. And once you do, I suggest going out and searching for blockchain + whatever industry interests you. Music? Real estate? Education? Food? There are examples out there that will blow your mind, and I hope you will want to learn more (I included links to an extra five "next step" resources below the Top 10).

About me

Connect on Twitter @unblockedfuture or follow me on LinkedIn. A social scientist by training, I’ve devoted my career to driving behavior change in new technology markets. I have helped entrepreneurs and business leaders with adoption in dynamic environments for over two decades. I believe that blockchains and a decentralized future represent an opportunity to remake foundational systems — and with that opportunity comes great responsibility. I write to encourage thoughtful strategy and conscientious execution in these critical early days of crypto technology.