Preface
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
Introduction
DAWN, RISING
I. A MOVEMENT BUILDS
1. KINDLING, MEET MATCH
2. CATCHING FIRE
Bite While the Apple Is Raw
Chance, Unchained
Opportunity Hidden by Complexity
The Six Forces of an Unblocked Era
It’s Time
3. WHAT IS A BLOCKCHAIN?
Beth Is Correct
At the Center: Decentralization
Value Exchange Made Smarter Through “Smart Contracts”
Why is it Called a Blockchain?
Blockchain or Blockchains?
What Does Bitcoin Have to Do with Blockchains?
The Many Roles of Cryptoassets
Retaining Privacy When the Ledger is Open to Everyone
So What?
Blockchains Across Industries
4. THE GENESIS OF THE UNBLOCKED CUSTOMER
The Consumer Technology Created
How Did We Get Here?
The Internet: Built to Fail
Enter Blockchains
The Era of the Unblocked Customer
A Whole New Layer of Expectations
Blockchain-Era Expectations Will Put More Pressure on Businesses
Why Now?
A Huge and Disillusioned Generation
The First Technology with Democratization Baked In?
5. TORTOISE OR HARE?
How Far Along Are We?
The Age of Open Innovation
Unlocking the New Tools of Open Innovation
Breaking Away from Silicon Valley
The Decentralization of Entrepreneurship
There Will Be Blood
Building on The Backs of Failure
II. THE SIX FORCES OF AN UNBLOCKED FUTURE
6. MORE VALUE
Summary
The Setting
Wired for Middlemen
The Rising Cost—and Power—of the Middleman
When Cost Is Uncovered
What Blockchains Make Possible
Pure Peer-to-Peer
In Code We Trust
A Broad Range of Industries Are Vulnerable
Implications: A New Balance of Power
Death by Blockchains?
The Middleman Is dead. Long Live the Middleman!
We’ve Welcomed New Middlemen into our Lives
The Hinge is Value
Customers Don’t Understand What They Can’t See
At Some Point, the Unblocked Customer Will Question Your Worth
Value Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
The Sharing Economy, Everywhere
We May End Up Somewhere in the Middle
The Next-Gen Middleman
The Importance of Clear Value
The Value of an Ecosystem
Put a Spotlight on Hidden Value
Cautions and Considerations
Cautions
Considerations
Examples
Decent: Affordable Health Insurance for All
Open Garden: Disintermediating the Internet Service Provider
Lantmäteriet: Streamlining Land Registry
7. DEEPER TRANSPARENCY
Summary
The Setting
Seeking Assurance in a Complex World
Consumers Expect More
Sustainability and Responsibility: The New Corporate Norm
Everyone Is a Stakeholder
The Focus on Sustainability Is Here to Stay
A Business Case for Urgency
Transparency Affects How Our Brain Perceives a Brand
Trust in Crisis
Fake News Fuels Skepticism
The Elusive Nature of True Transparency
What Blockchains Make Possible
All-Seeing Meets the Ever-Knowing
Coding for Trust
Tracking the Intangibles: Can Blockchains Kill Fake News?
One Feature Set Drives Value for All
A Step Toward a Better World
Implications: When Authenticity Becomes More Than a Buzzword
Blockchains for the Bold and the Brave
The Appeal of a Killer Combination
Business-First View: Yet Another Digital Transformation Must-Have?
Society-First View: Will Pioneers Push Progress?
Refining Customers’ Taste for Transparency
A New Spin on Spin?
This Is a Natural Next Step in Our Journey
Cautions and Considerations
Cautions
Considerations
Examples
Provenance: Meaningful Change through Supply Chain Transparency
Blockcerts: Trustworthy Digital Records
GiveTrack: Holding Charities Accountable for Use of Donations
8. FAIR COMPENSATION
Summary
The Setting
Imbalance is Baked into our Digital Norms
We’ve Been Willingly Looking Away
But Now, We are Poised for a Shift
Primed for a Better Alternative
What Blockchains Make Possible
Blockchains as a Foundation for a More Sustainable Digital Future
Blockchains Promise Direct and Feature-rich Compensation
Value Will Solidify (One Way or Another) with Market Maturation
Implications: What Happens When Your Customer Knows Their Worth
The Birth of the Alternative
The Short Journey from Exposure to Expectation
Where It Could All Begin
Contribution Doesn’t Always Mean Human
Compensation Doesn’t Always Mean Money
Toward a More Balanced Future
Cautions and Considerations
Cautions
Considerations
Examples
Steemit: Compensation for Contribution
Brave: Get Paid to Browse
9. ALIGNED INCENTIVES
Summary
The Setting
The Steady Extinction of the Loyal Customer
Being Heard Is Harder Than Ever
New Tools Haven’t Always Driven ROI
Loyalty Programs Are Broken
What Blockchains Make Possible
Powerful Incentives at Scale
Hit Me Again, Please: What the Heck Are Tokens?
Your Token or Mine?
Tokens Build on a Foundation of Behavioral Psychology
Fine-Tuned Calibration—and Impact
The Potency of Tokens + Gamification
More Powerful, Aligned Communities
Blurring the Lines between Business Owners and Participants
Implications: Program the Incentives, Program the Behavior
Driving Escalating Commitment
Stoking Community through Tokens
Using Tokens to Shape Individual Behavior
Incenting Not Just Action, but Impact
The Next-Gen Influencer Strategy
Using Blockchains to Ensure Quality
But Where Do You Start?
Agile Strategies, Smarter Marketing
Reinvigorate the Loyalty Program
The Power of Partnership
The Beauty of System-Wide Alignment
The Dangers of a Coin-Operated World
Cautions and Considerations
Cautions
Considerations
Examples
Swytch: Incenting Global-Scale Adoption of Renewable Energy
Mobivity: Aligning an Ecosystem of Brands and Consumers
10. BIGGER DATA
Summary
The Setting
Businesses Fueled by Big Data
Falling Short of the Big Data Promise
Fighting the Idea of Ownership
IoT Fuels the Fire
Is It Time for a New Deal on Data?
What’s Coming Next Could Change Everything
What Blockchains Make Possible
Who Really Owns the Data?
Your Very Own Black Box
Consumer at the Controls
Securing and Protecting the Data
The Potential of New, Powerful Data Layers
The Blockchains Themselves Are Public Data Layers
At the Starting Line
The Two-Edged Sword of the Blockchain Data Story
Implications: Rethinking the Rules of Competition
Bigger, Better Data
The Vision of the Data Marketplace
The Redefinition of Competitive Advantage
Data Science Quality Could Be More Important Than Ever
The Power of Relationships
The Importance of Mission
Growing Awareness of the Value of Privacy
A Shift That Presents Nuanced Challenges
Know Thy Data, Know Thyself
Enabling a New Wave of Innovation?
Cautions and Considerations
Cautions
Considerations
Examples
uPort: Take Back Control of Identity
Ocean: Unlocking More Data
11. NEW MODELS
Summary
Flipping Conventional Wisdom
Extreme Peer-to-Peer
The Big Flip and “Super Platforms”
As Things Get Smaller, Value Gets Bigger
Programmable Assets
Machines Working Together to Serve Us
Social-Aligned Models
III. UNLEASHING AN UNBLOCKED FUTURE
12. WHERE TO BEGIN
Now, Where to Begin?
Organization Models Birthed from Disruption
In the Blockchain Era, This Is Not Good Enough
Isolate or Integrate?
Time to Rethink Innovation
Heterogeneous Collaboration Required
Effective and Diverse
Blockchain-Era Table Stakes
Open Mindset
First, Search Within
Connect the Nodes
Put the Customer at the Core
Change Agents in Action
Lydia Krefta: Shared Knowledge Drives Innovation
Diana Biggs: From Cypherpunk to Enterprise Innovation Leader
13. CORPORATE INVESTING IN BLOCKCHAINS
The Challenge and Opportunity in Early Moves
Three Investment Strategies for the Corporation
Investing in Disruptive Capability
Debuting Cryptoassets in Portfolio Strategies
Using Tokenization to Remove Friction from Capital
A New Frontier for the Corporation
14. THE BIG SMALL PRINT
Be Skeptical
Don’t Write off the Toys
Don’t Overestimate Who Cares about Privacy
It’s Nothing without Network Effects
The Best Technology May Not Win
Nothing Matters without Scalability
Identity Hasn’t Been Solved
Token Instability Hasn’t Been Cracked
Consensus Mechanisms Are an Ongoing Battle
We’re Still Figuring out Governance
But Above All, Maintain Vigilance
15. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
Key Questions to Help You Compose Your Next Step
Assessment
Aspiration
Action
Afterword
THE OPPORTUNITY AND THE HOPE ARE HUMAN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A. Notes
Index
