The future of money and further applications of the blockchain

• Author: Phil Godsiff,Richard Adams,Glenn Parry,Peter Ward
• Date: 01 September 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2141
• Published date: 01 September 2017

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Strategic Change. 2017;26(5):417–422. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jsc © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 417

DOI: 10.1002/jsc.2141

Abstract

Blockchain technology provides an excing applicaon space for innovaon in diverse domains

but threatens disintermediaon for organizaons providing a trusted and auditable account of

ownership and transacons. It needs, however, an appropriate regulaon to keep pace with tech‐

nological developments. Technology remains very young, akin to the Internet in the early 1990s.

Use cases, praccal demonstrators, standards, and lexical consistency are urgently required.

1 

|

 INTRODUCTION

The Internet allows the digizaon and global transfer of informaon,

but has lacked a trustworthy mechanism to securely transfer assets

without the mediaon of third pares. Satoshi Nakamoto (2008), in

his original and highly accessible white paper, proposed “a system for

electronic transacons without relying on trust.” The paper proposed

soluons to two fundamental challenges, double‐spending (which had

plagued previous aempts at virtual currencies) and the Byzanne

Generals’ problem (ensuring the security and aconability of trans‐

mied messages), thus making digital currencies realiscally feasible.

The system proposed a cryptographically enabled distributed ledger,

popularly referred to as the Bitcoin‐developed “blockchain.” This is a

disintermediang and decentralizing proposion with no reliance on

a trusted third party to guarantee counterpares or transacons, rely‐

ing on consensus for authencaon. It is a purely technical paper, but

increasingly Bitcoin the currency is being seen as R&D for blockchain,

the revoluonary enabler. As the logical ramicaons of implemen‐

taon and adopon are worked through, the blockchain, more than

digital currencies themselves, promises to be an innovaon at least as

disrupve and transformave as the Internet has been. This special

issue examines contexts and implicaons of the disrupve potenal

of blockchain for incumbent and start‐up organizaons via contribu‐

ons from authors acvely engaged in the eld. The contributors from

both academia and pracce reect on the queson: “What are new

technologies like Bitcoin and blockchain for?”

The technical innovaon that the blockchain represents is focused

on distributed, decentralized data architecture: it enables a shi from

central authority to community consensus, from controlling hand to

community management. Blockchains are designed to be a tamper‐

proof record of transacons held and maintained in a distributed fash‐

ion by the community, such that it is owned and controlled by no one

individual.

Decentralized models have the potenal to reorganize all manners of

human acvity (Foroglou & Tsilidou, 2015), with potenally wide implica‐

ons including commerce, government, freedom, jurisdicon, censorship,

and regulaon. Just as the Internet has provided real‐me selement of

informaon, so the blockchain can provide real‐me selement of worth

(or value‐in‐exchange). Currently, worth is predominantly idened and

measured in the form of money, but in future it is envisaged that a diverse

range of tangible and intangible asset types will be transacted. The music

industry is currently promong the use of blockchain technology and

cryptocurrencies as new royalty‐distribuon mechanisms to manage and

track intellectual property and online payments (Rethink Music, 2015).

In another case, Provenance.org is using the blockchain to enable sup‐

ply‐chain transparency and secure traceability for materials, ingredients,

and products, providing product authencaon as well as value‐adding

appended product stories. The work presented here seeks to provide

much greater depth of explanaon as to the developments.

The disrupon that the blockchain poses may play out in human‐

to‐human, human‐to‐machine, and machine‐to‐machine transacons,

The future of money and further applicaons

of the blockchain*

Richard Adams1 | Glenn Parry2 | Phil Godsi1 | Peter Ward3

1University of Surrey, United Kingdom

2University of the West of England,

United Kingdom

3University of Warwick, United Kingdom

Correspondence

Richard Adams, Surrey Centre for the Digital

Economy, University of Surrey, Surrey GU2

7XH, United Kingdom

Email: adams@bnternet.com

* JEL classicaon codes: D02, G20, L20, O32, O35, P11, Q55.