Overview

You may have read about Bitcoin or heard about it at a ‘FinTech’ conference. You may have used Bitcoins to purchase pizza, coffee or even a spaceflight. Wherever the digital currency comes into discussion, fierce debates often follow.

Early adopters passionately claim that Bitcoin will remove dependencies on banks and governments. Hardened business tycoons advise that Bitcoin is just a ‘flash in the pan’. While the debate about Bitcoin rages on, researchers have been quietly examining the technology that underpins this and other digital currencies.

This is the realm of the blockchain – a protocol for exchanging value over the internet without an intermediary – and there is a growing buzz about how it might transform not just banking but many other industry sectors, too.

In our view, there are new and emerging opportunities for organisations in all sectors to create and deliver compelling services for their customers using the power of disruptive innovation. As they formulate their plans for the coming months, we also hope that this paper helps business and public sector leaders understand the cultural and organisational challenges that are inevitably brought by the use of blockchain technologies, and provides them with the insights they need to overcome them.