Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies is Changing the World
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- Create Date：2021-05-04 11:53:34
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Don Tapscott
- ISBN：0241237866
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Summary
MAJORLY EXPANDED WITH NEW MATERIAL ON CRYPTOASSETS， ICOs， SMART CONTRACTS， DIGITAL IDENTITY AND MORE
The definitive book on how the technology behind bitcoin and cryptocurrency is changing the world。
Blockchain is the ingeniously simple technology that powers Bitcoin。 But it is much more than that， too。 It is a public ledger to which everyone has access， but which no single person controls。 It allows for companies and individuals to collaborate with an unprecedented degree of trust and transparency。 It is cryptographically secure， but fundamentally open。 And soon it will be everywhere。
In Blockchain Revolution， Don and Alex Tapscott reveal how this game-changing technology will shape the future of the world economy， dramatically improving everything from healthcare records to online voting， and from insurance claims to artist royalty payments。 Brilliantly researched and highly accessible， this is the essential text on the next major paradigm shift。 Read it， or be left behind。
The definitive book on how the technology behind bitcoin and cryptocurrency is changing the world。
Blockchain is the ingeniously simple technology that powers Bitcoin。 But it is much more than that， too。 It is a public ledger to which everyone has access， but which no single person controls。 It allows for companies and individuals to collaborate with an unprecedented degree of trust and transparency。 It is cryptographically secure， but fundamentally open。 And soon it will be everywhere。
In Blockchain Revolution， Don and Alex Tapscott reveal how this game-changing technology will shape the future of the world economy， dramatically improving everything from healthcare records to online voting， and from insurance claims to artist royalty payments。 Brilliantly researched and highly accessible， this is the essential text on the next major paradigm shift。 Read it， or be left behind。
Reviews
Josef
，
It might have been because of my lack of background on the topic， but I found the content remarkably wordy and the terminology often when right over my head。 The book focused on some interesting applications of cryptographic technology。 While I learned some interesting background on blockchain， I would only recommend this book to readers with more background in this area。
Chris Boutté
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This is by far the best book I've read so far on how the blockchain works。 I'm brand new to investing and even newer to crypto， and this book lays it all out perfectly。 Prior to this book， I read four or five books that gave a brief overview of crypto， and one was way too in-depth about the history of currency。 I bought this book because from my research， I knew that the blockchain must be more than just an investment opportunity， and it absolutely is。 The book starts by explaining the blockchai This is by far the best book I've read so far on how the blockchain works。 I'm brand new to investing and even newer to crypto， and this book lays it all out perfectly。 Prior to this book， I read four or five books that gave a brief overview of crypto， and one was way too in-depth about the history of currency。 I bought this book because from my research， I knew that the blockchain must be more than just an investment opportunity， and it absolutely is。 The book starts by explaining the blockchain， why it's decentralized， and how it came to be after the crash of 2008。 Like many people， I lost faith in Big Banks in 2008， and crypto is the solution。 The authors did an incredible job explaining all of the ways the blockchain can be used to help with wealth equality and a better system for everyone。 They also discuss the potential of the blockchain in all aspects of the world and how it can help make the world a better place。 While the book is very pro-blockchain， I could see how some people would argue that the technology can be used for bad intentions by billionaires and big companies， but we'll deal with that as we continue this journey。 My primary takeaway from this book is that we've barely scratched the surface with cryptocurrencies and the blockchain。 So， if you're like me and thought you were too late， you're definitely not。 This book helped me realize that I can invest in companies who have values that I believe in while also making a little bit in return to support myself and my family。 。。。more
Sankat Patel
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Good book an learning the principles of Blockchain。
Apūrva Singh
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I got to know about this book from a course available on Coursera。The authors of this book have built the course in collaboration with INSEAD。 The book is very informative and thought provoking。 But throughout this lengthy text， the authors tend to advocate the use of this technology rather than being more objective about it。 The last few chapters and the Afterword （in the 2nd edition） are perhaps more balanced。 Many Blockchain startups referred in the book and also in the course have failed。 （A I got to know about this book from a course available on Coursera。The authors of this book have built the course in collaboration with INSEAD。 The book is very informative and thought provoking。 But throughout this lengthy text， the authors tend to advocate the use of this technology rather than being more objective about it。 The last few chapters and the Afterword （in the 2nd edition） are perhaps more balanced。 Many Blockchain startups referred in the book and also in the course have failed。 （Although that is a typical phenomenon among startups across any industry。） Hence， one should not get carried away by a quite rosy picture of the possibilities of Blockchain revolution that is painted in the book。 That revolution might still happen though， at least in certain sectors such as Finance， Supply Chain， and so on。 The book however is certainly worth reading， since it contains nice expositions on nature of economy and society with good anecdotes。PS: This book does not describe the blockchain technology from an engineer's standpoint。 For technical details refer other online sources。 "Mastering Bitcoin" by Andreas M。 Antonopoulos is highly recommended for a deep technical understanding of the first and foremost of all blockchains。 。。。more
ThPA
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Great overview of the amazing concept of blockchain technology and the way it will impact the world。 Especially interesting to see the developments since the book was published。 I would have liked it to be more specific instead of general。 But the best book I've read so far， about blockchain technology。 Must-read if you're exploring the world of blockchain。 Great overview of the amazing concept of blockchain technology and the way it will impact the world。 Especially interesting to see the developments since the book was published。 I would have liked it to be more specific instead of general。 But the best book I've read so far， about blockchain technology。 Must-read if you're exploring the world of blockchain。 。。。more
Boni Aditya
，
Is this book boring？ Yes， the author yaps about blockchain for 400+ pagesIs this book too long？ Yes， it took me forever to complete it。Is this book irritating？ Yes， at times it took all the patience in me to just keep at it。Is the book well edited？ NO， the editors are the worst， often I saw the same lines repeated in different chapters， the exact same lines。 The editors did a shoddy job。Is the author good？ NO， the author is the worst， he is a moron for writing this big ass book to talk about blo Is this book boring？ Yes， the author yaps about blockchain for 400+ pagesIs this book too long？ Yes， it took me forever to complete it。Is this book irritating？ Yes， at times it took all the patience in me to just keep at it。Is the book well edited？ NO， the editors are the worst， often I saw the same lines repeated in different chapters， the exact same lines。 The editors did a shoddy job。Is the author good？ NO， the author is the worst， he is a moron for writing this big ass book to talk about blockchain！Is the author biased？ YES， the author is the epitome of bias。 He is so biased that he refuses to entertain the though that Blockchain might not be the silver bullet。Is this book absolutely useless？ NOUnfortunately， despite the author's lack of editorial abilities， despite the bad editing， lack of common sense about how long a book about blockchain can be （before the readers lose interest） and the completely biased view， The book still packs a punch。 How？ You might ask？ To get an answer to this question， you must first understand what this book is！It is better to get at it if we understand what this book is NOT。1。 This is not a book that is written to explain how Block Chain works - NO。 This is not a technical book。2。 This book is not written to explain the pros and cons of Block Chain3。 This book is also not written to provide you a 360 degree view of Blockchains， the author cannot fathom blockchains failing anywhere。 WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT？ THIS BOOK IS A COLLECTION OF ALL THE BUSINESS MODELS， NGO MODELS， CIVIL SERVICES MODELS OR ANY OTHER TYPES OF MODELS/USECASES WHERE BLOCK CHAIN "CAN" BE USED。One must understand that the author simply talked about all possible use cases where BLOCK CHAIN can be used。 From Medicine， Relief Funds， WHO， Education， sports， music， hollywood， HR recruitment， corporations， stock markets， futures trades， FOREX trades， remittances， smart contracts， this books has all the possible use cases where blockchain can be used。 The list is pretty huge， and extremely comprehensive。 The author has not left anything out。 He left no stone unturned， he also coupled these use cases with real life companies trying to solve these problems sprinkled all along the book。 But， the author does not and cannot guarantee that these startups will be around in a few years。 Most of them might simply disappear due to lack of a profitable self-sustaining business model。WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK？This book must not be read by anyone for casual reasons， unless they are managers fishing to find a use case that they can pursue as new initiative in their corporations。 This book is for entrepreneurs who are on a look-out for avenues where they can exploit the blockchain technology。Even for such a niche audience this book does a very bad job， thus it deserves less than 3 rating for the excruciating pain it puts readers through。 Because is more of a reference book than a book you can learn from。 For all that we know a simple search in the PDF version of the book will reveal the exact pages where your topic of interest lies， in my case I read this book to understand where blockchain can be applied with respect to Human Resources i。e。 Recruitment and I did find an answer。 I would strongly advice people who don't have this motive at the back of mind from reading this book。 More over this a REFERENCE BOOK， a book you are not meant to read from end to end， but a book you must read selectively， pick and choose the exact section you must read。But I refrained from giving a single star for this book， because there is great value in this book， at very specific locations。The book is not a simple collection of all the block chain applications。 The book has builds upon the work of nobel laurates to establish firmly why blockchains would work in the first place。Thanks to this book I learned answers to very important questions。1。 Why do firms exist in the marketplace， why can't people simply work alone in their own office and collaborate？The answer to this question is provided by a Nobel prize winner Ronald Coase， for his paper， NATURE OF FIRM2。 Why can't an entire country be one single firm？ What happens when such an effort is attempted？Or simply put， why did USSR and India go bankrupt chasing Socialism？We all know the answer to this question， columbia， venezuela， ussr， india， all went bankrupt， due to central planning commission and five year plans， i。e。 when the entire country tried to become one company。The answer to this question is also provided by another nobel laurate， Oliver E Williamson， for his work on Transaction Cost Theory。Thus the book is logically correct， i。e。 it is well researched and has the work of noble laurates at its code。 It is not just wishful thinking of the author。THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS ARE MASTERPIECES。The author starts from the GOD PARTICLE and GOD as MIDDLEMAN and then explores all possible combinations。Somewhere along the way the author include a small paragraph about "BIT TORRENT" and DApps， in fact they can be used to get almost everything that a Blockchain does with some clever tweaking。 Not sure why the author deliberately sidelines the previous p2p revolution which bought us many great technologies like dc++， shareaza， netaza， and infact skype works on p2p tech。The author deliberately downplays this great tech to promote his Blockchain ambitions。I really wanted to slap some sense into the author at this point， because he seriously refuses to acknowledge any other tech， other than blockchain that could solve the world's problems。Whether blockchain stands the test of time or not can't be predicted by anybody accurately。 But bitcoin is here to stay much like the internet， once you see something it is impossible to unsee！ Similarly this tech will be used all over the place from tracking pets to marry your spouse over a smart contract on blockchain， but what sticks and what does not will only be decided by the free market。Until that point， this book is simply SCIENCE FICTION， and not science， or Business Fiction and not Business。 Another very interesting aspect that the author talks about in the book is THE LEARNING CURVE OF DICTATORSThe story about Sergeyevich Termen and his inventions of etherphone/thermin and how his inventions were usurped by Lenin and Stalin。Termen stumbled upon a means of making music out of thin air。 Whenever he put his hands near the metal terminals， the pitch of the signal changed。 He learned that he could manipulate the pitch by the precise position and motion of his hands。 He called his device the “etherphone，” known today as the theremin， an anglicized version of his name。 The other app was a larger-scale version of this apparatus， one that was sensitive to movement within a radius of several meters。 It was the first motion detector—sentry of the ether。 He demonstrated both of theseinstruments at the Kremlin， playing his etherphone with abandon for Comrade Lenin。 While Lenin delighted in the etherphone， he put the motion detector immediately to work in watching over the Soviet stashes of gold。 If anyone crossed the electromagnetic line around the gold， they’d set off a silent alarm。 Big Brother suddenly had electric eyes。The moral of the story is simple: Termen’s devices brought both lightand darkness to the world。 In a poignant talk， “Our Comrade the Electron，” Maciej Ceglowski pointed out these two themes in all of Termen’s inventions: as soon as they gave shape to airy nothing， they were usurped by dark forces。 Lenin even co-opted electricity in his propaganda， equating communism with Soviet power plus the electrification of the country。But， it was Stalin who rounded up Termen and his peers， threw them into the Kolyma gulag， and forced them to invent instruments of tyranny。This cautionary tale highlights what happens when rational tools created by scientists and great inventors fall into the hands of despots and irrational institutions like religious cults。Thanks to the author I also discovered about the Wassenaar Arrangementencryption technologies are either not legal for individual use or not readily available in those countries whose citizens need them most。 The Wassenaar Arrangement， a multilateral export control regime that technologically advanced nations agreed to， governs the export of “dual use” products， that is， those that could be deployed for both good and evil。 Wassenaar’s original goal was to keep high-tech products out of the hands of dictators in North Korea， Libya， Iran， and Iraq。 Anonymity and encryption technologies such as public key infrastructure were considered dual use。Today， in countries such as Russia and China， both individuals andcorporations—including foreign firms—must seek authorization to usethem。 In countries where their use is discretionary， governments—even theObama administration—have asked tech firms to include “backdooraccess，” that is， a secret means of bypassing the normal authenticationprocess （e。g。， logging on with a password or other security code） andgaining remote access to a computer and its data without authorization ordetection。 It is far more insidious than Big Brother， because at least everybody knew that Big Borther was watching。The book becomes a bit interesting towards the end！ The book is mostly repetitive， as the author goes on from one application to the other and how blockchain will revolutionize the use case like magic。The author does not care to talk about unique challenges that each of these diverse fields might pose to blockchain and how it must be morphed。 Instead he packs all the objections towards the end of the book。 While the author was running from one application to the next， it reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes story templates。 Every story has the exact same pattern of detection that Sherlock Holmes uses and the exact same cookie cutter template to create huge drama and reveal it before an audience。This book is a collection of business models - It reminds me of this book - The Business Model Innovation Factory: How to Stay Relevant When The World is Changing 。。。more
Vaishakh
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Didn't finish cover to cover。 Skimmed through many parts。 Didn't finish cover to cover。 Skimmed through many parts。 。。。more
Alisa Dicson
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This is a very interesting book that helped me understand more about how bitcoins work， how I can increase profits from buying and selling them， but I also realized that I need to use bitcoin mixers， for example https://bitmix。biz/en， in order to secure my transactions 。。。 What do you think？ This is a very interesting book that helped me understand more about how bitcoins work， how I can increase profits from buying and selling them， but I also realized that I need to use bitcoin mixers， for example https://bitmix。biz/en， in order to secure my transactions 。。。 What do you think？ 。。。more
Igor Pejic
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One of the first - and best - books to give a structured overview of #blockchain and #cryptocurrency。 A must-read relevant up to this day despite the rapid progress of the field。
Gabriel Ursan
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O carte pe care o recomand oricui doreste sa-si imbunatateasca cultura generala。 Blockchain poate fi viitorul。 Sau nu。 Cert este ca evolutia tehnologica care va schimba scena politica， sociala si culturala va exista intr-o forma sau alta。 Aceasta carte te ajuta sa-ti formezi o parere legata de cum s-ar putea ajunge in timp la altceva， ce se poate face concret cu ajutorul blockchain （atentie， am zis blockchain， nu Bitcoin） si ce nu se poate face cu ajutorul blockchain。
Mc Abert
，
I highly recommend a particular platform to everyone looking for forex， crypto and Binary trader ETH | BTC| XRP。 In this period of economic crisis， Instead of going for a loan I decided to invest in Forex/bitcoins trading with Barry Silbert， After reading a lot of good reviews about him 。 I am glad to tell you that he is the only legit trader I know。 I now make more than $6，099 a week。 He can help you earn formidable profit weekly with his good trading strategies weekly， For more details， Contac I highly recommend a particular platform to everyone looking for forex， crypto and Binary trader ETH | BTC| XRP。 In this period of economic crisis， Instead of going for a loan I decided to invest in Forex/bitcoins trading with Barry Silbert， After reading a lot of good reviews about him 。 I am glad to tell you that he is the only legit trader I know。 I now make more than $6，099 a week。 He can help you earn formidable profit weekly with his good trading strategies weekly， For more details， Contact Mr Barry Silbert on Email: Barrysilbert540@gmail 。com WhatsApp: +447508298691 。。。more
Kwinten
，
Legt blockchain goed uit。 Te veel info
Colton Connor
，
Do you know you can make $10，000 in Bitcoin mining with just investment of $1，300 Ask me How on WhatsApp:+1 （253） 316-4579
Saskia
，
Hat nicht mal einen Stern verdient。 Reine Zeitverschwendung und Selbstlob der Autoren ohne richtigen Inhalt。
Edwin A Evans
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Blockchain revolution reviewWould have appreciated more of a description of blockchain。 Lots of acronyms were confusing。 Is blockchain a platform？ If yes who programs it。 Who are the miners？ Could an equivalent platform be created with less complexity？ How do we know the miners can be trusted？ Is it long-term sustainable？ EtcMaybe this book is intended for a reader already knowledgeable in the subject
Hernán Borré
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Don Tapscott and now his son are a must for new businesses analysis。 This book a very gentle introduction to the blockchain from a non technician / developers' perspective Don Tapscott and now his son are a must for new businesses analysis。 This book a very gentle introduction to the blockchain from a non technician / developers' perspective 。。。more
Pablo Miró
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I found the book a bit confusing and hard to follow。 This is the first book I bought to learn a bit more about cryptocurrencies and I would not recommend it as an introduction。
Hans Rueckschnat
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Watch out。 This is book just predicted the next 10 years！A large amount of Theory and predictions are being made in this book。 Pretty far fetched but totally possible if permitted with the right technology。
Oliver
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This book was a slog to get through。 For every golden nugget I felt like I had to wade through chapters of name-dropping entrepreneurs， startups， and VCs。 In many places I found myself disagreeing with the author’s statements and felt claims were not backed by sufficient evidence。 On the technical side the golden nuggets for me were multi-signatory addresses， several novel consensus proofs （proof of activity and proof of burn）， and all of the Vitalik Buterin quotes。I think this book may have hel This book was a slog to get through。 For every golden nugget I felt like I had to wade through chapters of name-dropping entrepreneurs， startups， and VCs。 In many places I found myself disagreeing with the author’s statements and felt claims were not backed by sufficient evidence。 On the technical side the golden nuggets for me were multi-signatory addresses， several novel consensus proofs （proof of activity and proof of burn）， and all of the Vitalik Buterin quotes。I think this book may have helped me develop a better BS detector for blockchains， so maybe not a total loss？ Chapters discussing internet-of-things， art blockchains， and decentralized identity stores never seemed to pass the threshold to explain why a blockchain could do a better job than a simple database application。 Blockchains act as the ledger of transactions but ALSO as the statement of account balances。 For cryptocurrency you can’t separate ownership of items from the blockchain。 Meanwhile a lot of ideas presented in the book don’t follow this rule。 For example， land deeds， and intellectual property （art）， represent objects that don’t live on the ledger。 So it is easy to separate ownership from the ledger by simply stealing the physical object。All in all， I do not recommend reading this book。 Instead watch a few YouTube videos by aantonop and if you want more backstory read The Age of Cryptocurrency。 If you want to go deeper into the tech （which I do）， I think I’ll turn to reading White Papers directly， Buterin’s blog， or the O’Reilly series on Bitcoin/Ethereum。 。。。more
Francis Bamford
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Read about 70% then stopped because I felt like I stopped learning anything new after about halfway。 I’m a newbie when it comes to understanding blockchain and although some of the book was helpful in understanding the technology， I found most of the book to be hypothetical - just ideas about what blockchain COULD do for the world。
Adrian Del Barco Alcaide
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Interesante libro para aprender acerca de la cadena de bloques， como funciona y todas las nuevas posibilidades que abre a solucionar problemas de hoy en dia。 Principalmente eliminar a los “terceros”。
Andrew
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I have a good feeling that digital colonialism is going to work out even better than regular colonialism
Cody Eastgaard
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The book is packed with information。 Some chapters I found more relevant as the author goes into details around an entire world focusing on blockchain。 I’m not sure we are going to see that dramatic of a implementation。 That is why I only gave it three stars。
Evan Nordquist
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2。5 Not as nuts and bolts as I was hoping for。 It was a who's who of different blockchain projects who's time has come and gone since publishing。 I don't remember it having much in the way of practical advice to beginners nor did it dive into technical details for more tech savvy readers。 For it to do neither of those things， it seemed a bit long。 Not all bad though， I did find it interesting to see a snapshot in time of what people thought would be the killer applications in the future。 2。5 Not as nuts and bolts as I was hoping for。 It was a who's who of different blockchain projects who's time has come and gone since publishing。 I don't remember it having much in the way of practical advice to beginners nor did it dive into technical details for more tech savvy readers。 For it to do neither of those things， it seemed a bit long。 Not all bad though， I did find it interesting to see a snapshot in time of what people thought would be the killer applications in the future。 。。。more
Andrew
，
This book may of very well changed my life or at the very least my personal direction in life。Don Tapscott， in conjunction with Alex Tapscott， has seemingly identified the most impressive， to date， representation & implementation of his co-derived Wikinomics principles - the blockchain。The authors do such a magnificent job outlining what the blockchain is in respect to crypto currency whilst emphasising that it is so much more than its associated utilisation within crypto currency。It is truly a This book may of very well changed my life or at the very least my personal direction in life。Don Tapscott， in conjunction with Alex Tapscott， has seemingly identified the most impressive， to date， representation & implementation of his co-derived Wikinomics principles - the blockchain。The authors do such a magnificent job outlining what the blockchain is in respect to crypto currency whilst emphasising that it is so much more than its associated utilisation within crypto currency。It is truly a magical read， providing an intellectual pathway to the breath-taking possibilities of the future。 。。。more
Kikaliyo Kemdoshians
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Utopia
Farhan Sadeed
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 It provides a detailed understanding of Blockchain workings。 The problems related with third party intermediaries like stock exchanges， investment banks and credit card companies can be omitted by this technology。 These intermediaries not only make transactions expensive but also time consuming。Bitcoins take only 10 minutes for transferring from one account to other。 The combined processing power of Bitcoins are hundred times bigger than top 500 supercomputers of the world。Another question arose It provides a detailed understanding of Blockchain workings。 The problems related with third party intermediaries like stock exchanges， investment banks and credit card companies can be omitted by this technology。 These intermediaries not only make transactions expensive but also time consuming。Bitcoins take only 10 minutes for transferring from one account to other。 The combined processing power of Bitcoins are hundred times bigger than top 500 supercomputers of the world。Another question arose in the book about property law。 Its true that 70% people of the world have no accurate claim of their land ownings。 These problem can be solved by Etherum。 Smart contracts are small programs in Etherum's blocks。 They react to particular transactions。 Therefore， Etherum will enforce the parties involve to enforce their contracts and thus solve the property law issue。Having this technology implemented by the government， privacy could be maintained by the general public。 The book also talks widely about wealth safety and contractual agreements enforced under blockchain。 Despite the drawbacks of blockchain utilizing 100 million USD per year for maintenance， it is good to know that 16 Billion dollar（as of writing this review） is on the blockchain network。 。。。more
Carlos
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I'd recommend going through the readings of this free MIT course instead。 Classes are available on youtube as well but the substance is on the recommended readings and/or slides。 All free。https://ocw。mit。edu/courses/sloan-sch。。。 I'd recommend going through the readings of this free MIT course instead。 Classes are available on youtube as well but the substance is on the recommended readings and/or slides。 All free。https://ocw。mit。edu/courses/sloan-sch。。。 。。。more
Claudia Roth
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Thought provoking， good material。 But nowhere near going far enough in imagining what blockchain can be other than frictionless trade and removal of central authorities
Nick Ayton
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