Includes index.

Section 1. Understanding blockchain: The truth about blockchain: it will take years to transform business, but the journey begins now / Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani -- A brief history of blockchain: it's come a long way in 10 years / Vinay Gupta -- The blockchain will do to the financial system what the internet did to media: what we can learn from the evolution of another groundbreaking technology / Joichi Ito, Neha Narula, Robleh Ali -- Who controls the blockchain: no one, and everyone, by design / Patrick Murck -- How safe are blockchains? it depends: the security issues are different in public and private networks / Allison Berke -- What blockchain can't do: someone needs to verify the link between digital records and physical objects / Catherine Tucker and Christian Catalani -- Section 2. Blockchain and business: How blockchain is changing finance: it could reduce friction and costs / Alex Tapscott and Don Tapscott -- As cryptocurrencies rise, who needs banks?: it's a tough time to be a middleman / Antonio Fatás and Beatrice Weder di Mauro -- The hidden costs of initial coin offerings: ICOs are often at odds with how risky ventures are usually funded / Jeffrey Bussgang and Ramana Nanda -- Global supply chains are about to get better, thanks to blockchain: we'll be able to track goods between companies and across borders / Michael J. Casey and Pindar Wong -- What blockchain means for the sharing economy: the role of platforms will become less important / Primavera De Filippi -- How blockchain can help marketers build better relationships with their customers: for one, the technology can cut down on spam and fraud / Campbell R. Harvey, Christine Moorman, and Marc Toledo -- Blockchain could help artists profit more from their creative works: movie studios and record companies should take note / Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott -- Section 3. The future of blockchain: Does your idea actually require blockchain?: what Chinese #MeToo activism teaches us about data integrity / Catherine Tucker and Yudan Pang -- How regulation could help cryptocurrencies grow: entrepreneurs sit on the sidelines for fear of innocently running afoul of the law / Stephen J. Obie and Mark W. Rasmussen -- Using blockchain to keep public data public: information is under attack / Brian Forde -- Blockchain will help us prove our identities in a digital world: and the benefits will accrue to all rungs of society / Michael Mainelli -- Making cryptocurrency more environmentally sustainable: in one year, blockchain activity used more power than 159 individual nations / Marc Blinder.

Can blockchain solve your biggest business problem? While news outlets are transfixed with Bitcoin's latest swings, your most forward-looking competitors are tuning out the noise and quietly making key bets on blockchain. They're effortlessly tracking every last link in their supply chains. They're making bureaucratic paper trails obsolete while keeping their customers' data safer. And they're imagining new ways to use this next foundational technology to sustain their competitive advantage. What should you be doing right now to ensure that your business is poised for success? These articles by blockchain experts and consultants will help you understand today's most essential thinking on what blockchain is capable of now, how to adopt it in your organization, and how the technology is likely to be used in the near future and beyond. Blockchain: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review will help you spearhead important conversations, get going on the right blockchain initiatives in your company, and capitalize on the opportunity of the coming blockchain wave. Catch up on current topics and deepen your understanding of them with the Insights You Need series from Harvard Business Review. Featuring some of HBR's best and most recent thinking, Insights You Need titles are both a primer on today's most pressing issues and an extension of the conversation, with interesting research, interviews, case studies, and practical ideas to help you explore how a particular issue will impact your company and what it will mean for you and your business.-- Provided by publisher