Thursday, March 2, 2017

Christian Catalini — How Blockchain Applications Will Move Beyond Finance

In their seminal work on the theory of the firm, Michael Jensen and William Meckling defined the firm as a “nexus of contracts” — the idea that firms are nothing more than a collection of contracts between various parties, such as employees, customers, and shareholders. Cryptocurrencies may one day enable a completely new type of organization by allowing us to securely transfer value and allocate resources through smart contracts. Whereas this new type of organization may achieve the speed and efficiency of a spot market, it may be able to replicate the complex forms of governance required to execute the complex tasks that take place today within the boundaries of a firm. Combined with advances in machine learning, this breakthrough technology will shape the flow of capital, labor, and ideas for decades to come.
Good summary of present applications of blockchain technology in finance and speculation on future uses beyond finance.

Harvard Business Review
How Blockchain Applications Will Move Beyond Finance
Christian Catalini | Fred Kayne (1960) Career Development Professor of Entrepreneurship and Assistant Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management

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