TY - JOUR T1 - Anticipating the Economic Benefits of Blockchain JF - Technology Innovation Management Review Y1 - 2017 A1 - Melanie Swan KW - blockchain KW - cryptocurrencies KW - cryptoeconomics KW - cybersecurity KW - digital asset registries KW - digital goods KW - distributed ledgers KW - economics KW - eWallet KW - lightning network KW - long tail markets KW - payment channels KW - programmable money KW - smart assets KW - smart contracts KW - streaming money AB - In this general overview article intended for non-experts, I define blockchain technology and some of the key concepts, and then I elaborate four specific applications that highlight the potential economic benefits of digital ledgers. These applications are digital asset registries, blockchains as leapfrog technology for global financial inclusion, long-tail personalized economic services, and net settlement payment channels. I also highlight key challenges that offset the potential economic benefits of blockchain distributed ledgers, while arguing that the benefits would outweigh the potential risks. The overarching theme is that an increasing amount of everyday operations involving money, assets, and documents could start to be conducted via blockchain-based distributed network ledgers with cryptographic security, and at more granular levels of detail. One economic implication of widespread blockchain adoption is that the institutional structure of society could shift to one that is computationally-based and thus has a diminished need for human-operated brick-and-mortar institutions. PB - Talent First Network CY - Ottawa VL - 7 UR - http://timreview.ca/article/1102 IS - 10 U1 - Purdue University Melanie Swan is a technology theorist in the Philosophy Department at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States. She is the author of the best-selling book Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy (2015), which has been translated into six languages. She is the founder of several startups including the Institute for Blockchain Studies, DIYgenomics, GroupPurchase, and the MS Futures Group. Ms. Swan's educational background includes an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Contemporary Continental Philosophy from Kingston University London and Université Paris 8, and a BA in French and Economics from Georgetown University. She is a faculty member at Singularity University and the University of the Commons, an Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and an invited contributor to the Edge's Annual Essay Question. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial: Blockchain (October 2017) JF - Technology Innovation Management Review Y1 - 2017 A1 - Chris McPhee A1 - Anton Ljutic KW - authentication KW - Bitcoin KW - blockchain KW - cryptography KW - digital identity KW - economics KW - healthcare KW - internal audit KW - services KW - smart contracts KW - transactions KW - trust PB - Talent First Network CY - Ottawa VL - 7 UR - http://timreview.ca/article/1108 IS - 10 U1 - Technology Innovation Management Review Chris McPhee is Editor-in-Chief of the Technology Innovation Management Review. Chris holds an MASc degree in Technology Innovation Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and BScH and MSc degrees in Biology from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. He has nearly 20 years of management, design, and content-development experience in Canada and Scotland, primarily in the science, health, and education sectors. As an advisor and editor, he helps entrepreneurs, executives, and researchers develop and express their ideas. U2 - Anton Ljutic is a futurologist with many interests, having been a professional musician in Germany, a programmer at IBM Rome, a professor of Economics and an early Internet telecommunications enthusiast and consultant in Montreal, a Head of the Government of Canada’s IT Security Learning Centre, and the founder and chair of the government’s Interdepartmental Committee on Security Training. He was founder and editor in the early 1990s of one of the earliest Internet ezines, Glosas News. He is a member of Blockchain Association of Canada (BAC) and a believer in political and economic decentralization through blockchain. He holds a Master of Arts degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Diploma in Economics from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Smart Contract Relations in e-Commerce: Legal Implications of Exchanges Conducted on the Blockchain JF - Technology Innovation Management Review Y1 - 2017 A1 - Philippa Ryan KW - blockchain KW - law KW - legal KW - online transactions KW - reputation KW - smart contracts KW - trust AB - Much of the discussion around blockchain-based smart contracts has focused on whether or not they operate in the same way as legal contracts. However, it is argued that most contracts are social rather than legal in nature and are entered into because the parties trust each other to perform the agreed exchange. Little has been written to address how the blockchain’s trust protocol can enable the kind of social contracting that characterized the way exchanges were conducted before the Internet. This article aims to fill that gap by exploring blockchain-based smart contracts primarily as non-contractual social exchanges. PB - Talent First Network CY - Ottawa VL - 7 UR - http://timreview.ca/article/1110 IS - 10 U1 - University of Technology Sydney Philippa (Pip) Ryan is a Barrister and Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. Her PhD reclassified the liability of third parties to a breach of trust. Her current research explores contracts and trustless relationships enabled by blockchain technology. Pip designed and coordinates legal technology subjects and in conjunction with the UTS Connected Intelligence Centre, she is developing writing analysis software to improve students’ self-assessments. She is on the industry advisory board of the Australian Digital Commerce Association, she is the Deputy Chair of the Australian Computer Society’s Blockchain Technical Committee, and she is a member of the Standards Australia Blockchain Technical Committee. ER -