Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies is Changing the World

by Don Tapscott

To Masters, “permissioned ledgers have the advantage of never exposing a regulated financial institution to the risk of either transacting with an unknown party, an unacceptable activity from a regulatory point of view, or creating a dependency upon an unknown service provider such as a transaction processor, also unacceptable from a regulatory point of view.”32 These permissioned blockchains, or private chains, appeal to traditional financial institutions wary of bitcoin and everything associated with it. While Blythe Masters is the CEO of a start-up, her keen interest represents broader involvement of traditional financial actors in this sector. This embrace of new technology reflects a growing concern that tech start-ups can also upend high finance. For Eric Piscini of Deloitte, whose clients have undergone a great awakening over the past year, the “sudden interest in tech was not something that anyone was expecting.”33 The enthusiasm is spreading like a contagion into some of the largest and oldest financial institutions in the world.