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

by Don Tapscott

These are all components of the blockchain economy because they use blockchain technology and often cryptocurrencies as their foundation. Smart contracts (discussed in the last chapter) are the most basic form: they involve some complexity that requires human involvement, increasingly in the form of multisignature agreements. As smart contracts grow in complexity and interoperate with other contracts, they can contribute to what we call open networked enterprises (ONEs). If we combine ONEs with autonomous agents—software that makes decisions and acts on them without human intervention—we get what we’re calling a distributed autonomous enterprise that requires little or no traditional management or hierarchy to generate customer value and owner wealth. And we think that very large numbers of people, thousands or millions, might be able to collaborate in creating a venture and sharing in the wealth it creates—distributing, rather than redistributing, wealth.