More than Money: Get the Gist on bitcoins, blockchains, & smart contracts

Preface

What is a Gist report?

Gist reports provide a brief overview of the current and future status of each topic and are intended to help readers quickly and conveniently appraise the future of an issue. Each 5 to 10-page Gist report includes an introduction to the topic, a literature review using our auto-extracted Forecasts, and our own method of analysis. The Gists quickly and conveniently get every team member on the same page so that meetings may be conducted more efficiently and with deeper insight. The Gists then become a launching pad for organizations to develop their own analysis and strategy.

Methodology

Shaping Tomorrow’s system is able to add sources to it database automatically depending on the sources and key search terms specified by Shaping Tomorrow’s users. The system then auto-extracts any forecasts from the sources. As users search these Forecasts, the system can summarize the Forecasts to simplify their research. Shaping Tomorrow has extracted more than 105,000 Forecasts (one-sentence, future relevant statements) out of Shaping Tomorrow’s 125,000+ Insights (sources). Shaping Tomorrow offers clients the service of searching these Forecasts at their convenience giving clients greater flexibility for strategy development. The Forecasts used for this Gist were summarized to indicate the future of cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and smart contracts. The Forecasts were then paraphrased and edited for reader convenience. An introduction was then added to clarify terms, explain the current changes in the market, and pinpoint the implications. A brief baseline scenario is also provided to add perspective for how the technology could evolve long term. The report ends with strategic questions, also automatically extracted by Shaping Tomorrow, to give insight for the questions already being discussed online.