More than Money: Get the Gist on bitcoins, blockchains, & smart contracts
Strategic Questions
The following questions were auto-extracted by Shaping Tomorrow’s system the same way the Forecasts were, and like the Forecasts each question includes a hyperlink to its source. Some of the sources will supply an answer to the question, but some will not. These questions represent some of the issues surrounding cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and smart contracts. Answer them as best you can for your own organization before clicking the links to deepen your understanding.
Cryptocurrencies
- What might push blockchain and cryptocurrencies in general, into the mainstream?
- What new features should be in cryptocurrency in order for it to succeed?
- What do you think will happen to Bitcoin when the next big recession hits?
- Is this about substituting bitcoin or some other virtual currency for the U.S. dollar [as the dominant currency standard]?
- Why is bitcoin adoption slow among the unbanked billions?
- How do we exchange different currencies or other financial instruments between blockchains denominated in different currencies?
Blockchain
- How will the constructs and systems created to handle civil litigation adapt to bitcoin and the blockchain?
- What happens when blockchain startups stop worrying about regulatory compliance and start intersecting with existing "real-life" systems?
- Will the modes of future media distribution also be decentralized on the blockchain?
- How could nation-states vote on blockchain based voting systems?
- How could blockchain disrupt or transform your competitor/supplier/customer operations?
- How big a threat could blockchain pose to human workers whose roles can be automated away as excess "middle men"?
- Where might new sources of unexpected risk emerge in a "blockchain world" that is still in its infancy and so poorly understood by all but a small group of pioneers and enthusiasts?
Smart Contracts
- How should regulators control an automated process that happens on numerous anonymous computers?
- Who is actually in charge, responsible, or accountable for smart contract operations?
- Will these mountains of chattering smart things liberate and elevate humanity or leave us device-dependent and drowning in complexity?
- How can companies leverage automation and smart technologies to improve productivity and create more meaningful and engaging work where employees "race with—not against—machines"?
Distributed Autonomous Organizations
- If their resources cannot be seized (since DAOs have full sovereignty over them) how can they be required to pay damages?
- If you used a DAO, what clauses could you include that hedge against the uncertainty of a potentially untrustworthy party?
- Should DAOs try to maintain balances in other currencies, or should they only reward behavior by issuing their own internal token?
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