Blockchain Revolution

1. Conviction: a belief about the world and what needs to be done to create
value or change things.
2. Purpose: its reason for existence. Why are we creating this enterprise in the
first place?
3. Constitution: outlines the overall objectives of the enterprise and the rules
by which it will create value.
4. Modus operandi: for example, how it will go about creating this value.
How it will fund itself—through crowdfunding, traditional early-stage
investment, or using revenue. How it will acquire resources.
5. Division of labor between humans and technology: for the foreseeable
future, perhaps humans should be in charge.
6. Application functions: how the enterprise will sense and respond to
changing conditions.

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7. Moral guidelines: Google’s promise to “Do No Evil” is not going to be
good enough. The DAE needs some clear guidelines about what is and isn’t
acceptable behavior.
There may not be a distributed autonomous enterprise in your near future, but the
thinking behind these new entities can inform your business strategizing today. With
the rise of a global peer-to-peer platform for identity, trust, reputation, and
transactions, we can finally re-architect the deep structures of the firm for innovation,
shared value creation, and perhaps even prosperity for the many, rather than just
wealth for the few. Now you have at least seven emerging business models that could
help you shake some windows and rattle some doors in your industry while
distributing wealth more democratically.
Overall, smart companies will work hard to participate fully in the blockchain
economy rather than play its victims. In the developing world, the distribution of
value creation (through entrepreneurship) and value participation (through distributed
ownership of the firm) may hold a key to reconciling the prosperity paradox. Our
story becomes even more interesting when you consider that billions of agents will be
embedded in the physical world. Which takes us to the next chapter.

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A
CHAPTER 6
THE LEDGER OF THINGS:
ANIMATING THE PHYSICAL WORLD
power pole collapses at eight o’clock on a hot night in the remote outback of
Australia. This is a problem for William and Olivia Munroe, who raise sheep and
cattle one hundred miles outside the old gold mining town of Laverton, on the edge of
the Great Victoria Desert.
1
In the summer, the temperature frequently soars close to
120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9°C). Their children, Peter and Lois, attend school via
satellite link, the family’s only means of accessing health services in case of illness or
emergency. Although the Munroes have a backup generator, it can’t power the water
pumps, communications, and air-conditioning for long. In short, the lives of the
Munroe family depend entirely upon reliable energy.
At daybreak, nine hours later, the power utility sends out a team to find and fix
the downed pole. Customer complaints give the company an idea of where the break
occurred, but the team takes more than a day to identify, reach, and fix the pole.
Meanwhile, the Munroes and nearby residents, businesses, and institutions go without
power and connectivity at considerable inconvenience, economic impact, and physical
risk. In the outback, blackouts are not just paralyzing; they’re dangerous. To minimize
these hazards, at great expense the company deploys teams of inspectors to check the
extensive network regularly for downed or deteriorating poles.
Imagine how much safer, easier, and cheaper it would be if each power pole were
a smart thing. It could report its own status and trigger actions for replacement or
repair. If a pole caught fire or began to tip or fall for any reason, it would generate an
incident report in real time and notify a repair crew to come with the appropriate
equipment to the precise location. Meanwhile, the pole could potentially reassign its
responsibilities to the nearest working pole. After all, they’re all on the grid. The
utility could restore power to the community more quickly without the huge ongoing
costs of field inspection.

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