Again participating in the latest issue of CFOworld, number 47. This time, I’m sharing my opinions and thoughts on the blockchain and more so why it deserves attention from CFOs and likes.

I’m guessing that Bitcoin has impacted negatively on the pace of innovation around the blockchain for corporate enterprises. As the currency has been so intimately associated with if not criminal but at least gray zone activities on the internet. However, in the article I’m argumenting for that the blockchain is a big-bang disruption on the way business is conducted and value is traded, where among other things the middleman (often a bank) can be replaced by the distributed ledger. This will improve both security as well as drive both operational efficiency, innovation and revenue.

The potential usability for blockchain technology goes far beyond the financial sector, and some interesting examples where the blockchain could be (and in some cases already are) useful would be medical records, gambling and betting, insurance policies, voting, peer-to-peer lending, authentication both physical and M2M, history and legacy of goods and valuables, property registries, grades and exams and the list goes on.

I’m not a huge believer in Bitcoin as a currency, however I’m confident that blockchain represent for value what streaming was for TV and music, enabling wholly new business models and ecosystems to arise. The whole C-suite, and not less so CFOs, need to be on top of the technology within their respective domains to start understanding, testing, strategizing and transforming their organizations. This to not risk lagging behind and not being able to provide a clear answer what the strategy on blockchain is when the question arises in the boardroom.

The full article (in Swedish) from CFOworld #47 can be read online here, or translated here.

Image credit: Duncan Rawlinson @ Flickr