Why it deserves the attention it gets
It would be easy to dismiss the current excitement about blockchain as hype.
But that might be unwise: the scale of its potential impact on our working lives is so great that management accountants and other business leaders must be alert to its potential and take it seriously. Regulators across the world, such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), are taking a close and growing interest in blockchain. But why?
Blockchain is the distributed ledger technology that underpins bitcoin, the best known of the world’s cryptocurrencies.
“Why are regulators across the world taking such a close and growing interest in blockchain?”
Cryptocurrencies are stateless and unregulated. They can be used to trade in contraband or illegal goods on the dark web, as well as for fraud, money laundering or tax evasion. Speculative investment in cryptocurrencies could also result in big losses for ill-informed investors. However, special features of the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin provide reassurance: while investors and regulators may worry about a holding’s value, they should have no concerns about its validity.
These special features of blockchain are what give it such significant potential as a defining technology of tomorrow.
