A major cause of poverty and conflict is the failure to transform resources into capital without predation by intermediaries (e.g. government corruption, corporate mischief) in that process. As an economist and entrepreneur, I am passionate about Blockchain’s potential to plug such structural leakages.
In September 2015, more than 150 world leaders gathered at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York for the Sustainable Development Summit. That event was the launch pad for action by the international community and national governments to promote shared prosperity and well-being for all. The UN wants to end poverty by 2030. The question is how.
I first heard about Blockchain: Transforming Your Business and Our World during the Third Global Blockchain Summit held in Shanghai in September 2017. After delivering my keynote, I attended a lunch hosted by one of its sponsors. Seated next to me was one of the co-authors of this ambitious and inspirational book. We talked about ways that blockchain-based business solutions and philanthropy could address some of the world’s ‘Wicked Problems’, as the authors call them. It is in this spirit that Van Rijmenam and Ryan have approached their book. Focusing on five of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the authors suggest practical and commercially applicable blockchain-based solutions.
From the outset, this book makes explicit its intention: to identify ways that blockchain technology can solve some of the world’s more complex problems. Drawing on the cultural and philosophical forces that combined make the blockchain’s primordial soup, the authors have applied their democratic and optimistic vision of how sophisticated distributed ledger technology can be used for social good. They also make a compelling case for how it can be adapted to meet commercial and business needs. Van Rijmenam and Ryan demonstrate in each of their proposals that they are adherents to the view that sustainable development is about ensuring transparency, fair trade, independent media, and financial inclusion. Indeed, we live in times when no one on the planet is immune to fake news, corruption, identity theft, counterfeit labelling, and bad data.
Starting with a clear and relevant explanation of how blockchain technology works, each chapter in this book builds on the one before. From identity to censorship and welfare fraud to tax havens, each analysis identifies a particular problem, the traditional or incumbent attempts to solve it, and the features of blockchain technology that can be applied to achieving those solutions. It is already well established that this revolutionary technology will transform systems and processes that manage payments, identity, and supply chains. However, until this book, it has been unclear how blockchain can also be applied for social good. There is a danger that not everyone will have access to the benefits that will flow from improved security and efficiency in tracking and storing information and assets, but Van Rijmenam and Ryan spell out how blockchain will help us build a better society for all.
It is refreshing that this work can be read as both a useful resource and a call to action. For governments, professionals, businesses, industry, and academics, this book offers an insight into blockchain technology, and makes accessible some of its more complicated features. For technologists, it lends purpose to their work and articulates the often-silenced expectations of the millions of unbanked, underemployed, and displaced peoples from countries plagued by corruption, political unrest, and natural disasters. These same people represent new markets of potential consumers keen to unleash their entrepreneurial potential in the world.
Just as the UN has called upon global leaders to work together towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, this book calls upon those working to reach those Goals to think about how new technologies like blockchain can help to achieve them. I found this book to be a thorough guide to the transformative potential of blockchain technology.
Patrick M. Byrne, PhD
CEO, Overstock.com