Blockchain


Book Description

Can blockchain solve your biggest business problem? While the world is transfixed by bitcoin mania, your competitors are tuning out the noise and making strategic bets on blockchain. Your rivals are effortlessly tracking every last link in their supply chains. They're making bureaucratic paper trails obsolete while keeping their customers' data safer and discovering new ways to use this next foundational technology to sustain their competitive advantage. What should you be doing with blockchain now to ensure that your business is poised for success? "Blockchain: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review" brings you today's most essential thinking on blockchain, explains how to get the right initiatives started at your company, and prepares you to seize the opportunity of the coming blockchain wave. Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind? Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company's future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR's smartest thinking on fast-moving issues--blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more--each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organization needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow. You can't afford to ignore how these issues will transform the landscape of business and society. The Insights You Need series will help you grasp these critical ideas--and prepare you and your company for the future.




Crypto: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review


Book Description

The crypto era has arrived, and business will never be the same. Real applications of crypto technology are growing exponentially: cryptocurrency payments are moving frictionlessly across borders; NFTs are generating real value for creators and consumers alike; and new blockchain-enabled business models are being built around decentralized finance and Web3. What do you and your company need to know and do today to create new opportunities and avoid disruption? Crypto: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review will show you how innovative organizations of all kinds are embracing decentralized technology, reinventing themselves, and thriving in the new age of crypto. Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind? Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company's future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR's smartest thinking on fast-moving issues—blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more—each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organization needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow. You can't afford to ignore how these issues will transform the landscape of business and society. The Insights You Need series will help you grasp these critical ideas—and prepare you and your company for the future.




Kings of Crypto


Book Description

"Tech writer Roberts debuts with a page-turning account of the rise of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase from the Y Combinator startup incubator to becoming a 'pillar of the larger crypto economy.'" — Publisher's Weekly For a moment late in 2018, one bitcoin, which physically amounts to a few electrons blipping on a tiny bit of silicon, was worth $20,000—the same as a pound of gold. Libertarian technologists who believed bitcoin would be the foundation of a new world order saw the moment as an apotheosis. Everyone else saw a bubble. Everyone else was right, and the bubble burst. But bitcoin survived, and the battle for its soul rages on. Kings of Crypto drops us into the unfolding drama, tracing the rise, fall, and rebirth of cryptocurrency through the experiences of major players across the globe. We follow Silicon Valley entrepreneur Brian Armstrong and the turbulent rocket ride of his startup, Coinbase, as he tries to take bitcoin mainstream while fighting off hackers, thieves, and zealots. Author Jeff John Roberts keenly observes the world of virtual currencies and what happens when startups try to disrupt the world of high finance. Clear explanations of crypto technology are woven into an amazing landscape full of meme-fueled startup hijinks, hacking (so much hacking!), shady investors, government investigations, billionaire bros and their Lambos, and closed-door meetings with Jamie Dimon. This is the surprising story of the origins of cryptocurrency and how it is changing money forever.




Cybersecurity


Book Description

No data is completely safe. Cyberattacks on companies and individuals are on the rise and growing not only in number but also in ferocity. And while you may think your company has taken all the precautionary steps to prevent an attack, no individual, company, or country is safe. Cybersecurity can no longer be left exclusively to IT specialists. Improving and increasing data security practices and identifying suspicious activity is everyone's responsibility, from the boardroom to the break room. Cybersecurity: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review brings you today's most essential thinking on cybersecurity, from outlining the challenges to exploring the solutions, and provides you with the critical information you need to prepare your company for the inevitable hack. The lessons in this book will help you get everyone in your organization on the same page when it comes to protecting your most valuable assets. Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind? Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company's future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR's smartest thinking on fast-moving issues--blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more--each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organization needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow. You can't afford to ignore how these issues will transform the landscape of business and society. The Insights You Need series will help you grasp these critical ideas--and prepare you and your company for the future.




Blockchain for Business


Book Description

The Pragmatic Guide to Driving Value and Disrupting Markets with Blockchain "Blockchain’s potential to transform businesses has generated a tremendous amount of excitement across industries. However, it can be difficult for decision makers to develop a practical approach to blockchain for their specific business requirements. By identifying and clearly describing the value of blockchain for enterprises, as well as the processes required to harness blockchain to achieve business objectives, Blockchain for Business presents a startlingly concise yet comprehensive roadmap for business leaders. This book is an excellent resource for anyone looking to leverage blockchain to transform their business." —Dr. Won-Pyo Hong, President & CEO of Samsung SDS “Much has been written about blockchain in the past few years: what it is and what it is not (at various levels of detail), as well as the technology’s long-term strategic value for companies, industries, and economies. However, what we’ve been missing is a practical, operational, ‘how to’ set of steps for creating, implementing, and operating a blockchain-based solution. This book aims to fill that gap. It’s an invaluable tool for anyone ready to take the plunge and start taking advantage of this remarkable technology.” —Irving Wladawsky-Berger, research affiliate, MIT; columnist, WSJ CIO Journal; VP Emeritus, IBM "I will never be able to adequately express how useful this book will be to my class. In addition the great chapters on cybersecurity, I loved the Integration Models, especially 'Coexistence with Systems of Record.' Legacy integration with Blockchain is a critical barrier, and you nailed it!" —Thomas Doty, JD, LLM - Adjunct Professor, University of New Hampshire Law Blockchain enables enterprises to reinvent processes and business models and to pursue radically disruptive applications. Blockchain for Business is a concise, accessible, and pragmatic guide to both the technology and the opportunities it creates. Authored by three experts from IBM’s Enterprise Blockchain practice, it introduces industry-specific and cross-industry use cases, and reviews best-practice approaches to planning and delivering blockchain projects. With a relentless focus on real-world business outcomes, the authors reveal what blockchain can do, what it can’t do yet, and where it’s headed. Understand five elements that make blockchain so disruptive: transparency, immutability, security, consensus, and smart contracts Explore key use cases: cross-border payments, food and drug safety, provenance, trade finance, clinical trials, land registries, and more See how trusted blockchain networks are facilitating entirely new business models Compare blockchain types: permissioned, permissionless, private, public, federated, and hybrid Anticipate key technical, business, regulatory, and governance challenges Build blockchain financial models, investment rubrics, and risk frameworks Organize and manage teams to transform blockchain plans into reality Whether you’re a senior decision maker, technical professional, customer, or investor, Blockchain for Business will help you cut through the hype and objectively assess blockchain’s potential in your business. Register your product for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available.




The Business Blockchain


Book Description

The definitive pioneering blueprint covering the what, why and how of the blockchain. Blockchains are new technology layers that rewire the Internet and threaten to side-step older legacy constructs and centrally served businesses. At its core, a blockchain injects trust into the network, cutting off some intermediaries from serving that function and creatively disrupting how they operate. Metaphorically, blockchains are the ultimate non-stop computers. Once launched, they never go down, and offer an incredible amount of resiliency, making them dependable and attractive for running a new generation of decentralized services and software applications. The Business Blockchain charts new territory in advancing our understanding of the blockchain by unpacking its elements like no other before. William Mougayar anticipates a future that consists of thousands, if not millions of blockchains that will enable not only frictionless value exchange, but also a new flow of value, redefining roles, relationships, power and governance. In this book, Mougayar makes two other strategic assertions. First, the blockchain has polymorphic characteristics; its application will result in a multiplicity of effects. Second, we shouldn’t ask ourselves what problems the blockchain solves, because that gives us a narrow view on its potential. Rather, we should imagine new opportunities, and tackle even more ambitious problems that cross organizational, regulatory and mental boundaries. Drawing on 34 years of technology industry experience as an executive, analyst, consultant, entrepreneur, startup mentor, author, blogger, educator, thought leader and investor, William Mougayar describes a future that is influenced by fundamental shifts brought by blockchain technology as the catalyst for change. William Mougayar has been described as the most sophisticated blockchain business thinker. He is a blockchain industry insider whose work has already shaped and influenced the understanding of blockchain for people around the world, via his generous blogging and rigorous research insights. He is a direct participant in the crypto-technology market, working alongside startups, entrepreneurs, pioneers, leaders, innovators, creators, enterprise executives and practitioners; in addition to being an investor, advisor, and board member in some of the leading organizations in this space, such as the Ethereum Foundation, OpenBazaar and Coin Center. Just as the Internet created new possibilities that we didn’t foresee in its early years, the blockchain will give rise to new business models and ideas that may still be invisible. Following an engaging Foreword by Vitalik Buterin, this book is organized along these 7 chapters: 1. What is the Blockchain? 2. How Blockchain Trust Infiltrates 3. Obstacles, Challenges & Mental Blocks 4. Blockchain in Financial Services 5. Lighthouse Industries & New Intermediaries 6. Implementing Blockchain Technology 7. Decentralization as the Way Forward The Business Blockchain is an invitation for technologists to better understand the business potential of the blockchain, and for business minded people to grasp the many facets of blockchain technology. This book teaches you how to think about the blockchain.




The Future of Work: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review


Book Description

The future is here. How is your organization responding? Amid the turbulence of a global pandemic, worldwide social justice movements, and accelerated digital transformation, one thing is clear—work will no longer be the same. Employees now expect a flexible, inclusive workplace and a deeper connection to their employer. Organizations must commit to doing good for their people and communities. What should you and your company be doing to adapt? The Future of Work: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review will provide you with today's most essential thinking about creating a work-from-anywhere organization, harnessing AI as part of your team, creating an inclusive culture, and building a purpose-driven organization. Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind? Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company's future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR's smartest thinking on fast-moving issues—blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more—each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organization needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow. You can't afford to ignore how these issues will transform the landscape of business and society. The Insights You Need series will help you grasp these critical ideas—and prepare you and your company for the future.




Token Economy


Book Description

This is the second edition of the book Token Economy originally published in June 2019. The basic structure of this second edition is the same as the first edition, with slightly updated content of existing chapters and four additional chapters: "User-Centric Identities," "Privacy Tokens," "Lending Tokens," and How to Design a Token System and more focus on the Web3. //Part one outlines the fundamental building blocks of the Web3, including the role of cryptography and user-centric digital identities. Part two explains Web3 applications like smart contracts, DAOs & tokens. The last two parts of the book focus on tokens as the atomic unit of the Web3, explaining the properties and functions of money and outlining the emerging field of decentralized finance (DeFi) that might power a potential future digital barter economy. Use cases such as asset tokens, purpose driven tokens, BAT (Basic Attention Token), social media tokens (Steemit, Hive and Reddit), privacy tokens, and stable tokens are explored, including the role of CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) and Facebook's Libra.//Tokens - often referred to as cryptocurrencies - can represent anything from an asset to an access right, such as gold, diamonds, a fraction of a Picasso painting or an entry ticket to a concert. Tokens could also be used to reward social media contributions, incentivize the reduction of CO2 emissions, or even ones attention for watching an ad. While it has become easy to create a token, which is collectively managed by a public Web3 infrastructure like a blockchain network, the understanding of how to apply these tokens is still vague. This book attempts to summarize existing knowledge about blockchain networks and other distributed ledgers as the backbone of the Web3, and contextualize the socio-economic implications of the Web3 applications such as smart contracts, tokens, and DAOs to the concepts of money, economics, governance and decentralized finance (DeFi).//The industry keeps referring to “Blockchain” as different from “Bitcoin,” creating an artificial divide that is often misleading. There seems to be too little understanding about the fact that Bitcoin is a blockchain network, which is (a) globally managed by people who mostly do not know each other, and (b) enabled by the consensus protocol that (c) incentivizes all network actors for their contributions with a native token. The governance rules are tied to the minting of a native blockchain token. The Bitcoin token can, therefore, be seen as the currency of a distributed Internet tribe, called the Bitcoin network, where network actors are rewarded with Bitcoins, just as the Ether is the currency of the distributed Internet tribe Ethereum network, or Sia is the native currency of the Sia network. The Bitcoin network and other distributed ledgers all represent a collectively maintained public infrastructure and are the backbone of the next generation Internet, what the crypto community refers to as the Web3.




Web3: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review


Book Description

Web3 may be the next big disrupter in business. Don't be caught unprepared. Blockchain and crypto aren't just for speculators anymore—they're the backbone of the rising decentralized internet. Web3 has the potential to rewrite the past decade's rules: monopolies may be shattered, the web could be remade, and an entirely new breed of products and services will likely emerge. Where does your business fit in? Web3: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review will show you how today's most innovative organizations are choosing Web3, experimenting with their brands, evaluating their risks, and preparing to win in the newer, better internet age. Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind? Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company's future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR's smartest thinking on fast-moving issues—blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more—each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organization needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow. You can't afford to ignore how these issues will transform the landscape of business and society. The Insights You Need series will help you grasp these critical ideas—and prepare you and your company for the future.




Racial Justice: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review


Book Description

Seize this moment to advance racial justice at your organization. In the wake of widespread anti-racism demonstrations across the world, many companies have spoken out forcefully. They've made unprecedented commitments to equity and launched ad campaigns and task forces to counter racism, especially anti-Black racism. But now comes the real test—harnessing the energy of this moment to further and sustain change for the better. Racial Justice: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review will help you combat racism and bias throughout your company, revitalize your diversity and inclusion efforts, and lead the conversations necessary to bring your organization a step closer to racial equity. Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind? Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company's future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR's smartest thinking on fast-moving issues—blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more—each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organization needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow. You can't afford to ignore how these issues will transform the landscape of business and society. The Insights You Need series will help you grasp these critical ideas—and prepare you and your company for the future.