Book Description

Besides love, money and health are the most valuable human yearnings. Therefore, blockchain technology is paramount: a new foundation of confidence for human valuable transactions. Like information sharing was catalyzed on the pre-blockchain internet, transactions are now triggered on the new internet of value. In this second digital inflection point, economic media encompasses value beside information, and individuals can privately transact digital assets for the first time in history. Decentralized but structured organizations running on blockchain networks reduce transaction costs and are particularly competitive insofar as they guarantee data authenticity, confidentiality, and integrity, providing functional autonomy with disintermediation and smart contracts. Everything changed after user data were made public on the internet and privately traded by big tech companies, and nothing will be the same once that data is made private on the internet and publicly transacted by their rightful owners. While the internet of information reshaped the world, the internet of value will reform it, and everything will depend politically on this being done freely. Political and Economic Implications of Blockchain Technology in Business and Healthcare provides relevant theoretical frameworks on the civilizational impact of blockchain technology, which redesigns human interactions concerning value transactions. It gives ideas, concepts, and instruments to advance the knowledge on cryptoeconomics and decentralized governance in the new distributed trust paradigm. The chapters explore the ethical repercussions and profound political-economic consequences to society, providing insights into business applications focusing on the healthcare sector. In a blockchain era affected by the post-COVID-19 new normal, which mixes politics, economics, and health, this book is essential for students and researchers in social and life sciences; professionals and policymakers working in the fields of public and business administration; and healthcare workers and researchers, academicians, and students interested in blockchain technology and its political and economic impacts in the industry and society.