Can Canada Unlock Its Blockchain Potential?

In the early days of the Internet, there was much skepticism as to its utility, even while those in the vanguard promoted its revolutionary potential.

Ultimately, a community of entrepreneurs and programmers, with government funding, and later with private capital, brought the Internet to the world. Blockchain, the technology powering Bitcoin and other "cryptocurrencies," is generating similar reactions.

Originally driven by "crypto-anarchists," the open source development movement and technologically savvy investors, blockchain has the power to disrupt entire industries (including financial services) or even create the basis for a new peer-to-peer internet. Further to that, blockchain has the potential to more broadly distribute the economic benefits of a successful technology by rewarding the users of the services, not just the early investors in a venture.