The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Blockchain And Smart Contracts

The blockchain is fast becoming a symbol of the fourth industrial revolution. After steam, electricity and computing, this is the term coined by Davos founder Klaus Schwab for the deep digital transformation that Schwab says is now upon us. It is heralded as the next big disruptor, it's got geeks and banks in a tizzy, but as yet there's little mainstream evidence of major impact.

So what is the blockchain? The analogy is the finance director's (FD) sales ledger. It's a comprehensive, always up-to-date accounting record of who holds what or who transferred what to whom. The 'what' in the blockchain is pretty much anything that can be recorded – physical assets like diamonds (blockchain is used by Everledger to certify origination of 900,000 diamonds) and land (where blockchain will be a factor in the upcoming sale of the Land Registry) as well as intangibles like electronic cash (the rationale of Bitcoin, the blockchain's orginator), transactions in securities,