Although most of blockchain's success over the past decade
has been linked to crypto-currencies, distributed ledger technology
is poised to move into mainstream applications. As we adapt to a
long-term period of social distancing, the paradigm in which
technology evolves has been upended, and every member of society
has had to quickly find new technology-based solutions to
accomplish tasks previously taken for granted. In the coming
decade, technology will shift from automating and replacing manual
labor to replacing routine cognitive work, and blockchain is poised
to be a key driver of the "fourth industrial
revolution."
The paradigm shift into the "fourth industrial
revolution" was first postulated by Klaus Schwab in a 2015
article published by Foreign Affairs. It references evolution in
the way we live, work and relate to one another, enabled by
extraordinary technology advances. According to Schwab, these
advances are merging the physical, digital and biological
