How Will Blockchain Change Banking? How Won't It?

Editor's Note: This article was first published in American Banker, and is an adapted excerpt from the Tapscott's recently released book 'Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World.'

Our global financial system moves trillions of dollars, serves billions of customers and supports a global economy worth more than $100 trillion. Imagine what it could do, were it not in such shoddy condition. It is antiquated, a kludge of industrial technologies and paper-based processes dressed up in a digital wrapper. It is centralized, vulnerable to data breaches, systems failure and terrorist attack. It is exclusive, denying billions of people access to basic financial tools. It is opaque, baffling monetary policy makers and financial regulators, thanks to the compartmentalization of oversight. And it is monopolistic, lobbying for the status quo and stifling disruptive innovation.

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