A Multistakeholder Approach to the Stewardship of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

1. Realizing the Potential
of Blockchain
A Multistakeholder Approach to the Stewardship
of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
June 2017
Authors:
Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott
Source:
https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/reali
zing-the-potential-of-blockchain

2. Contents
RB

3. Preface
RB

4. Executive Summary
RB

5. The Blockchain as a new Global Resource
RB

6. New Thinking in How to Steward a Global Resource:
The Internet as a Case Study
RB

7. Blockchain Governance Challenge
RB

8. Blockchain Governance Challenge
1. Stewardship of platforms
RB

9. Blockchain Governance Challenge
2. Stewardship of applications
RB

10. Blockchain Governance Challenge
3. Stewardship of the ecosystem as a whole
RB

11. The Players in the Blockchain Ecosystem
RB
Although blockchain technology emerged from the open-source community, it quickly attracted many
stakeholders, with different backgrounds, interests and motives. Each has a role to play. There are early
signs that many of the core stakeholders see the need for leadership and are stepping up. “Anyone or
organization that is working to promote the acceptance and use of blockchain-based technologies is a
steward of the ecosystem,” said Perianne Boring of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.Here are the
players and their perspectives on governance:
 Blockchain innovators
 Venture capitalists
 Banks and financial services
 Coders and developers
 Academics and scholars
 Non-governmental organizations
 Governments, regulators and law enforcement
 Users

12. The “Global Solution Networks” (GSN) Framework
Applied to Blockchain
RB

13. Summary: What Needs to Be Done
RB
While our goal was to create a language and structure to think about the stewardship of blockchain and not to make specific
recommendations to particular stakeholders, some sensible next steps did emerge. The time for global action is now. We
believe people, institutions and industries throughout the world need blockchain technology and we must do all we can to
make it available. Here is a set of actions that will move this technology forward. Our hope is that these will prompt
discussion and provide positive steps that could be taken.
1. Networked institutions - to attract the necessary level of stakeholder participation,
2. Standards networks - to break the deadlock of bitcoin platform development,
3. Advocacy networks - to forestall regulatory, legislative, judicial or executive action that might stifle further innovation,
4. Policy and watchdog networks - much must be done to address the need for better monitoring of blockchain problems
5. Delivery networks -the Hyperledger Project, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and the Trusted IoT Alliance are three
important organizations providing feedback on protocols and doing work at the applications level
6. Knowledge networks (education) - to address the urgent need for diverse talent and expertise in the ecosystem,
7. Knowledge networks (applied research) - Blockchain may be the least known and least understood technology of the
Fourth Industrial Revolution.
8. Knowledge networks (scientific research) - to accelerate research so that knowledge catches up with investment,
This second era of the internet promises to create new opportunities for a more prosperous world. Prosperity is
about one’s standard of living. To achieve it, people must have the means, tools, and prospects for creating
material wealth and thriving economically.

14. About the Authors
RB

15. Source
RB
WhitePaper:
Realizing the Potential of
Blockchain A Multistakeholder
Approach to the Stewardship
of Blockchain and
Cryptocurrencies,
June 2017. World Economic Forum
https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/realizi
ng-the-potential-of-blockchain