PERREAULT Magazine MARCH | APRIL 2016 | Page 70

Perreault Magazine - 70 -

by JACK ULDRICH

GLOBAL

FUTURISM

Here Comes the Future: 10 Game-Changers That Will Transform the World in 2016

#1: Blockchain

Double-entry bookkeeping and limited liability partnerships don’t sound like “game-changers” today, but when they were introduced centuries ago they fueled commerce, trade, and global economic growth in tremendous ways. The same will be true of Blockchain—a distributed, digital ledger that is best known as the platform upon which Bitcoin was created. The technology has the ability to do more than just disrupt how money is distributed, it has the potential to decentralize the Internet by making it easier and more affordable to verify products, contracts and even transactions among individuals. In a recent edition of The Economist, Blockchain was labeled a “trust machine” And Santander, the Spanish bank, has estimated Blockchain could save the banking industry $20 billion by 2022– which is just a small sample of Blockchain’s vast potential.