The Business Blockchain by William Mougayar – Review

There is one force, today, that can be compared to that of a typhoon in terms of change. It is, according to William Mougayar, as important in shaping the future to come to what the World Wide Web has been in 1995. Mougayar wrote about this technology in his book The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice, and Application of the Next Internet Technology, with a foreword by Vitalik Buterin, and published by John Wiley & Sons P&T.

Buterin himself is an enfant prodige in the world of blockchain. A programmer and writer, he turned 23 a few days ago but he was even younger when he created the currency that is undermining the supremacy of bitcoins: Ether is getting more and more interesting in the eyes of investors and of big companies. Samsung and IBM launched a project to coordinate Internet-connected devices, like washing machines and lightbulbs, over an Ethereum-based network, and even 11 banks—including Wells Fargo, Barclays, UBS, Credit Suisse, and HSBC – ran a financial services pilot programme using Ethereum, as reported by magazine Fortune which interviewed Buterin.

In this book, the author help the public understand what blockchain is and how important its revolution has been and will be in the future. Basically, they explain, «the blockchain is a technology that permanently records transactions in a way that cannot be later erased but can only be sequentially updated, in essence keeping a never-ending historical trail». This helps in term of trust, since no one has the single control over a server: the pieces of information are divided in blocks and shared by all.

«They all use decentralized databases to replicate the gains of everyone being on one platform without the costs of having to agree on who gets to control that platform and then put up with them if they choose to try to abuse their monopoly position», continues Mougayar.

The book aims to help everyone, with only a limited amount of technical or economical knowledge, understand what blockchain is, how it works and what its revolution will be. The chapters cover what the applications in various kinds of industries are, not only in the financial markets, and what the obstacles to blockchain might be. The message, therefore, is how decentralization will help change the way the world works, and maybe help avoid another financial crisis.