译文 ▏区块链：未来将不存在公司，只有信用！

来源：灯塔大数据时间：2017-08-23 13:37:21 作者：

　　导读：区块链会重塑每一个行业。区块链是一项颠覆性的技术，因为它具有数字化，去中心化的特点，具有保护和促进可靠交易的能力。译文 ▏区块链：未来将不存在公司，只有信用！

很多的产业都在评估区块链，通过评估来决定有哪些战略优势可以通过使用区块链技术来产生效益。下面是对区块链的高度概括：

区块链，也被称为分布式记账技术，在解决交易信用与透明度方面具有广阔的前景。现在存在着重新定义“合作，政府监管，金融控制，资产流动信任间隔”等元素之间的相互关系，并且有改变组织透明度的机会。因此，未来将会出现一个独一无二的运用区块链来改变与他人交流的机遇。

为了了解更多区块链的重要性和它颠覆性的天性，Ray Wang和我邀请了一位区块链的专家，他认为每一家公司都有可能被一个更加有信誉的自己所取代。我们也邀请了百亿美元的上市公司来讨论区块链的重要性和公司的信誉问题。

Richie Etwaru是QuantilesIMS的CDO。他的主要职责是运用技术创新还有发现数字化趋势，将其融入未来战略，以支持全球技术解决公司的成长。Etwaru 已经在全世界写了超过100份区块链笔记，他也写了一些全球最高阅读量的区块链博客。他开展过许多区块链有关的访谈，在政府和基金中的担任顾问的角色，还有2017年3月TEDx中“区块链，超简”的演讲中，为不同组织机构寻找到了很大的潜力和机遇。

以下是我们访谈中有关区块链颠覆性的一些核心分享：

1.交易成本，范围，速度提高了，但最重要的元素却没有提高。据他所说，在科技行业中我们大多数人的职业处在他所说的“分层蛋糕”中——电力，网络，储存，计算和服务器，操作系统，商业步骤，销售，品牌，营销，服务管理等领域。我们的交易成本下降了，通过互联网触及范围广了，通过手机和无线网络速度变快了。唯一在商业中没有改变的是商业信用。Etwaru相信，实际上，信用正在变坏。

如果你正在创业，运营一个公司，或者在试图拯救一个公司，这本书是一个严肃的警告：每一个公司都有可能被一个有信用的自我替代。

2.信用将成为新的公司区分点。每一个公司都能被一个更有信用的自己替代。今天，顾客体验在商业中能作为区分不同公司的要素，但在不远的将来，信用将取代顾客体验。密码学，不可变结构，分布式账簿和数据集等技术会使信任平民化和规模化。

3.区块链会消除中介作为信用机构存在的意义。Etwaru用了一个简单的例子来说明区块链是怎样被用来在两个人之间验证他们的信用。不需要第三方就可以核实数据的这种能力，提高了商业效率，同时缓解了信任缺失。

每一种人类历史上的典范都大大缩减了或者消除了一种差距，区块链也会缩减或者完全消除一种间隙。纸质媒体消除了知识传播的问题，蒸汽机消除了力量上的不足，互联网解决了距离的问题。区块链将解决信用问题。

4.信用与分享密切结合在一起。在信用缺失的情况下，数据分享必须通过中介，有了区块链，个人可以规模地分享数据，不需要中介，创造了一个亲密分享敏感数据给不熟悉的人的场景。能够信任信息源的信任度提高，也将使数据整合操作变得容易，使其对于每一个人来说都是简单易用的。

信用缺失在商业中很常见，我们也习惯了一个需要运用昂贵的资源，通常涉及到非常不方便的第三方机构来验证交易的社会。区块链，人类第一次获得的以可持续模式，全球范围内迈向信用社会的机会。

5.公司组织结构将根据区块链改变。驱动商业的元素有两层，这两层是未来公司的基础：1.我们怎样组织，2.怎样合作。同样的方式，云计算颠覆了存储于计算机结构，互联网颠覆了连接与社交，区块链将会颠覆组织与合作。

重大突破常在讨论产生，Etwaru的愿望是能带领大家进行区块链有关的讨论。区块链的讨论更加靠近密货币和比特币。人工智能，互联网，云计算，区块链将极大改变每个行业内的每个公司。

英文原文

We are living in an exponentially expanding trust gap. — Richie Etwaru

Blockchain will disrupt every industry. Blockchain is a disruptive technology because of it’s ability to digitize, decentralize, secure and incentivize the validation of transactions. A wide swath of industries are evaluating blockchain to determine what strategic differentiation can exist for their businesses by leverage Blockchain. Here is high level overview of what is Blockchain, and what is it used for via MIT Technology Review:

“Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technologies, show significant promise in addressing the trust and transparency required for a digital world. Opportunities exist to rethink cooperation and control governance, financial control, flow of wealth, the trust gap, and transforming transparency of organizations. Consequently, society faces a unique opportunity with blockchain to transform how we engage with each other.” — Ray Wang

To learn more about the importance of Blockchain and its disruptive nature, Ray Wangand I invited a Blockchain expert author, who believes that every company will be disrupted by a trusted version of itself, and one of the first chief digital officers of a multi-billion dollar publicly traded company to speak about the importance of distributed ledgers and the future of trusted companies to our weekly show DisrupTV.

Richie Etwaru is chief digital officer at QuintilesIMS [NYSE:Q], where he is responsible for identifying, prioritizing and embedding technology innovation and digital trends into the vision, strategy, and operating model required to support the growth of the Global Technology Solutions business unit. Prior to joining QuintilesIMS from Cegedim, Etwaru was the Executive Director and Head of Innovation and Transformation at UBS Wealth Management, SVP and Divisional CIO for Lehman Brothers, and co-founder of several technology ventures.

Etwaru has delivered over 100 Blockchain keynotes across the world and has written some of the most read Blockchain blogs as of this writing. His interviews on Blockchain, advisory work with governments and venture funds, and TEDx talk titled “Blockchain: Massively Simplified” delivered in March 2017 has unlocked potential and identified opportunities for hundreds of organizations. In his new book, Blockchain, Trust Companies, Etwaru covers the so what of Blockchain as opposed to the crowded area ofthe what of Blockchain. Etwaru is also an adjunct professor of Blockchain Management atSyracuse University. Etwaru is an excellent follow on Twitter at @RichieEtwaru.

Here are some of the key takeaways of our conversation about the disruptive nature of Blockchain with Etwaru:

1. Transaction cost, reach and speed have improved, but the most important element is trending down. According to Etwaru, most of us in the tech industry have spent our careers in what he calls ‘the layered cake” of what drives commerce - electricity, network, storage, compute and servers, operating system, business process, sales, brand, marketing, services and perception management. We have lowered transaction costs along the way, we have increased the transaction reach with the Internet, and we have increased the transaction speed with wireless and mobile phones. The one thing that hasn’t changed in commerce is transaction trust. Etwaru believes that in fact, transaction trust in trending down.

“If you are starting a company, running one, or trying to save one from its Kodak Moment, this book is a sobering reminder that every company is at risk of being disrupted by a trusted version of itself.” — Richie Etwaru

2. Trust will be the new company differentiator - Every company can be easily replaced by a trusted version of itself, according to Etwaru. Today, customer experience is defining business differentiation but in the near future, trust will be your company’s true differentiation. The science of cryptography, immutable configurations, distributed ledgers and data sets will democratize trust at scale.

3. Blockchain will eliminate the need for an intermediary to validate data integrity - Etwaru uses a simple example to demonstrate how Blockchain is design to validate and trust data from a one-to-one manner. The ability to validate a data set without the ‘middle man’ increases business execution velocity, while reducing the trust gap.

4. Trust and sharing go hand-in-hand - In the absence of trust, the data sharing must go through an intermediary. With blockchain, individuals can share data sets at scale without a middle-man, creating the scenario of sharing sensitive data to unfamiliar parties in an intimate way. The ability to trust information from someone who is willing to share it will create conditions where the integration and prosecution of data is accessible and affordable to all.

“A trust gap is vivid and apparent in commerce, and we have become anesthetized to a world where we carry the burden to always trust but verify almost every transaction with expensive, cumbersome and often inconveniencing intermediaries. Blockchain, mankind’s first opportunity for trusted commerce at global and sustainable scale.” — Richie Etwaru

5. Corporate structures will change based on Blockchain - There are two layers below the layered cake that drives commerce, a ccording to Etwaru. The two layers at the foundation of companies of tomorrow is: 1. how we organize, 2. how we cooperate. The same way cloud computing disrupted the storage and compute layer, and the Internet disrupted the connectivity and network layer, Blockchain will be a disruption in how we organize and cooperate.

Paradigms are shaped by discussions. Etwaru’s mission is to help shape and lead the conversation regarding Blockchain. The discussion about Blockchain is much more that cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. The combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing and Blockchain will massively transform every company in every industry.

Here is Etwaru’s TEDx video on the disruptive nature of Blockchain - a fantastic primer on how technology can be used to reduce the trust gap.

I recommend you to follow Etwaru on Twitter (@RichieEtwaru) for more thought leadership content on Blockchain. I also highly recommend his book, Blockchain, Trusted Companies because he is able to develop a blueprint for business leaders to considers as they develop their Blockchain strategy. In his book, Etwaru masterfully defines a maturity model that carefully defines the evolution towards trusted commerce. Using Blockchain, Etwaru gives examples of how finance, identity, reputation, inventory, market agreement and cooperate data sets sequentially evolve through blockchain first, becoming trusted data sets that can enable transparent consensus at scale, and eventually candidate data sets for smart contracts to transact on autonomously. Consensus at scale is a prerequisite for autonomous commerce. This is the future of trusted companies. Reduce the trust gap or get disrupted. The choice is yours.