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Blockchain Babel: The Crypto Craze and the Challenge to Business
Independent Press Award 2020 - Technology Category
Blockchain is the technology behind bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. According to Santander, it could save financial institutions $15-20bn a year from 2022 onward. Most experts see an unprecedented potential, but many banks, payment processors and credit card companies fret that bitcoin entrepreneurs could cast a pall over their core business. Whatever the position of blockchain, many voices are shouting from different angles, creating a cacophony of confusion including tech-evangelists, anarcho-libertarians and industry experts. But while everybody in IT and banking seems to have an opinion on the blockchain, there is little systematic research, no strategic analysis. Blockchain Babel is the ultimate guide to the most disruptive technology to have entered the finance industry in recent years.
Blockchain Babel looks at blockchain alongside innovation diffusion, competitive dynamics and management strategy. Shortlisted as one of the three best business book proposals by McKinsey and the Financial Times for the Bracken Bower Prize in 2016, this is a must-read for business leaders and aspiring leaders wanting to grasp blockchain and put it into context and understand the practical implications it may have.
Blockchain is the technology behind bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. According to Santander, it could save financial institutions $15-20bn a year from 2022 onward. Most experts see an unprecedented potential, but many banks, payment processors and credit card companies fret that bitcoin entrepreneurs could cast a pall over their core business. Whatever the position of blockchain, many voices are shouting from different angles, creating a cacophony of confusion including tech-evangelists, anarcho-libertarians and industry experts. But while everybody in IT and banking seems to have an opinion on the blockchain, there is little systematic research, no strategic analysis. Blockchain Babel is the ultimate guide to the most disruptive technology to have entered the finance industry in recent years.
Blockchain Babel looks at blockchain alongside innovation diffusion, competitive dynamics and management strategy. Shortlisted as one of the three best business book proposals by McKinsey and the Financial Times for the Bracken Bower Prize in 2016, this is a must-read for business leaders and aspiring leaders wanting to grasp blockchain and put it into context and understand the practical implications it may have.
224 pages, Paperback
Published March 26, 2019
12 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Igor Pejic
15 books16 followersAuthor, keynote speaker, and banker – Igor Pejic is an eminent technology strategist. His multiple award-winning books have helped investors across the world ride the cycles of progress. They also brought technologies such as blockchain and digital assets to the boardroom.
Igor Pejic’s most recent book "Tech Money" uncovers the new rules of investing in the technology age and teaches investors and executives how to benefit from them. His previous titles "Blockchain Babel" and "Big Tech in Finance" earned him accolades such as the Independent Press Award and made him a finalist at the Bracken Bower Prize, which is awarded by McKinsey and the Financial Times.
Pejic is a leading voice in tech. His articles and interviews regularly appear in media such as The New York Times, the American Banker, Forbes, and Bloomberg. He is also the publisher of the esteemed Substack newsletter The New Frontier, in which he analyzes the latest trends about technology and finance and interviews leading personalities in the field.
Pejic worked as a business journalist and a management consultant advising Fortune 100 companies, before occupying different management positions in banking, payments, and technology. Currently he works for one of Europe’s largest banks.
A worldwide keynote speaker, Pejic covers a range of topics including tech investing, digital assets and cryptocurrencies, digital trends and corporate strategy, AI, fintech, and disruptive innovation. He has taught at the University of Vienna and has held numerous keynotes, presentations, and panels for banks, universities, and corporations, including at the Bank of England, the Financial Post, the German Banking Association, Euromoney, UK Finance, and the Centre for Finance, Technology, and Entrepreneurship.
Igor Pejic’s most recent book "Tech Money" uncovers the new rules of investing in the technology age and teaches investors and executives how to benefit from them. His previous titles "Blockchain Babel" and "Big Tech in Finance" earned him accolades such as the Independent Press Award and made him a finalist at the Bracken Bower Prize, which is awarded by McKinsey and the Financial Times.
Pejic is a leading voice in tech. His articles and interviews regularly appear in media such as The New York Times, the American Banker, Forbes, and Bloomberg. He is also the publisher of the esteemed Substack newsletter The New Frontier, in which he analyzes the latest trends about technology and finance and interviews leading personalities in the field.
Pejic worked as a business journalist and a management consultant advising Fortune 100 companies, before occupying different management positions in banking, payments, and technology. Currently he works for one of Europe’s largest banks.
A worldwide keynote speaker, Pejic covers a range of topics including tech investing, digital assets and cryptocurrencies, digital trends and corporate strategy, AI, fintech, and disruptive innovation. He has taught at the University of Vienna and has held numerous keynotes, presentations, and panels for banks, universities, and corporations, including at the Bank of England, the Financial Post, the German Banking Association, Euromoney, UK Finance, and the Centre for Finance, Technology, and Entrepreneurship.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2020
This is one of the first blockchain books I've read that helped me sort through some of my own confusion and sensationalist thinking on blockchain beyond cryptocurrency. It's a rollercoaster read if you contextualize our present circumstances with the pandemic which is accelerating new conversations on crypto in the business and finance sphere.
Noticeably, this book has become highly relevant given our current global predicament with COVID-19 as we think critically about new challenges in fintech and the elusive trillion-dollar banking industry. The book offers generous analysis without sounding definitive on what remains unknown about the future of blockchain’s technological, financial, and political influence.
In recent years, awareness of blockchain in the business world has been steadfastly growing. One of the greatest barriers for blockchain is mainstream entrance as many still consider it a niche for specific players. This book is a great introductory starting point for businesses. Yet, the book is impartial and challenging enough for both blockchain enthusiasts and skeptics. I'll be revisiting this book for years to come.
Noticeably, this book has become highly relevant given our current global predicament with COVID-19 as we think critically about new challenges in fintech and the elusive trillion-dollar banking industry. The book offers generous analysis without sounding definitive on what remains unknown about the future of blockchain’s technological, financial, and political influence.
In recent years, awareness of blockchain in the business world has been steadfastly growing. One of the greatest barriers for blockchain is mainstream entrance as many still consider it a niche for specific players. This book is a great introductory starting point for businesses. Yet, the book is impartial and challenging enough for both blockchain enthusiasts and skeptics. I'll be revisiting this book for years to come.
February 5, 2021
Great book. Well written and full of usefull information.
October 14, 2021
This book was a letdown. Its core message seems to be that banks will eventually take over blockchains as permissioned back-ends to their current banking model and such takeover will include the use of fiat currency. So, in essence blockchains become just another centralized database of the current banking incumbents. This may be explained as the result of the author's formative career being in banking. My "favorite" clause is "bitcoin is hyped despite being technically doomed." I guess he hasn't heard of the Taproot upgrade, the Lightning Network, or Strike technology. The book is copyrighted 2019, which means its writing probably ended 2018. It feels dated, very academic, directed towards bankers, and references (mostly academic in nature) go back as far as forty years.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews