To start a new section, hold down the apple+shift keys and click to release this object and type the section title in the box below. For consumers, a growing number of mainstream merchants accept Bitcoin as payment for their goods or A blockchain is “a technology that services. Overstock.com, one of the first major online retailers to accept Bitcoins, made more than $124,000 in allows people who don’t know Bitcoin sales on January 10, 2014, its first day of accepting 15 each other to trust a shared record the currency. Recently, Overstock.com became the first company to receive approval from the US Securities and 4 Exchange Commission to issue shares using the Bitcoin of events”. This shared record, 16 blockchain. or ledger, is distributed to all Understandably, the focus on digital currencies like Bitcoin participants in a network who has created a common misconception that blockchains use their computers to validate are relevant only to the banking sector. “There has long been significant interest in the many different uses transactions and thus remove for blockchain technology,” says one commentator, the need for a third party to “However, the ‘non-currency’ use-cases … have until recently, generally commanded less total mindshare than intermediate. 17 ‘currency’ use-cases.” So who else can benefit from a blockchain? How does it generate value? And, perhaps more importantly, how can the technology be applied to existing organisations and their current business models? This paper aims to address these questions and help leaders in different sectors navigate the emerging opportunities offered by blockchain technology. Blockchain’s impact is illustrated in four domains: banking, insurance, the public sector and the media industry. We also discuss some of the challenges as organisations start planning to adopt this technology. Blockchain Enigma. Paradox. Opportunity 3