Everything you always wanted to know about blockchain* (*but were afraid to ask)

Abstract

Blockchain is a technology able to guarantee the immutability and safety of the information inserted in it, representing the perfect medium to the exchange of almost every kind of digital asset, and the starting point of the digitalization as well as the decentralization of a large number of activities. Given these premises, I wonder if the blockchain could be able to revolutionize the way we live, interact, work and consume. I will develop an introduction to the Blockchain, narrating its chronicle since the beginning along with some interesting curiosities and introducing a brief explanation of the blockchain mechanism. This introduction will be followed by a section investigating all the relevant economics of the blockchain discourse – such as the communication process, information asymmetries, intermediaries and, last but not least, the role of trust in economic development – and by a more technical chapter explaining in details the way the blockchain works, its features and its current potential and limitations, aiming to make it possible to later understand which kind of sectors and organizations could profit the most from the adoption of such a technology and the way to do it. Finally, having achieved enough knowledge to understand how blockchain works and what is at stake, a last section will close the circle, identifying all the relevant and available metrics able to provide answers to the impact of the blockchain technology.