Michael Casey

Bitcoin became a buzzword overnight. It pops up in headlines and fuels endless media debate. Yet it seems few people truly understand what it is. In this talk, Michael Casey delivers the definitive answer to the question: Why should anyone care about bitcoin? The “blockchain” technology behind cryptocurrencies holds the promise of a financial system without middlemen—a change that’s 500 years in the making. It puts that system in the control of the people who use it and safeguards them from a 2008-type crash. Much more than a new digital form of currency, this technology could integrate billions of hitherto excluded people into the global economy, restore individuals’ control over their private data and identities, and change the way organizations and business relationships are governed. At the corporate, academic, and government levels, well-informed managers and officials are starting to realize that there all sorts of disruptive applications for this technology, with big implications for the broader economy. With lucidity and verve, Casey makes this unfamiliar but important topic accessible, and teaches us what we need to know to be ready for this big shift.