ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the shaping of blockchain technology and narratives by venture capital, entrepreneurs and, increasingly, legacy sources of elite financial power and control for use in existing economies, systems and networks. It argues that the reality of blockchain as well as the so-called 'fourth industrial revolution'. The book aims to understand where the balance lies between bare technological necessities, especially in the public interest, on one end of the spectrum, and unscrupulous vanity projects that benefit only a handful of opportunists on the other. It explains blockchain seriously as a boon for private commercial and corporate self-interest and a corresponding threat to public interest, non-competitive forms of co-operation and the potential for expanding community generosity that extends beyond the closed circuits of entrepreneurial ecosystems.
