While most of blockchain’s success over the past decade has been linked to bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto-currencies, distributed ledger technology is now poised to move into mainstream applications and launch new opportunities in multiple markets.

As we adapt to a long-term period of social distancing, the paradigm in which technology evolves has been upended, and every member of society has had to quickly find new technology-based solutions to accomplish tasks previously taken for granted. In the coming decade, technology will shift from automating and replacing manual labor to replacing routine cognitive work, and blockchain is poised to be a key driver of what many refer to as the fourth industrial revolution. The social distancing measures required to respond to the global pandemic have put this fourth industrial revolution into overdrive, and the paradigm has shifted.