Bitcoin, the digital currency, has attracted both attention and controversy. But the most potent innovation is not the currency itself. Rather, it’s the technology that undergirds bitcoin, the distributed-ledger technology known as the blockchain that allows payments to flow through an economy in an entirely decentralized way—without banks or other intermediaries. This infant technology could change the financial system; think the Internet before browsers. It could reduce the cost and increase in the speed and accuracy of financial transactions; it could truly disrupt the banking business. Or it could fizzle. But already it is raising a host of policy questions – about financial stability, consumer protection, choking off terrorists' finances, and tensions between established and upstart financial institutions and between regulatory agencies.
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2016/01/14-beyond-bitcoin-blockchain-disruptive-financial-technologies
