I’ve been obsessed with explaining the blockchain to increasingly larger audiences, without going through technical detours.
Today, I made a presentation at the Red Chalk Group Blockchain in Insurance event in Chicago where I revealed for the first time an updated slide to describe the blockchain’s potential in a single slide.
This would be my 4th iteration at explaining the blockchain in one slide. The first 3 versions were the following:
Simple Blockchain Definition

Multi-Disciplinary View of the Blockchain
Multiple Identities View of the Blockchain
There is nothing wrong with these existing definitions. They are valid, but unlike these previous 3 versions, I wanted to focus the next iteration on “how to think about the blockchain”, i.e. give a framework for thinking about the blockchain opportunities for your particular projects or ideas.
To start with, I categorized what the blockchain enables into 4 segments:
- A Software Development Environment
- A Global Utility
- Enabling Trust Services
- Creating New Marketplaces