Nearly every socio-economic sector is asking more questions, new questions, and challenging the way they have been doing just about everything, all the way down to their own personal finances and investment decisions.

I came across an observation recently; when mass groups of people increase their awareness and knowledge of a subject, it is always correlated with a fundamental and long-lasting change or evolution within our world. To put it simply, an entire way of doing something typically evolves. I personally view this phenomenon as, action > reaction, and driven by our individual and communal desire to both maintain our current position and grow it.

What is more interesting is that while knowledge acquisition is historically a catalyst and a leading indicator of change, its correlation has been increasing exponentially over the past 20 years. A key contributing factor is Moore’s Law “the principle that the speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every two years, as a result of increases in the number of transistors a microchip can contain.”

It’s actually pretty simple… as our knowledge increases, our applied capabilities increase, and the world changes faster. Better tools and processes increase our ability to deliver more from less. This has never been more true than in the world of finance, specifically the impact and undeniable power of blockchain as a technology.

The action here was the invention of blockchain, the reaction is which industries and companies will transform and gain first advantage, much like the invention and subsequent adoption of the internet. Blockchain is a parallel network of value to the internet as we know it today, and I see its biggest application will be across finance, particularly in blockchain powered, regulated investment vehicles. Compliance, regulation and security are all key pieces to the speed of adoption.

As we all know, wherever finance goes, everything follows, and finance follows tightly to quality and cost. Given Moore’s law, what is new today is the speed with which we all must adapt. When it comes to blockchain improving processes we use today, the choice is to lead, follow or slowly be replaced, and the time is now to make that choice.