Beyond Bitcoin

Ask most people about blockchain, and they think “Bitcoin,” yet the technology is far more than a notorious cryptocurrency.

Today, the world’s largest financial institutions, retail giants such as Walmart, and leading universities such as—no surprise—MIT are respectively using the technology to make global transactions, track leafy greens across U.S. farms, and issue tamper-resistant digital diplomas.

TEDx speaker, Silicon Valley Woman of Influence, and serial entrepreneur Radhika Iyengar ’86 is in the thick of the action. As founding partner of StarChain Ventures, she focuses on blockchain technologies and enterprise blockchain solutions in key sectors, health care/life sciences, supply chain/logistics, fintech, and power/energy.

Her recent book, Enterprise Blockchain Has Arrived, written with Caltech-trained astrophysicist and Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Jorden Woods, offers an accessible explanation of a technology seen as the future of the web by experts—and as an incomprehensible mystery to the rest of us.

Blockchain technology provides trust and security in a world beset by identity fraud and counterfeiting, cybercrime, and ineffective data sharing. The authors illustrate how blockchain, as an immutable, shared ledger across multiple parties in a decentralized network, is creating a revolutionary foundation for online trust and transparency.

Through interviews with business leaders in fields ranging from finance to automotive, Enterprise Blockchain Has Arrived sheds light on how decentralized networks are promoting collaboration, engendering transparency and accountability, and transforming business and the digital realm.

Radhika Iyengar '86

Fluent in nine languages, Iyengar is an adviser to top blockchain start-ups and digital health companies globally. She is managing partner of DoubleNova Group, a Silicon Valley–based advanced technology advisory firm that works with governments, Fortune 500 companies, and top start-ups. She is also a member of the California Government Operations Agency’s Blockchain Working Group, a task force advising Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California state legislature. She has been a keynote and panel speaker at Stanford University, Google, UCLA, and UC Berkeley; has been featured in radio shows and podcasts; and has keynoted prominent blockchain and health care conferences. She is also a former president of the BMC Northern California Alumnae/i Club.