Bridgers Quoted In Bloomberg’s “Gigs Gone Wild: Could Blockchain Make Freelancing the Norm?”
Insights
12.05.17
Fisher Phillips attorney and resident blockchain guru Adam Bridgers was quoted in a Bloomberg BNA article published last week entitled, “Gigs Gone Wild: Could Blockchain Make Freelancing the Norm?” The article, written by Jasmine Ye Han, is well worth a read as it sheds an interesting perspective on how blockchain might disrupt the gig economy. But of course, it’s also worth reading because of Adam’s keen insight.
If you aren’t familiar with blockchain, first read this article that Adam wrote earlier this year on the subject; you can also read a blog post I wrote following up on that article more acutely describing how the technology could impact gig economy businesses. (And if you want to dive even deeper, our colleague Ben Ebbink wrote a blog post just last week on how blockchain might affect dispute resolution in the gig economy.)
The concept of Han’s article is that blockchain could make it easier for workers to exchange money and credentialing information without a middleman, which could be hugely significant given that 36% of the U.S. workforce is doing some form of freelancing (with 47% of millennials performing side gigs for money). This efficiency could lead to accelerated growth of the gig economy sector, which is already set to become a dominant force in the world economy in the coming years. And how will that impact gig businesses? According to Adam, this development could spell the end of gig platforms that connect workers and consumers as we currently know them. After all, if blockchain technology can vet service providers and ensure the transactions are safe, there will be a reduced need of a perceived middleman. “Because the blockchain replaces that centralized clearing house of data that we've come to rely on in the gig economy, you don't necessarily need that anymore,” Bridgers told Bloomberg Law.
Read the whole article if you want the full perspective on how this technology is set to be the next disruptor in the gig economy.
Related People
-
- Richard R. Meneghello
- Chief Content Officer