For credit union boards and executives, the greatest risk is not being adequately informed and not taking action, and then becoming overwhelmed by a tsunami of change. Blockchain technology could just be that huge wave on the horizon. For board members and those in or near the C-suite, a level of knowledge about blockchain is needed for forward-thinking strategic conversations.

The press surrounding Bitcoin's remarkable valuation increase and volatility generally misses the larger story of the transformation potential of blockchain technology. The first assets recorded on a blockchain were digital currencies and Bitcoin was first of these. But blockchain has the potential for high impact in a number of industries by reducing or eliminating the need for intermediaries that record and secure data, and doing so far more inexpensively. A Deloitte study stated by 2022 financial services industry savings are projected to reach $15 to $20 billion annually.

Some analysts envision the security, efficiency and speed of blockchain technology as being as transformative as the internet, with the power to reorder businesses and transform everyday individual transactions. Blockchain frees transactional records from the historical constraint of isolation and the need for verification, much as the internet freed communication and information from centralized control. Think email versus the post office. Moreover, blockchain has the potential to replace the trust-providing function of traditional institutions like credit unions and escrow agents.