Government leaders should get up to speed on the blockchain by understanding it first and committing to exploring its potential.

If you haven't used Bitcoin first-hand, you may not get the inherent advantage of a quicker appreciation and understanding of its potential. Seeing assets move swiftly without intermediaries is an eye opening experience, and that is just a starting point.

If you have your own currency, you have your own governance, so each currency becomes their own mini-government. Mini-government is a big word, but it's a body that is governed in a decentralized manner where users have a say, where there's oversight and transparency.

Public blockchains are almost like the public Internet, which is open and widely accessible. If you can get on the Internet, you will likely be able to get on a public blockchain via a specific application.

Technology companies must constantly weigh ethical decisions: Where should Facebook set its privacy defaults, and should it tolerate glimpses of nudity? Should Twitter close accounts that seem sympathetic to terrorists? How should Google handle sex and violence, or defamatory articles?

Diplomacy has always involved dinners with ruling elites, backroom deals and clandestine meetings. Now, in the digital age, the reports of all those parties and patrician chats can be collected in one enormous database. And once collected in digital form, it becomes very easy for them to be shared.

Rumours are rumours. The Internet is going to report whatever they have to speculate on.

When people laugh at social media it's because they don't understand how much work is involved. It's like creating any kind of content.