Updated Dec 21, 2020 at 3:49 p.m. UTC Public Blockchains Are Set to Reshape Global Commerce (2020 Was the Start) Ronald Coase, an economist, came up with the idea that the cost and complexity of doing business in enterprises is the key factor in driving up (or down) the size of an efficient enterprise. Companies can keep getting bigger and more profitable so long as the cost and complexity of managing a process internally is lower than the cost of assembling the same pieces on the open market from multiple different suppliers. The transaction costs that Coase talks about are not the simple matter of swiping a credit card. They involve the true cost of negotiating agreements and implementing them, tying together business rules, payments and covering the terms of an exchange between parties. Cutting a check or sending a wire transfer costs just pennies. Negotiating and implementing business agreements costs thousands of dollars. Blockchain champions who think the future is just about low-cost money transfers are missing a big part of the vision and transformative power of this technology.