Joe Cutler discusses the movement toward blockchain and Perkins Coie's involvement as a Founding Steward for the Sovrin Foundation in the LegalTech News article, "Perkins Coie to Steward Blockchain-Based Self-Sovereign Identity Node."

The decision to be a Sovrin steward, in a similar vein, is a means to understand the technology in practice. “We encouraged the firm to participate in the Sovrin stewardship so that we, and they by extension, can learn how this works, so we can advocate for them in the public space,” Cutler added.

Perkins Coie has invested heavily in its blockchain practice this year, designating blockchain as one of its five “beacon practices,” launching an app to help familiarize people with legal issues related to cryptocurrency, and joining the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance alongside 10 other firms.

Cutler said the firm is investing itself across the blockchain space because of the technology’s potential to change the nature of transactions far beyond simple currency exchanges.

“I think we are witnessing a quiet but real revolution. It’s almost like the fourth industrial revolution, in my mind,” Cutler said of blockchain’s potential to change “every kind of transaction you can think of.”