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Up until now, distributed ledger technologies have mostly been the domain of specialists and lawyers. But that could change in part due to Dapper Labs, a developer that has received $15 million in financing to forward its ongoing mission of using blockchain-based games and apps to raise the tech's profile among the average consumer.

Launching a game that does the same thing that email did for the internet is a heck of a goalpost, and even if the kick is good, it's a long way off. Still, attorneys could be among the first groups to feel the impact of the new technology. The widespread adoption of blockchain could change how they practice finance and put a new spin on old questions about privacy and cybersecurity.

Timothy Spangler, a partner at Dechert, thinks blockchain could wind up taking on some of the burden of trust and verification, a task traditionally shouldered by lawyers, and that the biggest disruption could occur in the field of finance.

Having attorneys on hand to issue legal opinions or obtain certificates from corporate parties can help build confidence between two parties who have no reason to put much faith in one another. “So many of those elements are there to increase the level of trust in the room,” Spangler said.

Blockchains utilized in elements like smart contracts can facilitate a lot of that trust up front, but won't entirely eliminate the need for a human element in the practice of law. Spangler believes that clients might be more comfortable with a hybrid approach, where flesh and blood and paper still play a role, and lawyers with a background in mathematics or coding have some advantage.

“I personally foresee a world where the coding of smart contracts and the construction of those sorts of relationships operates in part hand-in-hand in order to be able to give comfort. I can envision a world where you have contacts on paper and then smart contracts actually connected to the various assets,” Spangler said.

One thing that probably won't be going away even if “blockchain” becomes a household word are questions about privacy and cybersecurity.

“I think privacy and cybersecurity are going to be places where there's a real kind of mythology about the anonymity of Bitcoin or the anonymity of various blockchains,” Jeff Ward, director of Duke University's Center on Law and Technology, said.

Blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies operate on a decentralized network as an immutable ledger that create data that no one party has control over. The benefits for privacy and the security of personal information are obvious—which could wind up being the problem.

In a world where California Privacy Act or the EU's General Data Protection Regulation reign, consumers are increasingly aware about the vulnerability of their personal information. The mythology Ward was talking about could be shattered the moment a hacker figures out how to penetrate the anonymity afforded by a blockchain or the platforms deploying its technology.

“I think that's a likely place for some litigation or some strife moving forward,” Ward said.