A final word on a special kind of participant that is common to just about every kind of business network—the regulator. The nature of most business networks is that there is a participant whose role is to ensure that the transactions obey certain rules. For example, in the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ensures that the participants performing transactions involving the securities assets do so according to agreed laws and rules, giving investors trust in the stock market. Or, in the United Kingdom, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) ensures that vehicles are properly insured, taxed, and exchanged according to UK law. Another example is in South Africa, where the Association for Food Science and Technology (SAAFoST) ensure that transactions involving farming, food distribution, food processing, and food retail comply with appropriate South African law.

Every business network has a regulator of some kind to ensure proper oversight. Simply put, the regulator ensures that everyone plays the game according to the rules of the business network. We can see that a business network in which all the transactions are recorded digitally on a blockchain actually allows the regulator to do their job in a more efficient and timely manner.

Of course, one might ask why we need a regulator if all the transactions are available to the appropriately authorized participants who can prove correct or incorrect behavior? The answer is that regulators have the ability to sanction certain participants in the network—specifically to exclude them from the network, and confiscate their assets or those which they have illegally transacted upon. These sanctions are the most powerful transactions in the network as they provide ultimate power, and must accordingly be used only in extreme circumstances.

Congratulations! Given you've reached this far, you've really understood the fundamental nature of business networks. Even better, there's really only one more concept to cover in our discussion of business networks: events. Let's move on to the final aspect of business networks that you'll find empowering to understand.