Although excitement about the potential use of blockchain technology – an immutable, time-stamped and decentralized digital ledger of transactions – in the financial services industry has been growing, numerous impediments to its large-scale adoption remain. Issues ranging from a lack of regulatory support of blockchain to basic concerns about the resources required to implement the technology could slow its growth in the private funds industry. This third article in our series about the nature and uses of blockchain for the financial services industry details issues that could stymie the spread of blockchain, while also setting forth a realistic timeline and manner for its likely adoption by the private funds industry. The first article provided a primer on the technology and detailed several financial industry uses that are already being explored. The second article explored potential private fund back-office functions (e.g., regulatory reporting and maintaining shareholder ledgers) that could be optimized using blockchain technology. See “How Financial Service Providers Can Address Common Cybersecurity Threats” (Mar. 16, 2016).