London Blockchain Conference Day 2 highlights: Enhancing trust with blockchain
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Trust is at the center of day 2 of the London Blockchain Conference 2023. Or more specifically, how can businesses and governments reduce risk and improve trust with blockchain technology.
Regulation plays a key role in enabling the growth of blockchain and digital currency around the world. Actor and author Ben McKenzie is skeptical of the idea of self-regulation in the industry, saying most “cryptocurrencies” fit the textbook definition of a security.
“You put money into them and you expect money from them without work. It’s an investment contract for me, McKenzie tells the audience.
The actor and author, who co-wrote the upcoming book “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud” with journalist Jacob Silverman, explains his anti-crypto stance on CoinGeek TV with Bitcoin historian Kurt Wuckert Jr.:
“I like to say that the book I have written, ‘Enkelte penger’, is about money and lies. I know about money from my economics education and from earning a bit of it in showbiz over the past two decades. But I know about lying, because as an actor I do it for a living, McKenzie said. “And the way people use language is very important and very telling, and when they called these things ‘currencies,’ they weren’t functioning as currencies.”
From Kim Kardashian to NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, celebrities promoting crypto projects and coin offerings have caught the attention of regulators – an onslaught that McKenzie expects will start a “natural cleansing process” in the sector.
“I think celebrities were kind of the last gasp in this last round, to get as many people into the crypto casino as possible. Now that those things have gone away, and suddenly celebrities are no longer chasing it, I think you’ll see a kind of natural cleansing process, and we’ll see what’s left after that, McKenzie said.
The regulations do not try to reinvent the wheel
Regulating the industry is not a simple matter – there are difficult dilemmas that need to be addressed and risks that need to be understood before a framework is established. In the case of the EU, which has recently signed the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) law, several key factors are being considered: first is “harmonisation” to unify the different approaches of the EU’s 27 member states to digital assets; the other is to support innovation.
The MiCA regulation does not try to reinvent the wheel, according to Yves Mersch, former governor of the European Central Bank and former governor of the central bank of Luxembourg.
“MiCA is not trying to reinvent the wheel, but build on existing regulatory frameworks that people know in the EU,” Mersch told the audience in his keynote address. “There is a requirement regarding the issuance of cryptoassets. There will be capital requirements and governance which is an authorization procedure as well as supervision of issuers and certain service providers … and there will be reserve requirements for stable currency issuers. For example, they will be asked to have a to-a reserve ratio for permanent redemption rights.”
Improving trust with blockchain technology
Blockchains are often referred to as “trustless networks”, and this is possible because trust is built on the blockchain network’s security, transparency and traceability features. Day 2 of the London Blockchain Conference 2023 follows the same format as the previous day – with both business and technical stages highlighting how blockchains can increase confidence in the integrity of data and the security of both communications and networks.
On the Business Strategy stage, CoinGeek’s Becky Liggero leads a panel discussion—with IBM’s Dr. Agata Slater, TrueWorld Project Manager Steve Smid, VXPass President Justin Pauly, and Access New York’s Enabling Scale Program Manager Kirsty Barany-Gibson—on building a “trust economy” with blockchain’s help.
Also on stage is Giovanni Franzese, Executive Partner at nChain, who talks about the dangers and promises of enterprise blockchain. He reminds the audience that “it’s not all about technology. Take care of the user experience” too.
Bryan Daugherty and Greg Ward, meanwhile, demonstrate how the Sentinel Node by Certihash can significantly improve the state of information security using blockchain technology. The web security tool detects breaches immediately and alerts system administrators by taking a “snapshot” of the state of files – this requires a massively scalable blockchain with small fees to function correctly.
Day 2’s Open Q&A session—with Ray Sharma, Founder and Partner at Extreme Venture Partners; Patrick Prinz, CFA at Fairway Family Office; and Osmin Callis, CEO of Block Venture Studio – answers to questions ranging from the need for interoperability and loss of freedom through CBDCs to the storage and abuse of private keys.
Ayre Ventures CEO Paul Rajchgod discusses venture capital investing in blockchain – especially in these volatile times – with experts including Ray Sharma, founder and partner at Extreme Venture Partners; Fatid Haque, Blockchain VC, Systema Nova; Mona Tiesler, Chief Investment Officer, Tokentus; Zach Resnick, Managing Partner, Unbounded Capital; and Patrick Sutter, Attorney-at-Law, SNGLR.
On the technical stage, BSV Blockchain Association’s Director of Stewardship Connor Murray leads a panel on Digital Asset Recovery, while Kurt Wuckert Jr. opens the discussion about the benefits of token protocols on the BSV blockchain. Startup founders from various Block Dojo cohorts also participate in a panel with Block Dojo co-founder and program director Alex Ball to showcase their projects and answer questions about their experiences participating in the incubator program.
Continuing on the theme of trust and regulation, Dr. Craig Wright takes the stage with a presentation on privacy and compliance, explaining concepts of data and ownership – and how simplifying commercial scale operations will balance transparency and privacy.
“We are at the point in history where you have to choose … do we want to be sold? Do we want to be owned?” he asks the audience. “I want something where everybody has a chance… and yes, we know bad things can happen, that’s why we need accountability.”
Watch Day 3 of the London Blockchain Conference live for free here.
London Blockchain Conference Day 1 Highlights: Monetization with blockchain technology
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