Consensus 2018 Magazine

MAGAZINE MAY 14–16 | NYC
BUILDING
THE FUTURE
OF BLOCKCHAIN
AND CRYPTO
Plus BlockChain and IoT,
The End of Trade Wars, and
more insight from the
CoinDesk Advisory Board Contains
complete
AGENDA &
GUIDE for
Consensus
2018
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Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 1 5/9/18 9:09 AM

Letter from the Editor
THINKING
AHEAD
FOR THE
2020s
A black-and-white ad.
A computer as big as the
woman hunched over it.
“Only $5,995.”
hat was the state history in mind. seeks to provide perspective.
T
of the art, it turns At a time when money is flowing Are these early blockchains akin to
out, in the age freely and promises of riches abound, the first computers, expensive toys
of “microcom- it’s important to remember that long- useful mostly for advancing science?
puters,” but the term value isn’t reflected in transitory Or will the blockchains already avail-
pricing, plucked price tags, nor can it be adequately able grow and change, thriving over
from a 1970s measured by dollars and cents (or, time due to the power and inclusive
advert, still has resonance, maybe I’m afraid, in gwei or satoshis). nature of open-source code?
now more than ever, given that the Personal computing may cost less For the next three days, we
nascent tokens and cryptocurren- today, but would anyone argue even hope you’ll find value in the ques-
cies of today cost as much as family its smallest offerings (think 140-char- tions, even if we can’t promise any
vehicles. acter tweets, basic calculators, answers. As the advert that inspired
The lesson? What we value and simple flashlights) aren’t valuable? A this messages ends with the mantra,
how we value it fluctuates over time. vital resource for millions? “Thinking ahead for the ‘80s,” so,
You’d be hard-pressed, I’d assume, Such questions of the notions too, would we be well served by
to find a buyer willing to pay that of value, while complex, are no adopting a similar mindset.
asking price for an “IMSAI 10-mega- doubt top of mind given the explo- For the next three days, you
byte computer” at Consensus 2018 sion of interest and investment in have an opportunity unique in its
(though I can’t be too sure given the blockchain sector. Many of you value—the best and brightest minds
the many events that comprise NYC will likely have pressing questions— are here to learn, listen and chart a
Blockchain Week). where should you invest your time, course for the future.
Looking out at the landscape of resources and money? Am I too Let’s think ahead for the 2020s, a
competing blockchains, cryptocur- early or too late? better 2030s—and beyond.
rencies and tokens you’re likely to That’s something you’ll be hearing
hear from in the coming days, it’s more about, no doubt, in the coming –Pete Rizzo,
perhaps helpful to observe with days as our agenda of global experts Editor-in-Chief, CoinDesk
Consensus 2018 1

10
24
16
CONTENTS
Features
Letter from the Editor......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Thank You to our Sponsors............................................................................................................................................. 4
Coindesk Advisory Board................................................................................................................................................ 7
Amid Chaos, our Decentralized Future is Being Built............................................................................................ 10
Adapting Blockchain for IoT: Establishing Trust Among Things........................................................................... 16
Capital Set Free............................................................................................................................................................... 24
And What Has the Blockchain Ever Done for Us?....................................................................................................31
Manufacturing and Blockchain: Prime Time Yet to Come.................................................................................... 35
Making Trade Wars Obsolete ..................................................................................................................................... 40
2 Consensus 2018

35
4 31
40
Consensus 2018 Agenda
Sessions & Track Descriptions.................................................................................................................................... 46
Roundtables & Demos................................................................................................................................................... 58
Conference Maps............................................................................................................................................................ 63
Exhibitor Locations.......................................................................................................................................................... 68
CONSENSUS MAGAZINE STAFF

Editor-in-Chief: Art Director:
Peter Bordes, VP of Events & Sales, CoinDesk Thomas Seltzer, Creative Director, Seltzer Creative Group
Publisher: Associate Art Director:
Jacob Donnelly, Director of Marketing, CoinDesk Olena Protsenko, Seltzer Creative Group
Daria Sukovatitsyn, Trade Exhibition Manager, CoinDesk
Nolan Bauerle, Director of Research, CoinDesk
Content copyright ©2018 CoinDesk. All rights reserved. For more information on CoinDesk or upcoming Consensus conferences, visit www.coindesk.com.
Consensus 2018 3

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
TITLE SPONSORS
FOUR BLOCK SPONSORS
4 Consensus 2018

THREE BLOCK SPONSORS
BITSANE
TWO BLOCK SPONSORS
An initiative of the
BLOCKCHAIN RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Consensus 2018 5

BLOCK SPONSORS
The Secure Ledger of Things
MetalPay
6 Consensus 2018

ADVISORY BOARD
Michael Casey
Michael Casey is chairman of CoinDesk’s advisory board and
a senior advisor at MIT Media Labs’s Digital Currency Initia-
tive. He also consults for businesses on the challenges and
opportunities in blockchain and digital asset technologies.
Formerly a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, Casey has
authored five books, including The Age of Cryptocurrency:
How Bitcoin and Digital Money are Challenging the Global
Economic Order, published in 2015, and its follow-up, The
Truth Machine: the Blockchain and the Future of Everything,
which was released in February of 2018. Both were co-au-
thored with Paul Vigna of The Wall Street Journal.
Mic Bowman
Mic Bowman is a principal engineer in Intel Labs and leads the distributed
ledger research group. Mic has spent over 20 years working on large-scale
databases and distributed systems. For the last two years, he has served as
a member of the Hyperledger Technical Steering Committee contributing to
various aspects of architecture definition and evaluation of technologies for
privacy and confidentiality. He is currently working on methods for improving
the security, scalability, and privacy of distributed ledgers. He received his
PhD in Computer Science from the University of Arizona.
Simon Johnson
Simon Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship
at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is also head of the Global
Economics and Management group and chair of the Sloan Fellows MBA
Program Committee. He co-founded and currently leads the popular Global
Entrepreneurship Lab (GLAB) course.
Johnson is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics
in Washington, D.C., a co-founder of BaselineScenario.com, and a member
since inception of the FDIC’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee.
Johnson holds a BA in economics and politics from the University of
Oxford, an MA in economics from the University of Manchester, and a PhD in
economics from MIT.
Consensus 2018 7

ADVISORY BOARD
Balaji S. Srinivasan
Balaji S. Srinivasan is the CTO of Coinbase and a Board Partner at Andreessen
Horowitz. He was previously CEO at Earn.com, which was recently sold to Coin-
base. Before taking the CEO role at Earn.com, Dr. Srinivasan was a General
Partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
Prior to joining a16z, he was the cofounder and CTO of Founders Fund-
backed Counsyl, where he won a Wall Street Journal Innovation Award and
was named to the MIT TR35. Dr. Srinivasan holds a BS, MS, and PhD in Elec-
trical Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.
He also teaches the occasional class at Stanford, including an online MOOC in
2013 which reached 250,000+ students worldwide.
Maja Vujinovic
Maja Vujinovic is an executive leader in both entrepreneurial and corporate
environments. Starting as an entrepreneur in mobile payments in Sub Saharan
Africa, Maja worked across five continents at the intersection of technology
and infrastructure finance.
In her past role as a Chief Innovation Officer of Emerging Tech & Future
O
of Work at GE, Digital, she spearheaded the full vision and framework for
blockchain and transformational change. She designed and ran pilots across
treasury, aviation, energy and additive manufacturing addressing internal
inefficiencies. Maja was a catalyst for ideas such as electronic wallet for auton-
omous machines in GE’s brilliant factory project.
Maja is an investor and a CEO of OGroup, an investment firm and accelerator
focused on emerging technologies such as blockchain and token economics.
Pindar Wong
Pindar Wong is the Chairman of VeriFi (Hong Kong) Ltd., a discrete Internet Finan-
cial Infrastructure consultancy. Pindar is an Internet pioneer, who co-founded
the first licensed Internet Service Provider in HK and leads the “Belt and Road
Blockchain Consortium.”
Pindar also serves on the Hong Kong Government’s Committee on Inno-
vation, Technology and Re-industrialiZation, as a Director of the Hong Kong
Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI). He also serves on
the HK Trade Development Council ICT Services advisory committee and the
HKUST School of Engineering Advisory Committee.
8 Consensus 2018
m

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AMID CHAO
OUR DECENTRALIZ
FUTURE IS BEING
BUILT
By Michael J. Casey
Artwork: Corbis Images

AOS,
LIZED
G
If, during the Consensus conference

in May 2017, I’d predicted the crypto
and blockchain industry’s subsequent
experiences, you wouldn’t have believed me.
B ack then, CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index was around $2,400. Six months later, it passed through $10,000—right
when 1,300 investors and financial professionals attended the inaugural Consensus: Invest conference. But that
was only a way station to $19,783.21, an all-time high in mid-December. This came as the Chicago Board of Trade and
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launched bitcoin futures contracts, giving professional entities a vehicle for betting
on the cryptocurrency. Come 2018, the entire mood shifted. Bitcoin lost two thirds of its value in less than four months
as regulatory clampdowns in China, South Korea and the U.S. ensued.
Bitcoin was not alone in this volatility, either. In the eleven months following Consensus 2017, $8.3 billion was raised
in initial coin offerings, according to CoinDesk’s ICO Tracker. At its peak in early January, the market capitalization for
all cryptocurrencies and digital tokens listed on coinmarketcap.com surpassed $831 billion, a 900% from May 2017. At
the time we went to print it was at $431 billion.
Consensus 2018 11

AMID CHAOS …
With all this money being made recovery to higher highs came Most importantly, the Segregated
and lost, and the “What the hell is much sooner than it did for, say, the Witness (SegWit) protocol upgrade
going on?” questions it provoked Nasdaq, which took 15 years to top was introduced, which streamlined
among the general public, Bitcoin, its dot-com bubble peak of March data management and enabled
cryptocurrencies and blockchain 2000. The crypto markets may be other software improvements.
technology were thrust into the redefining the nature of investment In particular, SegWit facilitated
headlines. Suddenly, they were booms, speeding up the entire one the most exciting cryptocur-
topics of conversation at dinner process of speculation, correction, rency innovations since Satoshi
tables. Mothers were asking their retrenchment and recovery. Nakamoto’s white paper: the Light-
crypto-obsessed teenagers what ning Network. Now live on Bitcoin,
coin to buy. And those of us who’d Big Changes Under the Litecoin and other cryptocurren-
floated around the space for some Hood, Too cies but still in its infancy, Lightning
years were looked upon with Price, though, is a distraction. It is an off-chain payment channel
intrigue: Are you one of them? A makes people miss the forest for solution that promises to signifi-
bitcoin billionaire? (For the record, I the trees, overlooking the important cantly increase transaction-pro-
most decidedly am not.) innovations on which the invest- cessing, enable derivative-like smart
This level of public curiosity was ment ideas are supposedly founded. contracts, and lower costs.
totally new. But the market mania So, we must note that amid all the Not to be outdone, Ethereum
wasn’t, not for crypto. Ratio-wise, the money mania, big changes were developers introduced their own
BPI chart of 2017-2018 looks similar also occurring with the development scaling initiatives. These included
to the 12 months from April 30, 2013, of crypto technology itself. the Lightning-inspired Raiden and
when bitcoin started at $144.30, In that same 12-month period, Plasma, which aimed to enable smart
soared to $1,151.30 on December 4, the Bitcoin community’s three-year contracts at massive scale. Mean-
2013, and then slid to $445.87 on internecine war, otherwise known while, new projects from Polkadot,
April 30, 2014, where it more or less as the “block size debate,” came to Ripple and Cosmos and others
stayed for the rest of the year. The a divisive conclusion with a software sought cross-blockchain interop-
erability while still more worked on
decentralized exchanges for custo-
dy-free token trading.
The crypto markets may Meanwhile, businesses, NGOs
and government agencies launched
be redefining the nature of blockchain projects covering a
smorgasbord of use cases. Almost
investment booms, speeding every day a new private or public
collaboration was launched for
up the entire process of supply chain management, digital
identity, land titles, trade finance,
speculation, correction, commodity exchanges, decentral-
ized electricity or additive manu-
retrenchment and recovery. facturing. The UN, the IMF and the
World Bank set up blockchain labs.
Consortia comprising established
companies, startups and even state
same goes for the calendar year hard fork to create Bitcoin Cash, a governments and cities were formed
2011, when the price started at 30 new, competing version of Bitcoin to explore open-source standards in
cents, peaked at $29.60 on June 8, with a larger block capacity. That energy, climate data, and the Internet
and then closed the year at $4.25. left the community that supported of Things. People everywhere were
I believe we were in a bubble the original small-block standard, striving to make blockchain go live.
in 2017, but we were also in one in now known as Bitcoin Core, free to Many of these ideas are ahead
2013 and in 2011. In those two cases, incorporate code changes of its own. of their time, mostly because the
12 Consensus 2018

AMID CHAOS …
underlying infrastructure, the proto- and self-regulating governing money also paid for the infrastruc-
cols and programming rules that bodies to encourage standards, ture that would underlay Internet 2.0
govern platforms such as Bitcoin adjudicate disputes and disincen- post-bubble. It enabled algorithmic
or Ethereum, aren’t sufficiently tivize wrongdoing. search, cloud computing, smart-
developed for them. That they are phones, social media, big data and
being proposed puts pressure on Welcoming the Bubble all the other functionality that have
core blockchain developers. Unlike Although the hysteria ensures changed our way of life and made a
the mostly academic and publicly this industry’s development won’t few titans of tech fabulously wealthy
funded founders of the Internet, chart a methodical straight line, the and powerful.
who worked for decades in rela- crazed market need not be viewed What’s the equivalent now? The
tive obscurity before their work on as a negative phenomenon. capital unleashed by the crypto
packet switching and the Transmis- Throughout history, the arrival bubble isn’t funding physical infra-
sion Control and Internet Protocols of transformative technologies has structure but social infrastructure.
was ready for the online boom in the been accompanied by Wild West- Token valuations might be out of
nineties, blockchain developers are like speculation. It happened with whack with reality and imply big
in the spotlight. The world is already electricity, with railroads and with losses for many. But they’re also
demanding applications while highly
speculative crypto markets want
returns on their money. Having We don’t know what new
hundreds of billions of dollars at
stake does not make for an ideal, innovations will emerge, but
tranquil environment for testing and
developing software. it’s fair to say these early
Still, developers have no choice.
Like it or not, the ecosystem is innovators are laying the
coming together at once rather than
in sequence. Programmers and cryp- building blocks of our future,
tographers are working on cleaner
code, designing smarter security decentralized economy
solutions and installing faster trans-
action mechanisms at or on top of
the base protocol layer, while estab- the Internet itself in the nineties. incentivizing global groups of inno-
lished companies and startups are As the economist Carlota Perez vators to come together online,
rolling out smartphone products explains, speculation and bubbles conceive of new decentralized
at the higher, application layer. All are not just a byproduct but are a economic models, and codify those
this is occurring as day-traders flip core feature of how new, disrup- ideas in open-source software. Their
in and out of multiple crypto tokens, tive technologies are developed, startups may fail but their code will
creating huge, distracting gyrations deployed and ultimately incorpo- be freely available for others to later
in the developers’ own net worth. rated into our economy. work with, even more readily and
Out of this chaos, order will even- Speculation unlocks cheap capital. cheaply than the dot-com era fiber
tually come. It will partly be forced Much of it just lines the pockets of helped Google, Facebook and co.
by regulators like the Securities and early investors in crazy, overvalued in the 2000s. We don’t know what
Exchange Commission, which will proposals such as Pets.com in 1999, new innovations will emerge, but
set rules and enforce them, hope- but it also funds real, valuable infra- it’s fair to say these early innovators
fully without killing innovation. Order structure. In the dot-com bubble, are laying the building blocks of our
will also come from the community money went into physical infrastruc- future, decentralized economy.
itself, driven by the demands of the ture: fiber-optic cable, giant server
market. We need best practices for farms, research into 3G mobile tech- The Big Idea
token-issuing startups, software nologies. People lost billions on At times like this, there’s a broad
audits and other quality assurances, silly ideas in the nineties but their understanding that something big
Consensus 2018 13

AMID CHAOS …
is happening. It’s just hard to predict life. Without bookkeeping, modern they don’t trust each other.
its economic impacts. So people society simply couldn’t function. Blockchains promise to supplant
throw scattershot money at every- We’d have no idea of who owes this centralized approach with a
thing. Inevitably, their bets over- what to whom and of how much distributed, shared ledger whose
shoot and prices decline. That this is value to assign to the assets of indi- updates follow a robust, ongoing
going on in crypto is perhaps vindi- viduals, companies and entire econ- consensus in real-time. At any given
cation of the underlying technolo- omies. It’s how we overcome the time, everyone who’s with access can
gy’s importance. core challenge of mistrust among know the current state of agreed-to
This begs some fundamental strangers, the means by which we transactions and balances. No more
questions: What is the paradigm reach agreement on sets of facts need for weekly, monthly, quarterly,
shift, the big idea that breeds such and make exchanges of value. This or annual reconciliations and audits.
excitement? Why, after almost ten is the stuff of civilization. Anything The entire rhythm of our financial
years is the market assigning $159 that transforms this function is, by system could change.
billion of value to a digital asset definition, extremely important. And it’s not just financial data.
based on a software system that Until now, we’ve had to rely on Valuable information of all kinds
no one controls? What’s so special, centralized ledger keepers, essen- can be tracked in this decentralized
anyway, about a decentralized, tially requiring us to trust the say-so manner. It includes the online data
censorship-resistant system of of those who control the books. that defines digital identities, titles
value exchange? We’ve assigned regulators and audi- to assets, and compliance infor-
The big, underlying idea, I believe, tors to randomly check their work, mation. It could disintermediate
is that blockchain technology can but for the most part we are blind to middlemen of all stripes because,
upend not just the business models the accuracy of the data, beholden by having a decentralized algorithm
of recent decades but a millennia-old to what the bookkeeper tells us. resolve our mutual mistrust rather
societal practice of deep signifi- This siloed recordkeeping results than depending on all-knowing
cance to civilization. Its decentral- in a “cost of trust” that takes many centralized ledger-keepers, we can
ized structure portends a profound forms. One is found in financial crises, trade directly with each other. When
change in ledger-keeping, a such as that of 2008, when society this system is reliably attached
to trusted devices in the Internet
of Things, it could even allow for
machine-to-machine trade.
It’s hard to overstate how Such a transformation points to
unimaginable new efficiencies. It
important ledgers are to could create untold new forms of
value. And it could massively disrupt
our way of life. Without existing businesses and jobs.
These prospects have stirred a
bookkeeping, modern society hive mind of dreamers and fueled
an unprecedented bout of economic
simply couldn’t function. speculation. We don’t know where
it’s headed. But we sense some-
thing profound is afoot.
Blockchain is a software tech-
nology, but its sweeping potential
dramatic re-imagination of society’s lost faith in the ledgers produced by has fostered a giant sideline industry
methods for tracking and assigning banks such as Lehman Brothers and of speculation and ideation. As the
value. It overturns the centralized the Royal Bank of Scotland. Another technology “goes live,” this hurly
model installed with the first ledger, is less obvious: the endless work of burly process of creative innovation
the Code of Hammurabi, which was millions of accountants at businesses and destruction will only intensify.
founded around 1754 BC in Babylon. around the world, each reconciling That’s both exciting and daunting,
It’s hard to overstate how their company’s books to those of but it poses massive potential
important ledgers are to our way of their counterparties. Why? Because payoffs. Join us for the ride.
14 Consensus 2018

Signs of Maturity for Bitcoin and Other Digital Assets
BY HA DL E Y S TER N , S VP AN D M AN AG ING DIREC TOR, F IDE LIT Y L ABS
ur Chairman and CEO, Abby One year later, as we gather as a community We are still building, laying the foundation
Johnson spoke at Consensus last again, do these four challenges continue? that will enable scalability and wider
year to acknowledge the potential Which have changed? adoption.
for the innovations we’re exploring.
Abby shared stories from a few I see signs of maturity. Yes, many obstacles The excitement to date has largely been
of our bitcoin and blockchain experiments, and remain, and the work we are all doing is focused around retail investors, and
addressed the barriers – or “blockers” – that challenging and remains largely undefined. institutional groups have watched patiently.
needed to be addressed before this future is Yet, we have come a long way in one year. Are we nearing readiness of enterprise-
realized, including those related to technology, ready tools and solutions for digital assets?
Government regulators in several countries I – and my colleagues – remain optimistic.
regulation and the user experience.
have published their opinions, and
financial services regulators are starting My team and others within Fidelity have
Technology. The tradeoffs between to recognize the need to further explore worked for several years to envision a future
scalability, privacy and peer-to-peer the developments where the promise of
settlement being made. I’ve “What if this could do for some form of these new
had the chance to digital assets is mature,
Policy. Innovation in this space is fast- meet with several
the transfer of value what accessible and a key part
moving and is often outpacing regulation. such regulators here the internet did for the of our customers’ daily
We continue to work with regulators and in the U.S. and am transfer of information?” lives. We have been
policymakers to have an open dialogue encouraged to see working to help create
and to find solutions to protect customers’ ABBY JOHNSON, CONSENSUS 2017
a true willingness to that future as well, both
interests, but there is more work to be done learn and understand. in allocation of resources
It appears these conversations will continue and the talent we’ve brought together to
Control. Networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum with people across our community. build, experiment, learn, and build again.
by design have no formalized management
structure. Are these systems growing with the We believe policymakers must provide We are deep in several projects, some
right level of governance where needed? clear and consistent guidance, both from of which we just aren’t ready to discuss
regulator-to-regulator and from jurisdiction- yet, so we’ll be watching alongside you at
Human. Blockchain was created for and by to-jurisdiction. Inconsistent policy guidance Consensus this year, eager to hear what new
each of us. However, we need to come up will create confusion and hesitancy, stifling developments are on the horizon.
with systems and products that are more innovation by firms interested in exploring
adaptable and bring joy to users these new and emerging technologies.
We were here one year ago to ask the Blockchain We’re seeing OTC desks, the establishment
community to collaborate around the hard of new exchanges, decreased volatility, What obstacles do you think
conversations, to join us in addressing these rollout of futures trading, and clearer remain for bitcoin?
blockers with other businesses, with regulators, guidance from a number of U.S. states.
Find us online and let us know:
and with each other as we all work toward While current solutions are largely
solutions. imperfect, these are all signs of progress @fidelitylabs
that provide both encouragement and
Many responded to our invitation to collaborate frustration to those of us who are working in @HadleyStern
and discuss ideas to overcome these challenges. this every day.
Fidelity Labs is a Fidelity Investments company. Fidelity Labs provides innovative products, services, content and tools, as a service to its affiliates and as a subsidiary of
FMR LLC. Based on user reaction and input, Fidelity Labs is better able to engage in technology research and planning for the Fidelity family of companies. 841201.1.0

Photo: Shutterstock
ADAPTING BLOCKCHAIN a last-mile delivery driver. Were

each of these participants able to
FOR IoT: ESTABLISHING gain near real-time insight into our

purchase and its progression from
factory to front door, they might
TRUST AMONG THINGS be able to collaborate to optimize
multiple independent systems near
by Mic Bowman, Principal Engineer, Intel Corp; Advisor, CoinDesk
real-time to get me the product
and Camille Morhardt, Director of IoT Strategy, Intel Corp
as fast and in as good condition
as possible—especially if there
The edge is messy. And the edge, where are unforeseen setbacks en route,
such as a flat tire!—while preparing
billions of interacting devices that will make for their next order.
up the Internet of Things will reside, is Yet the formation of these
networks is rife with problems. In
where IoT data is generated and acted upon. the best case, information collected,
shared, and acted upon is inconsis-
T here are often no secure physical perimeters where the raw sensing of tent in quality and availability. In the
the physical world takes place: on rooftops and space stations, inside worst case, it provides a completely
mines and aircraft engines, on container ships and solar panels. Even edge new attack vector for malicious
counterparts that aggregate, filter, normalize, and increasingly interpret data participants. When Things plan
or send it to a cloud for additional analysis are often mobile, have intermittent and act on our behalves, we want
connectivity, and are subject to shock, vibration or extreme temperatures. assurance that the data they utilize
As Things increase their connectivity and intelligence, so too will our demand to make decisions is trustworthy.
for them to autonomously form networks, exchange information, and coordi- Ensuring that information is
nate action on our behalves. When we order an article of clothing online, for trustworthy is hard enough when
example, we indirectly call on, among others, a fashion designer, raw goods a central authority orchestrates
suppliers, logistics companies, customs, a distributor, an importer, a buyer, an device configuration, data collec-
inventory management system, a customer management system, a bank, a tion and cleaning, and data dissem-
web management system for product placement and pricing, a retailer and ination. However, distributed
16 Consensus 2018

TITLE TK TK TK
Consensus 2018 17

ADAPTING BLOCKCHAIN FOR IoT
networks can’t rely upon a central ascribe all authority to the block- For example, a blockchain can accu-
authority. Traditional means to assert chain, we believe IoT applications rately record the transfer of access
and verify participant identity and must achieve a balance of authority. rights to a piece of information that
integrity fail, because participating asserts that a container was shipped
Things are made by different manu- Technology across town. However, a blockchain
facturers, run different operating Requirements is unable to assert the authenticity
systems, communicate with different Establishing trust in the information of the GPS readings captured in the
protocols, and act on behalf of shared among Things creates new shipping record.
different owners who have different requirements for blockchain tech- Purists from the cryptocurrency
motives. The answer may well lie in nologies. Generally, blockchain tech- world will argue that a “permis-
the emerging technology that has nologies operate as an authority for sioned blockchain” is an oxymoron;
become known as “blockchain.” well-defined, deterministic systems. however some form of identity
verification is required for partici-
pants who join the network so they
can trust the information the Thing
Blockchain offers hope for expressing contributes to the collective. This

demand has led to the formation of
and establishing shared trust private, permissioned, closed, and
enterprise blockchains—all variants
in information created and on the theme of restricted participa-
tion in the distributed network. There
exchanged by Things is another possibility that Things
may be identified or otherwise certi-
fied to contribute information to an
otherwise public blockchain—some
Blockchain—or distributed ledger However, information created by sort of hybrid model that attempts to
technologies in general—offers Things sits outside the blockchain validate input but not restrict input-
hope for expressing and estab- and is notoriously ambiguous and ters. Other possible solutions involve
lishing shared trust in information non-deterministic. Providing infor- the use of anonymous credentials
created and exchanged by Things: mation assurance for qualitative and verifiable claims.
the immutable log of events that is data imposes new requirements on
the blockchain provides a means to the technology. Requirement 2:
establish authoritatively the prov- Controlled Access to
enance of information; to record Requirement 1: Information is Critical
and enforce policies for accessing Identity and Reputation of Typically, blockchain transactions
the information; and to act on the Participants is Central to Trust are transparent. The introduc-
information autonomously through and Must be Exposed tion of smart contracts that codify
“smart contracts.” Public blockchains like Bitcoin typi- and execute detailed agreements
However, while there is tremen- cally provide a history of the trans- between participants complicates
dous promise, blockchain technol- actions on assets while anonymizing this notion. Businesses don’t like
ogies must evolve substantially to (or at least attempting to hide) the to share confidential data with
meet IoT’s unique demands. The identity of those performing the competitors. Smart contracts will
unique characteristics of IoT appli- transactions. For IoT applications, be powerful tools in IoT, particu-
cations impose both technical and however, information becomes larly in supply chains that include
economic requirements that lead more complex than simple owner- third party logistics companies. It’s
us to conclude that IoT applica- ship of an asset. In particular, most quite common for disputes to arise
tions must be situated within an information generated at the edge is at handoff points where there is
economic, legal and regulatory strongly qualitative; and once infor- transfer of custody of an asset. The
context that extends beyond the mation becomes qualitative, its prov- ability to prove that the temperature
blockchain. In particular, whereas enance—including the identity and of the container remained within
traditional blockchain applications reputation of the source—is critical. contract parameters should allow
18 Consensus 2018

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immediate trigger of payment. Or simultaneously expands confidenti- of ownership of assets). However,

conversely, proof that the good ality risks. Ledger replication offers data from the edge is often messy.
spoiled under party eight’s custody a wide surface area for attackers Precision and accuracy are limited
in a twelve-party supply chain that seeking access to individual nodes’ by the physical capabilities of the
all participants can view will quickly sensitive data.) Thing. And information generated
resolve finger pointing. And this at the edge is subject to a variety
proof must be constructed without Requirement 4: Connectivity is of malicious attacks that are difficult
revealing additional confidential Intermittent; Action Must be to detect. The messiness of data
information. For example, if an orga- Taken When Disconnected created (and consumed) by Things
nization is collecting bids on produce Intermittent connectivity seems leads to a level of ambiguity and
that was in that container, the orga- paradoxical to the Internet of Things. non-determinism that conflicts with
nization may not want all bidders to As Jacob Morgan defined IoT in blockchain technologies. Consider,
see every bid or to know the final Forbes in 2014, “Simply put, this is for example, a smart contract that
sale price. In general, the informa- the concept of basically connecting adjusts the target speed of vehicles
tion shared through transactions is any device with an on and off switch on a road based on measured traffic
subject to a potentially complex set to the Internet (and/or to each other).” flow. Weather issues that affect the
of access policies. The IoT community spent a lot of accuracy of the flow sensor might
time espousing pervasive connec- trigger adjustments in the target
Requirement 3: tivity and a reduction in transmis- speed that are unintended. A more
Efficiency Matters sion and storage costs; however troublesome example might occur
Another core principle of blockchain we now confidently make tradeoffs when automatic payments are trig-
is redundant compute and storage: between connectivity and battery gered when a shipping container
every participant processes all trans- life, connectivity and transmission arrives at a facility. A faulty RFID
actions and maintains the ledger, cost, connectivity and infrastructure reader could report the existence
creating an ever-growing demand cost. There are many, many edge of a container that has not actually
for storage across the network. In nodes which by design receive or arrived triggering an inappropriate
IoT, where lightweight nodes at the send data only intermittently and transfer of funds.
edge frequently have extremely in small quantities. In essence, the Often, some form of external
limited storage and compute power same forces that drive autonomous recourse can audit and prescribe
(because their primary purpose is interaction to the edge also require corrective transactions that address
to sense raw data as economically blockchains to accommodate these problems (though this
as possible), IoT blockchains will connectivity constraints. implies the existence of an external
likely need to recognize the variety authority). However, issues arise
of nodes in the network and their Requirement 5: where the information itself is prob-
relative capabilities. The blockchain Actions Must be Reversible lematic. For example, personal infor-
itself may need to orchestrate which To this point, the requirements we’ve mation might leak into a transaction;
clients act as lightweight nodes, and discussed have been rather periph- the effect of GDPR and other privacy
which act as validators. eral to the core of blockchain tech- regulations may require that infor-
Further, we are likely to see an nology, focusing on performance mation be removed from the record.
increasing variety of consensus and deployment characteristics; this This problem is not unique to IoT
mechanisms that do not require one, however, represents a funda- applications though we expect it to
massive quantities of compute mental shift in one of the central be more common in them.
power or specialized hardware, and tenets of the technology. Specifically,
are thus easier to scale or run on blockchain technology is founded Economic
existing deployed equipment. (Note, on the principle of immutability; Requirements
also, that while redundancy is often once something is committed to the Beyond the technical requirements
viewed as a feature for blockchain log it never changes. This principle is are simple economic barriers to
integrity, one that increases the cost particularly appropriate for preserva- blockchain adoption in IoT. Enter-
to a malicious actor that seeks to tion of a record of unambiguous and prises are familiar with centralized
break network consensus and intro- deterministic events (such as trans- systems and in traditional, linear
duce fraudulent transactions, it also actions that represent the transfer supply chains, they work well. When
20 Consensus 2018
Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 20 5/9/18 9:10 AM 441581-

Transform risk
and complexity
to your advantage
In an environment of disruption and unforeseen risk and
regulation, organizations need to innovate with confidence.
Blockchain technology is quickly disrupting markets

across industries. But without proper controls needed
by governance teams including audit, risk management,
legal and compliance, innovation can get stalled.
PwC’s Blockchain Validation Solution provides a

controls environment for private blockchain business
processes, with continuous testing and assurance.
For more information, please visit:

www.pwc.com/blockchain-validation
© 2018 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the US member firm or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates,
and may sometimes refer to the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see
www.pwc.com/structure for further details. This content is for general information purposes only, and
should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.
Consensus Agenda
441581-2018-PwC FINAL.indd
Blockchain 21
Conference Ad.indd 1 4/4/2018 5/9/18 9:10 AM
8:46:02 PM
there is a strong purchaser at one incumbent entity to set up the infra- Finally, we will likely see commen-
end of a supply chain, there is every structure to distribute orchestration. suration of data generated at the
reason for that entity to simply set Blockchains are uniquely suited to edge—not just across autonomous
up a distributed database (that it micro-transactions, so scale may Things or organizations, but across
autonomous ecosystems. At this
point the blockchain will be more
efficient than centralized systems
Devices will autonomously at managing the complexities of
non-linear supply chains, managing
form communities, exchange identity, provenance, shared data
sets, and running smart contracts.
information and present us While we will be trusting machines
to make some decisions and take
with options some actions on our behalves,
businesses in IoT will always want
to retain the ability to revoke or
reverse the actions taken by a smart
manages centrally) and require all help solve this problem. The IoT contract, since humans are noto-
vendors participating in its supply community has seen a few subscrip- riously bad at contingency plan-
chain to enter their data into it. Until tion models and nonprofit models. ning or future prediction, and the
we enter the realm of multiple over- However, until there emerges a equipment that will be acting on our
lapping ecosystems and complex clear, repeatable, compelling busi- behalves will also often be respon-
non-linear, dynamic supply chains ness model, adoption of blockchains sible for keeping us safe.
(think: distributed manufacturing for IoT will be slow.
with over a dozen contributors to Over the next couple of years Recommendations
any given Thing printed, each with we will likely see an increasing We often talk about a blockchain as a
unique IP, equipment, and certi- number of pilots and small scale replacement for a trusted third party
fications), it is difficult to find an deployments using the technology for interactions within a community;
economically compelling use for in sub-optimal usages, e.g. stan- that is, the community ascribes to the
truly decentralized ledgers. dard supply chains with a dozen or blockchain ultimate authority about
However, the competitive envi- so participants to improve speed “truth.” For applications built around
ronment in which these incumbents of asset tracking or provenance a network of Things, however, the
operate in is rapidly changing, with and reduction of disputes through blockchain must be situated within
3D-printing enabling distributed audit—all important advances in IoT. a much larger context that incor-
manufacturing, and barriers to In these early trials, industry and porates institutional relationships,
entry around machine learning and ecosystem leaders will seek to prove legal requirements, and regulatory
other fast-developing technologies cost savings or incremental revenue. control.
lowering. To compete, enterprises We will then witness the evolu- There is a very real danger for
may be forced to adopt more open tion of standards that allow for cross those deploying blockchain-based
systems. The IoT industry is inevi- organizational device identity and solutions for IoT to believe that the
tably expanding into more complex configuration, with early methods tamper proof nature of the block-
ecosystems. As a result, we expect for partitioning workloads across the chain provides assurances about
compelling use cases for blockchain variety of IoT devices, and protecting the integrity and trustworthiness
will become more apparent. data or its meta-inputs via linked of information (and about actions
Herein lies a conundrum. Single trusted execution engines or reten- driven by that information). A more
strong purchasers orchestrate tion of encrypted states as data realistic view is that the role of the
ecosystems around a supply chain moves across edge, fog, and cloud blockchain transitions from a source
because they accrue revenue by nodes. Devices will autonomously of “shared truth” about the state
doing so. Distributed collabora- form communities, exchange infor- of a system to a log of “decisions
tion results in distributed value, so mation, and present us with options and actions” that might need to be
there is little incentive for any single, for action based on their interactions. adjusted in the future.
22 Consensus 2018

Artwork: Shutterstock
CAPITAL SET FREE

was not until almost exactly 20
years later that a physicist even
conceived of exactly how a chain
By Simon Johnson, the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneur- reaction might take place.
ship, MIT Sloan School of Management Wells was wrong, of course,
about all the details. Anyone who
In 1913, H.G. Wells wrote The World Set imagines the future of technology
will necessarily mess up on all the
Free, a chillingly prescient set of predictions small stuff. The more interesting
about the development of technology. question is: if we understand
the bigger shifts, can we predict
at least the direction of future
P ublished in early 1914, this slim volume called it exactly right on the change? And—much more diffi-
coming dominance of aircraft in warfare, the ways armies would adapt cult—if we can see where this new
(or not), and even some of the geopolitical implications. Most astonishingly, breed of digital, blockchain-based
Wells also predicted that atomic bombs would soon be dropped from the air tokens might lead or what they
on civilian populations—and that this would change everything. could become, could we glean any
As we grapple with the potential future of crypto-tokens and related develop- insight into when big things might
ments, Wells’ volume—and particularly the way he thought about the future— happen?
bears closer consideration. What we do know is that one
The remarkable point about Wells’ reasoning is that he jumped directly feature of this technology is
from the fairly rudimentary pre-World War One knowledge of radioactivity already triggering a societal and
and atomic structure to the idea that within this science lurked an explosive economic shift before our eyes:
device of devastating power. In retrospect, this might seem obvious, but it Initial Coin Offerings. While it will
24 Consensus 2018

Blockchain Technology &
Digital Assets
SRZ's Blockchain Technology & Digital Assets Group has substantive
experience and knowledge of the legal and regulatory considerations
involving virtual and digital currency business initiatives and the blockchain
technology behind them.
Our lawyers advise private investment funds, money transmitters and financial institutions on the implications of the
following, among other types of matters:
• Conducting transactions involving ICOs and cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin and Ether);
• Establishing platforms for transacting in digital assets;
• Managing and investing in funds that transact in blockchain projects (such as smart contracts) and digital asset
initiatives that have resulted from ICOs;
• Registration and licensing of cryptocurrency businesses;
• Regulatory and enforcement matters subject to federal, state and self-regulatory organization requirements and
authorities; and
• Sponsoring or investing in ICOs.
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The contents of these materials may constitute attorney advertising under the regulations of various jurisdictions.

CAPITAL SET FREE
take some time, if ever, before this

technology’s advocates realize
their vision for tokens to forge a
new system of economic exchange
and governance, ICOs are making
waves right now.
There is obviously a lot of debate
about the precise nature of Initial
Coin Offerings, including whether
or not they constitute securi-
ties offerings in the eyes of the
law—which, in the U.S., the Secu-
rities and Exchange Commission
interprets and applies in the first
instance, subject to legal appeals
and political discourse, of course.)
I’m not a securities lawyer, and I
am not here taking a position on
this question.
Instead, let’s focus on what
promoters of ICOs say they are
trying to do by selling digital tokens
to the public—and what appears
to have caught the attention of
investors. While many will describe
their tokens not investments but as
pre-sold, negotiable “products” with
a utility function that gives the holder
access to the system’s services, so
far the most disruptive aspect of this
idea lies in how it changes the fund-
raising dynamic. And on that score, Author H .G. Wells, 1866–1946
the idea is relatively straightforward:
Photo: Wiimedia
someone will build a technology that
could be useful to you and others,
and that person would like to prefund
that in a way that the value gener- investors. That turns out to be quite investors was limited, and owner-
ated by that technology is shared revolutionary. ship shares could be traded in a rela-
with early users (and others who are tively efficient forms.
willing to provide risk capital at this History Repeating Of course, there was madness
development stage). In the nineteenth century, before and also bad behavior during various
Access to capital for risky ventures there was a boom in industrial devel- railway manias. And we learned
is a key constraint both for the development projects, we built a lot of the very hard way that unfettered
opment of individual firms and for railroads in Europe and the United competition can lead to some prob-
our economy-wide process through States. The legal form varied some- lematic behavior, either in terms of
which new technology reaches the what across jurisdictions, but every safety (a lot of people were injured
market. ICOs offer a more direct country that made progress in raising or killed by trains in the early days),
route for both tapping and deploying capital did so through some form of the concentration of power (e.g.,
funds, for matching founders with Joint Stock Company—liability for build railway monopolies and jack
26 Consensus 2018

CAPITAL SET FREE
up prices), a boom-bust cycle (which clearly the problem that is being There may be scams or weak
can even bring down the financial addressed—it is relatively hard to governance or just bad ideas—we
system and have broader delete- raise early stage capital, and under have seen plenty of each in every
rious macroeconomic effects). the existing venture capital model it previous investment boom. And,
We responded over the following helps to be located in one of a few to be clear, in any such emerging
century or so with various “soft” or places (e.g., Silicon Valley broadly market situations, you really can
institutional innovations that started defined, Boston, and New York). lose everything you risk, without
in the private sector but ultimately What about all the people with recourse or recompense.
acquired the backing of govern- good ideas who live elsewhere? And Picking up on some of these risks,
ment. Dangerous behavior was what about investors who would like Mark Carney, governor of the Bank
constrained through the award of to take some well-considered risk of England, and Agustin Carstens,
legal damages and through the but who are not considered qualified head of the Bank for International
protections demand by trade unions. under the existing, rather antiquated Settlements, weighed in recently
The predatory pricing behavior of rules (which are based entirely on against crypto-currencies, including
trusts was limited by law and by how much “investable” wealth you but not limited to Bitcoin. Their
speeches are quite different but
both are wonderfully erudite and
ICOs offer a more direct

elegantly constructed. They focused
primarily on the future of money, at
route for both tapping

least as they define it. Anyone inter-
ested in this space should carry
and deploying funds, for

copies with them at all time. As Oscar
Wilde suggested, it is important to
matching founders with

have something sensational to read
in the train.
investors. That turns out

Or you can read H.G. Wells.
Predicting a limited future for a new
to be quite revolutionary.
way of raising capital today is rather
like hearing about the properties of
radium in 1898 and remarking, “is
that all it can do?”
the executive—Teddy Roosevelt’s have). Or what if you have an idea Now, it’s true that anyone who
first antitrust action was against that, for whatever reason, is not on was concerned about the health
a regional railroad monopoly. A the current wish list for the people implications and other unintended
central bank was created because, who run VC funds? consequences of discovering radio-
following the panic of 1907, no one If there are barriers to entry into active elements was exactly right—
was confident that purely private venture capital, as seems plausible, and should have been listened to
mechanisms could prevent collapses it is fairly straightforward to reason more carefully. Carney and Carstens
in a severe panic, and securities that there are very high returns make some good points in this
regulation emerged because the to capital in this sector, at least on regard.
consequences of the Crash of 1929 average and over a sufficiently And—this is a point nailed by
proved so devastating. David Moss’s long period of time. Who is able to Wells—any sufficiently profound
compelling book on the rise of the participate in those opportunities, development in technology cannot
U.S. federal government is aptly i.e., invest in a VC fund? Not most avoid having major effects on the
titled, When All Else Fails. people who are reading this column. structure of society, including the
Seen in this context, how should To be sure, there are many prob- value of firms and who has (and
we see ICO—joint stock compa- lems to be solved along the way to keeps) a good job. All such effects
nies, or railroad ventures, or some ICOs—or anything that descends are inherently hard to predict. To
combination of both? We don’t know from them—allowing for a more those who wish to hurry change—be
yet for sure, but we can see more democratic approach to risk-taking. careful what you wish for.
28 Consensus 2018

CAPITAL SET FREE
Still, it is sudden change that much the process could speed up We should probably also rethink
generally proves most difficult to once the resources of a well-run what kind of investment portfolios
handle, and there are good reasons country were applied to a problem are recommended at different stages
to think we have some time before with single-minded concentration, of life. Who should be regarded as
the full implications of ICOs (and their i.e., the Manhattan Project. an accredited investor, for example
institutional grandchildren) are upon Wells also thought—and this is in a technology they know well—and
us. The SEC will apply existing rules interesting for the ICO context—that when they are in their early twenties
in a judicious manner—investors
really do need protection, and there
is actually bipartisan support on It is hard to think of an
this point. The Commodity Futures
Trading Commission may well weigh instance of technological
in regarding how particular instru-
ments should be traded. The lead-
change in modern America
ership of both organizations seem,
at this time, to be paying close and
that has not gone through some
sensible attention to developments. phase of exuberance, followed by
It should not surprise us if, in our
usual empirical and haphazard way, consolidation and—sometimes—
we find a path along which regula-
tion can support more decentral- eventual impact.
ized and lower cost ways of raising
capital. Gate-keepers in the financial once one country had acquired (so there is plenty of time to ride the
world, who do well by controlling destructive nuclear technology, cycle)? Investors need protection,
various bottlenecks, will come under almost all countries in the world but against what and through what
increasing pressure. would follow suit. He was wrong methods exactly?
Whatever happens, we should about that. Similarly, with economic None of this means that utopia is
always expect a boom-bust cycle. and financial innovations, there are around the corner or that produc-
It is hard to think of an instance of plenty of reasons why some coun- tivity growth is about to jump
technological change in modern tries will struggle to emulate the upwards. In The World Set Free, H.G.
America that has not gone through leaders—typically because local Wells was too optimistic about the
some phase of exuberance, followed oligarchs prefer the status quo. future of benevolent government,
by consolidation and—sometimes – In the end, some relatively and we would do well to avoid that
eventual impact. prosperous countries—this could mistake.
include the U.S. or perhaps smaller But the way capital finds and
What We Can Prepare countries with less of a stake in the supports opportunities around the
for existing global financial system— world is not just changing—it has
If better access to risk capital lies in will end up with a better way of already changed. Spend some time
our future, what can we say about raising capital and, most likely, an thinking through the implications.
when this might happen? associated change in how corporate ICOs offer a more direct route
This is the hardest question, and governance operates. Fundamental for both tapping and deploying
likely not a good idea to take (or bet issues surrounding the protection funds, for matching founders with
on) a strong view. With regard to the of privacy will need to be dealt with investors. That turns out to be
future of power generation, trans- along the way. A host of related quite revolutionary.
portation, and warfare, H.G. Wells issues to be addressed include It is hard to think of an instance
was right on the natural course of the precise nature of disclosure, of technological change in modern
science—he picked the 1930s as key what meaningful reporting through America that has not gone through
decade for applications to emerge financial accounting means, and some phase of exuberance, followed
from the theory of atoms—but he how markets obtain and respond by consolidation and—sometimes—
completely failed to anticipate how to information. eventual impact.

Photo: Shutterstock
AND WHAT HAS THE on future rather than present utility.

But even if we grant this claim for
BLOCKCHAIN EVER the sake of argument, stating that

most of the value of blockchain
DONE FOR US?

lies in the future is not the same
as saying that (a) the present-day
utility of the blockchain is zero or
by Balaji S. Srinivasan, CTO, Coinbase that (b) the blockchain sector will
never live up to its valuation.
The new digital gold standard? Well, of In this piece, we review some
of the reasons why new technolo-
course. That goes without saying! gies like the blockchain are often
heavily criticized en route to ubiq-
uity. We then discuss the specifics
I n Monty Python’s Life of Brian, there’s a famous scene in which John of how the blockchain has already
Cleese’s character is stirring up a group against the Romans. He’s begun disrupting at least three
trying to get them all frothed up about the supposed righteousness of their multibillion dollar verticals: the gold
cause and the uselessness of the Romans, until reality intrudes. One by one, industry, international wire trans-
members of the crowd begin listing off all the things the Romans actually fers, and crowdfunding. Finally, we
have brought to the community, from roads to medicine to sanitation, thereby talk through a few objections, and
contradicting his criticism and undermining his point. conclude by discussing the areas
I’m reminded of this scene when surveying much of today’s commentary where the blockchain may provide
on blockchain technology. There’s no dearth of intelligent and thoughtful yet more near-term 10X advantages.
people claiming that the blockchain is bad, or that it has no use, or that it’s
bad and has no use. Fad, Bubble, Monopoly
It’s an odd situation, because while businesses in the blockchain sector Highly valuable technologies typi-
are already empirically generating billions of dollars in revenue, the value of cally experience relentless nega-
digital currencies and assets is often said to be driven largely by speculation tivity on the way to the summit.
Consensus 2018 31

WHAT HAS THE BLOCKCHAIN EVER DONE FOR US?
High growth is matched by high Despite piling up 500 million users processions of the prominent were
volatility and even higher expec- in six years, in 2010 people were trotted out to denounce the heresy.
tations, leading to hype cycles and still calling the company a bubble Hundreds of obituaries and dozens
periods of apparent overvaluation, that would never live up to the of “bans” later, of course, Bitcoin is
until eventually the technology is outlandish $33B valuation that now worth many billions of dollars. It
globally ubiquitous. Then the new people had placed on it. This narra- hasn’t just survived but has thrived,
critique is no longer about faddish- tive still held as late as August 2012, and has given rise to Ethereum and
ness or lack of utility but about ines- as Facebook’s stock plummeted dozens of other coins and chains.
capable monopoly, until the next after the IPO and it was an open But it’s far too early to declare
disruption appears on the horizon question as to whether they’d be victory. No longer dismissed as a
and the cycle begins anew. able to monetize on mobile. By 2017, passing fad, and not yet attacked as
a dominant monopoly, today’s argu-
ment against the blockchain sector
No longer dismissed as a passing is that it’s a bubble without real use.

After all, the blockchain space as a
fad, and not yet attacked as a whole is worth hundreds of billions
of dollars, but where is the utility?
dominant monopoly, today’s What are the daily use cases? What
justifies this value? Why is it not just
argument against the a bubble now and forevermore?
blockchain sector is that it’s a The Blockchain

Has Already 10X’d
bubble without real use. Gold, International
Wire Transfers, and
Crowdfunding
One example of this with the of course, Facebook made $15B in So let’s talk about the successes
earlier internet revolution can be net income in just one year. Now the of the blockchain to date, as those
seen by comparing IT Doesn’t questions of whether social media often go without saying. There are at
Matter (published in the trough of is a fad or Facebook is overvalued least three multibillion dollar sectors
the dotcom bubble in 2003) to The have silently faded away. The new where the blockchain has provided
Shallows (written after social media question is whether Facebook is an quantifiable 10X improvements over
and web 2.0 had re-emerged and unstoppable monopoly that requires the preceding technologies. These
proven themselves in 2011). The government regulation. This may are digital gold, international wire
first book argued that software was be a legitimate question; however, transfers, and crowdfunding.
no longer a source of competitive it is a wholly different one from the
advantage and that the internet contention that social media was a A Better Gold
revolution had been overhyped. mere trifle or passing fad. First and perhaps most obviously,
The second book, by the very same The blockchain is already midway Bitcoin is a better gold. Wences
author, argued that software compa- through a similar path. Lest we Casares of Xapo gave the canonical
nies were now too successful and forget, Bitcoin was initially dismissed presentation on this several years
the internet revolution was causing as something that could never ago. Being digital, Bitcoin is infinitely
a fundamental shift in society. While work due to its deflationary mining lighter than gold of the same value.
the theses were mutually contradic- schedule. Decade-old macroeco- Large amounts of money can be
tory, the one common thread was nomic textbooks were quoted like quickly transported across borders,
unremitting negativity towards the holy scripture, as if “Econ 101” was easily 10X faster than the equivalent
then-new technology called the relevant to Nakamoto Consensus amount of gold can be moved. And
internet. and the solution of the Byzantine Bitcoin is significantly more subdi-
Another more recent example Generals Problem. Tulips were visible and liquid than a gold bar.
is with Facebook and social media. waved like cloves of garlic. Endless Even given Bitcoin’s recent issues
32 Consensus 2018

with transaction fees and wait times obvious how many people are using tech know of Kickstarter, Indiegogo,
(already partially obviated via Light- Ethereum in this way, it is obvious and GoFundMe. But when consid-
ning), the technical advantages that it’s far better than wires for ered internationally, the sector is
vis-a-vis gold are obvious and at those that are. To gauge how wide- even bigger than you might think. It
this point well-nigh indisputable. spread this use case is, we spoke to was estimated to be in the billions
The gradual replacement of gold by Peter Smith, CEO of Blockchain for annually and growing fast even
Bitcoin on many balance sheets and this article, who noted that “a signif- before January 2017. And then came
in a wide variety of financial contexts icant fraction of our tens of millions the year of ICOs and token sales.
is now just a matter of time and insti-
tutional inertia. Given that the total
value of gold is estimated to range
into the trillions of dollars, scaling
the digital gold application alone
The sheer speed of the transaction
can justify the total market cap of the increases the velocity of
blockchain sector.
business and the trust between
A Better SWIFT
Second, consider international wire geographically distributed partners.
transfers. If two startups or contrac-
tors on either side of the world want Forget same-day transfer; this
to transact and if both parties are
aware of cryptocurrency, Ethereum
is same-minute transfer.
is increasingly their medium of
choice. The reasons for this low-pro-
file revolution in global money trans- of users are using the Blockchain With almost nine billion dollars
mission are simple: Ethereum settles Wallet to enable large, fast cross- worth of token sales and ICOs
in roughly 14 seconds, works 24/7 in border transactions. We may publish consummated within the span of
any country, allows instantaneous statistics on this in the future.” about a year, we have entered a
generation of receiving addresses, In theory, this use case will soon completely new age for crowd-
and is now fairly well known in the face competition from banks, who funding. To put this in perspective,
tech community. Thus, if you can will adopt SWIFT gpi and bring just three years ago Ethereum itself
email someone, you can send them settlement times down. But in prac- raised about $15 million in what
$50,000 in Ethereum about as tice international wires still take was then one of the largest crowd-
quickly and easily as you can send multiple business days to clear funders of all time. But the advent
them an attachment. while Ethereum reliably clears within of ICOs and token sales completely
This allows medium-scale inter- seconds—and has for years. Ethe- demolished all previous records.
national deals to close in realtime. reum also saves both parties a trip As with gold and international wire
The vendor emails over an Ethereum to the bank during business hours, transfers, the use of blockchain
address, and the customer Docu- as ETH transactions can be sent technology empirically introduced
signs a contract and sends the Ethe- between any pair of devices at any a 10X improvement, allowing inter-
reum. Receipt is confirmed over the time of day. In this case, the real national crowdfunders on the scale
phone as both parties hit refresh on world utility of a blockchain-based of hundreds of millions of dollars to
Etherscan. The sheer speed of the technology has actually been unde- occur for the first time. And thanks
transaction increases the velocity rhyped. It is already 10X faster than to the blockchain, tens of millions
of business and the trust between SWIFT, and has been for some time. of dollars from all around the world
geographically distributed partners. could now be sent and settled within
Forget same-day transfer; this is A Better Crowdfunder 30 seconds.
same-minute transfer. As a third example of what the Please note: remarking on these
We’ve personally seen this exact blockchain has already done for us, totals is meant to offer neither praise
use case many times. While it’s not consider crowdfunding. Most folks in nor criticism of the specific projects
Consensus 2018 33

which have raised these funds. It is the claim that “nobody has come up regulatory issues surrounding ICOs
simply important to note that block- with a use case for blockchain after and crypto-crowdfunding, we’ll have
chain-driven improvements in crowd- 10 years”, as the number of parties to spend time with policy makers
funding technology have enabled that can benefit from these three and heads of state.
financings of an unprecedented use cases includes every entity with But these kinds of objections miss
scale and speed, literally 10X larger gold on the balance sheet, every the forest for the trees. A new tech-
and faster than what came before. business with transnational trade, nology is typically not mildly superior
And while many regulatory issues and every organization raising to an existing technology in every
respect, but is instead 10X better
on one key axis. That 10X improve-
ment draws customers and provides
A new technology is typically the capital and rationale for fixing
the other defects. The early iPhone
not mildly superior to an camera is a good case in point—
while far worse than a dedicated
existing technology in every digital camera in most respects, it

had one 10X advantage going for
respect, but is instead 10X it: its ubiquity as a bundled piece of

a network-connected smartphone.
better on one key axis. That led to a rapid rise in use and a
concomitant rapid investment in the
feature set of network-connected,
phone-based cameras. We’re seeing
still need to be worked out to fully money online. While scaling the a similar phenomenon with block-
mainstream ICOs and token sales, it blockchain-driven 10X advantages chain-based technologies, where
is quite possible that the blockchain out to all these entities will doubt- their 10X advantages mean they are
will go on to transform not just crowd- less take some time, it will also reli- gaining ground despite their largely
funding, but venture capital itself. ably generate billions in value. remediable flaws.
So the Blockchain But These Technologies Aren’t In Conclusion

Future is Already Here Superior in Every Respect! There is no dearth of articles on how
The three application areas outlined Another counterargument is that the the blockchain will eventually disrupt
above—digital gold, international new technologies are not superior everything. I actually believe we
wire transfer, and crowdfunding— in all respects. What about Bitcoin’s will see most of the envisioned use
demonstrate that blockchain-driven volatility? What about the fact that cases come to pass, though some
10X innovation is already here. The everyone doesn’t yet accept Ethe- will take years or decades to fully
remaining obstacles are related reum in lieu of a bank-based wire play out and will go through multiple
to execution and distribution. The transfer? And what about the regu- iterations before succeeding. Over
fundamental zero-to-one innovation latory issues surrounding crypto the next few years, I’m particularly
in these areas is no longer in ques- crowdfunding? bullish on Ethereum games and
tion and has been obvious to people Each of these are legitimate blockchain-based social networks
in the space for years. objections, for which we can furnish and marketplaces.
answers. To address volatility we But that long-term bullishness
But the Blockchain Future Isn’t need companies to sell the tradi- comes from an empirical reck-
Evenly Distributed! tional instruments for managing oning with the concrete successes
One counterargument is that these volatility, like collars. To get more that the blockchain has put on the
10X improvements may indeed exist, folks to accept crypto as a means board to date. It is only because
but not everyone can yet avail them- for international wire transfer means the blockchain has already done so
selves of them. Note, however, that getting more users for exchanges much for us that I expect it to do so
this is a significant step back from on both sides. And to address the much more.
34 Consensus 2018

Photo: Shutterstock
MANUFACTURING AND compliance and on-boarding can’t

keep up. Blockchain technology,
with its decentralized, consen-
BLOCKCHAIN: PRIME sus-based approach to proving
the veracity of each users claims
TIME YET TO COME and statements, offers a promising

solution—with the added bonus
By Maja Vujinovic, CEO, OGroup that it might also foster a more equi-
table world. Manufacturers cannot
depend on blockchains alone
Since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th to make their operations more
and 19th centuries, manufacturing has expo- manageable—no one technology
or business model will singlehand-
nentially increased in volume and demand; edly solve these issues—but they
supply chains have grown ever more should all be looking closely at
their potential.
complex, and industry has progressively
required less direct manual labor. A Challenging
Environment
If we applied the 20th –century
T o add even more complexity, we now have a need not only for supply logic of the corporate bottom line to
chain management (SCM) but also for business process outsourcing, as the current outlook, it would seem
well as for corporate social responsibility and sustainability. To succeed, one bright, with population growth
must continuously innovate and keep up with a rapid technological change. pushing the manufacturing industry
One outcome of this radical uncertainty for businesses is that they face an into a constant quest for efficiency,
increasingly wide and diverse cast of counterparties, which is forcing them reliability, seamlessness and speed.
to rethink their trust infrastructure. Existing, time-consuming approaches to Some 27% of manufacturers across
Consensus 2018 35

MANUFACTURING AND BLOCKCHAIN
the globe estimate an increase in 2025. Fleet management in trans- hackable – both your own and those
revenues of 10% or more per year portation, security and surveillance of your business partners -- which
in the next five years, according applications in government, inven- means your business is still at risk.
to Industry Week. Thirty percent tory and warehouse management There’s a dire need to find additional,
of manufacturers expect revenue applications in retail and industrial comprehensive enterprise solutions
growth between 5 and 10%. The asset management in primary manu- to security, ones that go beyond
problem is that this growth comes facturing will be the hottest areas simply building an ever bigger wall
with major challenges, especially in for IoT growth. All of this will require to keep the attackers out.
the face of resource shortages and faster, more transparent processes Blockchain technology seeks
environmental and efficiency imper- and transactions throughout the to address these problems via a
atives. Companies are catching on supply chain. common data architecture that lets
to the fact that their SCM must be Today, manufacturing compa- non-trusting parties more securely
share information. Blockchains are
designed to permanently record
Deferring questions of trust to transactions -- not merely currency

transactions but, importantly, also in
a decentralized algorithm that exchanges of data – in such a way
that the record cannot be tampered
no one party controls could both with. This stands in contrast to
centralized databases, which can be
advance transparency along existing altered after an entry has been made.
This unique design means that block-
supply chains and allow for more chains can enhance trust among
organizations and add another
fluid, dynamic supply chains layer of security and reliability to a
supply chain’s information system.
By deferring questions of trust to
anticipatory, adaptive, and environ- nies are investing heavily in trusted a decentralized algorithm that no
mentally aware to achieve business supply chain networks, which one party controls, they promise to
sustainability. And even then, there involves on-boarding new suppliers both advance transparency along
is still friction and waste from time through a laborious due-diligence existing supply chains and allow for
lags, price arbitrage, and opacity. and compliance process. They more fluid, dynamic supply chains
All these challenges must be solved do this to meet some of the core in general. For producers and
within the context of an ever-wid- needs in any manufacturing supply consumers alike, the gains could
ening array of possible business rela- chain, including the responsive- be manifest in improved traceability
tionships as supply chains become ness of chain partners to changing of goods and work processes and,
increasingly complex in a dynamic, production needs, the traceability ultimately, in greater efficiency and
rapidly changing environment. of goods and processes along the lower costs.
Businesses that can’t adapt will chain, surveillance of counterfeiting,
be surpassed as their compet- and protection of IP and assets. In The Benefits of
itors deploy new tools, such as investing in these exclusive relation- Blockchain Technology
the Internet of things, predic- ships, companies develop strong A much-discussed facet of block-
tive analytics, satellite data, and bonds of trust and centralized asset chain-based SCM is that tamper-ev-
blockchain itself. These technolo- control based on individual enter- ident distributed ledgers can
gies drive efficiency but are also prise solutions. These relationships potentially improve traceability and
forcing transparency. And change provide a sense of security, and yet establish the provenance of goods
is happening fast. IHS forecasts, for that security is typically only as reli- from start to finish. Tracking of
example, that the IoT market will able as the firewall each partner has the sourcing of raw materials, the
grow from an installed base of 15.4 in place. As demonstrated by data countries of production, inspec-
billion devices in 2015 to 30.7 billion breaches at Home Depot and JP tions, transit methods, duration
devices in 2020 and 75.4 billion in Morgan, all firewalls are eventually and environmental factors can all
36 Consensus 2018

be updated instantly to a block- this workflow is then triggered when made possible, giving lenders and
chain that is transparent and trust- a producer submits the packing list big companies the confidence to
worthy. For the potential benefits for whatever commodity or good inject financing and other forms of
consider just one problem facing is being delivered to the shipper. liquidity into supply chains. This
the global economy: that of pirated As subsequent steps in the supply could in turn help smaller suppliers
goods, which the Organization for chain are sequentially completed, overcome their persistent working
Economic Cooperation and Devel- the documents are obtained and capital challenges. In a related
opment (OECD) estimates account distributed, allowing all participants field, blockchain systems could also
for nearly half a trillion dollars a year. in the process to see what has been enhance predictive analytics, by
In the automotive industry alone, it submitted, who submitted it, and which firms can collect data, model
has been estimated that counter- when it was submitted. No one it, generate statistics, and then use
feiting costs $12 billion dollars in participant can alter a record without those statistics to make data-driven
lost sales annually, impacting up to consensus from other parties on the business decisions. Since block-
200,000 jobs.1 And in pharmaceu- network. chains record each point in a process,
ticals, there’s an epidemic of drug Another exciting supply-chain they can provide verifiably accurate
overdoses that is in part attributed advantage of blockchains lies in data to determine statistical patterns
to counterfeited drugs. how businesses can manage ever- in anything from customer behavior
But the potential benefits go more-valuable data. In today’s 4th to risk exposure.
beyond provenance. Blockchains Industrial Revolution, where data When combined with rapid devel-
may also become a vital enabling is becoming the true gold, it will opments in IoT, this technology will
component of moves to enhance increasingly need to be exchanged eventually lead to full transactional
automation along supply chains, in efficient and collaborative ways. autonomy for machines. They will
since they can directly help to
automate the agreements upon
which automated transactions “Data collateralization” could give
will be based. Here the answer is
likely to lie in blockchain-based lenders and big companies the
“smart contracts,” which ensure
that pre-agreed obligations can be confidence to inject financing into
executed in an entirely program-
mable manner. Under a smart
supply chains. This could help
contract, all parties to an agree-
ment can be satisfied that payouts
smaller suppliers overcome
are delivered legitimately without their persistent working capital
the adjudication of a time- and
cost-consuming middleman. And challenges.
since blockchain-secured smart
contracts trigger transactions only
after prescribed criteria are met by Much of it will be generated by manage their own digital wallets,
signatories to the agreement, they automated devices, ensuring that loaded with cryptocurrency or
can mitigate the risk of relying upon the Internet of Things will need an specialized supply-chain tokens—
other parties to deliver on their accompanying “Ledger of Things” something I got GE to do in a pilot
commitments. to keep track of machine-to-ma- during my tenure there. Consider
In one example, the shipping chine exchanges of valuable infor- this scenario: A machine could run its
company Maersk it testing a block- mation. In other words, it will need a own predictive analytics, conclude
chain-based approach through a blockchain. that a replacement part is needed
partnership with IBM to put all docu- When information is protected by a certain time and then auto-
ments involved in bulk shipping into through this secure, multiparty matically place an order and pay for
a single template based on workflow; system, “data collateralization” is the part through a pre-established
1 Ford website
Consensus 2018 37

smart contract with a parts supplier. So, regardless of what evidence We should also note that block-
Imagine the cost and time savings the pilots provide, a challenge will chains, which depend upon
that would afford. continue to lie in enticing firms to use multi-computer networks, are inher-
it. Several practical considerations ently slower than centralized data-
Adoption? Not So Easy will dictate how quickly companies bases. As such, some argue that a
So far, much of the potential for adopt this technology and trans- distributed ledger that feeds into
blockchain solutions for SCM form their processes. It is easier to a centralized database is all that is
remains theoretical. The jury is still implement blockchain for intangible needed to maximize a supply chain.
out on whether blockchain tech- goods than for material ones, for This overlooks the public verifi-
nology actually is the fix it promises. example. And for tangible goods, it’s ability, integrity and transparency
We’re awaiting the results of pilots relatively easy to apply the technol- that blockchain provides, but it also
by IBM, Maersk, GE and others. ogy’s provenance-tracking where a argues for nuanced decision-making
around technology choices.
The bottom line is is that block-
chains are best suited where robust-
In reality, the problem is that ness, disintermediation, security,
proof of source, and proof of the
innovation is difficult for chain of custody are priorities. If
established players, especially speed is a greater priority than any

problem of mistrust in the database
when it threatens to disrupt existing manager, a blockchain may not be
the best fit, at least within the tech-
work processes in which many jobs nology’s current state of develop-
ment. Still, as the cryptographic layer
and incomes are connected. advances, with new “off-chain” solu-
tions such as the Lightning Network
promising to greatly improve trans-
action speed, processing capacity
Blockchain advocates talk enthu- single material—auch as diamonds and cost-effectiveness, and as new
siastically about reducing waste, or fish—is being traced along a chain. IoT solutions improve the security
increasing efficiency and providing But as my colleagues and I discov- and speed of machine-to-machine
greater control over supply chains, ered with GE’s highly complex supply communications, blockchain solu-
all because the technology can chains for large industrial assets tions will become increasingly more
boost business partners’ capacity such as airline engines and wind viable. And the more that big IT
and willingness to share informa- turbines, it’s much harder to track service provides such as IBM and
tion. Yet while SCM experts often the iterative delivery, processing and Microsoft implement blockchain
decry the fact that supply chains assembly of raw materials and parts business solutions, the more scal-
are overly complex and inefficient, into intermediate good that eventu- able and necessary the technology
many companies tend to view the ally become finished products. will become.
status quo as acceptable, repeating Paradoxically, although a
the mantra, “If it’s not broken, why blockchain could make informa- Looking to the Future
fix it?” In reality, the problem is tion-sharing much easier across According to a recent report
that innovation is difficult for estab- such a complex set of actors, over- published by Tractica, enterprise
lished players, especially when it coming the trust challenges across applications of blockchain across
threatens to disrupt existing work so many parties makes it hard to the globe will see growth in annual
processes in which many jobs and implement the technology in the revenue from $2.5 billion in 2016 to
incomes are connected. first place. $19.9 billion in 2025.2 Separately, a
2 According to a recent report published by Tractica, enterprise applications of blockchain across the globe will see growth in annual revenue from
$2.5 billion in 2016 to $19.9 billion in 2025.
38 Consensus 2018

2015 World Economic Forum Report a more secure environment for and quality and if not received, they
stated that approximately 10 percent communicating with each other, will go somewhere else? Blockchains
of GDP will be stored on blockchain greater cross-business collabora- have significant potential to help busi-
technologies by 2025.3 Are these tion and engagement become nesses comply with those demands.
forecasts too optimistic? Too pessi- possible, which accelerates inno- By deferring questions of trust to a
mistic? It is, of course, impossible to vation and opens up new business decentralized algorithm that no one
answer those questions in a multi- opportunities. party controls, [blockchains] promise
polar world that makes it ever harder What’s also certain is that there is to both advance transparency along
to predict the future. an unprecedented speed of change existing supply chains and allow for
What we can say is that wide- in this and other technologies aimed more fluid, dynamic supply chains in
spread adoption of blockchain at the manufacturing industry. The general.
ledgers could have widespread question for any company leader When information is protected
benefits for the global economy, confronting this environment is: through this secure, multiparty
especially if it helps establish new how to ignite urgency within their system, “data collateralization” is
standards in trade and manufac- organization and incentivize their made possible, giving lenders and
turing. We could achieve much employees to be entrepreneurs big companies the confidence to
higher levels of security protection within, so that they keep up with inject financing and other forms of
for sensitive data, with a model technological and business changes. liquidity into supply chains. This
that’s superior to both firewalls Customers today are requiring could in turn help smaller suppliers
and non-disclosure agreements. faster, safer delivery, consistency, overcome their persistent working
And, by extension, if we can create security, reliability, accountability capital challenges.
3 A 2015 World Economic Forum Report states that approximately 10 percent of GDP will be stored on blockchain technologies by 2025.

Artwork: Shutterstock
MAKING TRADE this disruption. It provides the

enabling platform on which a new
WARS OBSOLETE dynamic, highly fluid global system

for exchanging value will emerge,
one that’s far outside the purview
By Pindar Wong
of the World Trade Organization’s
current “rules of origin” model.
On Hainan Island, China’s Hawaii, in the Trade warriors are fighting yester-
day’s battles. Instead of pitting their
shadow of sanctions, tit-for-tat tariffs and a smokestack, 20th-century factories
looming trade war, China’s paramount leader and armies of workers against each
other, governments should apply
stood up for globalization last month by blockchain’s ‘Don’t Trust, Verify’
launching a surprise defense of world trade. approach to trade arrangements,
using it to reduce trade friction and
L audable though his position might be, Xi Jinping’s bargaining position— improve cross-border relations to
and that of Donald Trump—may soon be irrelevant. the betterment of their societies.
A confluence of technologies is poised to dramatically reshape the world of What might the roadmap look
manufacturing and, in the process, render obsolete the existing international like? That’s what an ad hoc group
trade regime. A few get a lot attention: the rise of 3D printing, the application of Hong Kong’s leading strategists
of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices to shipping and logistics, the increasing and business thinkers set out to
prevalence of artificial intelligence and machine learning. But it’s blockchain define when they started meeting
technology, with the capacity it gives to non-trusting parties to transact with privately in late 2016 to explore
each other by relying on a common source of digital truth, that will facilitate how to fully digitize trade among
40 Consensus 2018

MAKING TRADE WARS OBSOLETE
the 65-plus countries involved in actually administered by Coin- “opt-in” approach inspired by the
China’s “Belt and Road Initiative.” Desk, Inc., the US company, and not Internet Corporation for Assigned
The Belt and Road Blockchain someone else. Names and Numbers (ICANN), which
Consortium, as our group came to As for the data validity issue, we successfully managed a similar
be known, recognized that as supply found that it was useful to borrow global policy endeavor for domain
chains evolve into highly automated, some of the thinking behind tradi- names.
data-driven ecosystems, they will tional finance notions of security, Other standards will also need
need the transparency, immutability
and accountability that blockchains
provide.
We felt the history of the
Verifiability and
Validity Internet’s development offers a
Already, large-scale enterprises like
Walmart, IBM and Maersk are deep in useful framework for addressing
blockchain-for-supply chain research
and a clutch of exciting startups the question of legal verifiability.
such as Provenance and Skuchain
are building blockchain-based tools
for the supply-chain management
industry. But the consortium recog- specifically the KYC, or know-your- to emerge in related industries to
nized two important barriers to the customer concept. The intersection ensure all parties have confidence
widespread adoption of a global of IoT with blockchains drives a need in the data being shared in a block-
blockchain-based trade architec- for hardware integrity, which we call chain environment. Of particular
ture. The first concerned the desire KYM (know your machine). The need value was the foundation last year
for legal certainty, and independent for a mechanism for online dispute of the Global Smart Container Alli-
verifiability, of unique blockchain resolution (ODR), one that lies ance in Shenzhen to drive standards
identifiers, which are currently often outside of the blockchain in ques- both for smart shipping containers
represented as QR (Quick Response) tion, also became apparent to us. that record and report the ambient
codes. The second concerned the In that case, the blockchain would state of their cargo and for “E-locks,”
liability and validity of data written provide initial evidence to lower the which are used to electronically seal
to an immutable blockchain, specif- cost of establishing “matters of fact.” the container for faster customs and
ically what to do in the case of erro- Any new, blockchain-based duty clearance. Since March 2016,
neous—let’s call it #FakeData. governance system for the Belt and E-locks have been successfully
We felt the history of the Inter- Road community will need a reliable, used between the customs author-
net’s development offers a useful trusted jurisdictional home. And for ities of Hong Kong and Shenzhen,
framework for addressing the ques- that we highlighted a key role for China’s Silicon Valley. By combining
tion of legal verifiability. We saw Hong Kong, with its access to the legal certainty with cryptographic
that verifying a blockchain address free and open Internet, its common certainty, the Belt and Road Block-
is conceptually similar to resolving law heritage, and a business credo chain will not prevent trade disputes
cross-border accountability issues of “public governance/private busi- from occurring—they will—but when
with Internet Domain Names, which ness.” Thus we argued that resolving they do the cost and complexity
identified a need for a Blockchain the “verifiability and validity” issues of having them will be dramati-
Naming Service (BNS), with common could be addressed by developing cally reduced. And that’s good for
business identity standards to inter- open standards for online dispute business.
face with sovereign company regis- resolution of blockchain identifiers
tries. Under this model, if coindesk. under HK Law, with legal certainty Toward “Pull” Demand
com wanted to operate a bitcoin provided by its Electronic Trans- Chains
wallet, anyone should be able to actions ordinance (Cap 553). We One exciting, highly disruptive
verify that a bitcoin address was adopted an open “bottom-up” outcome of blockchain integration
Consensus 2018 41

into global manufacturing and trade “pull-based” Demand Chains used in is relatively inexpensive to stock
is the prospect that businesses will e-commerce. digital bits on computers compared
move from “push” supply chains to Demand chains optimize “made- with stocking analog atoms in ware-
“pull” demand chains. This is the idea to-order” manufacturing, and houses. As such, it makes sense to
that production will be configured in customer fulfillment, to maximize offer an overwhelming variety of
response to—or pulled by—customer product “variety not volume.” To products. The assumption is that any
demand rather than pre-configured get an idea of how this alters the logistic complexity can be managed
on anticipation of what customers current logic of trade rules, imagine through computerized automation,
want and then pushed onto them. we are fully immersed in the era of throwing in more computers and
More than anything, it is going to 3D-printing and IoT-driven manu- software as needed to scale. More
make trade spats like that of the U.S. facturing and a footwear maker importantly, products offered can be
and China redundant. gets a Request for Quotation (RFQ) “pulled” into production only after
Blockchains’ role in this is to for a batch of customized cleats for they have been sold.
help market participants break up Brazil’s national soccer team that There are several commer-
must cial benefits to this approach. For
Demand chains are b
rushed
e suppliers, there’s an immediate
gain in that they get the money up
particularly useful when in time front. Secondly, because they now
f o r know real-time sales demand, they
accurate sales forecasts are n e x t avoid the common “bullwhip effect”
problem encountered in traditional
unavailable and demand is “made-to-stock” supply chains. This
occurs when errors in forecasting
variable. demand are amplified up the supply
chain, leading to increased waste
long value chains into shorter ones, month’s World Cup. The cleats might the higher upstream you go. With
with financial exchanges acting be “Designed In China”—the home demand chains, suppliers see
as bridges between them. This of the intellectual property—but “effective demand,” not forecasted
should result in greater liquidity “Made in Brazil” by a trustworthy 3D demand.
and enhanced price and market printer somewhere in Rio to produce One can view demand chains
discovery. I call this “packetizing risk” the product and fulfill this order. with packetized risk as an evolution
as the system can automatically Demand chains are particularly of “just-in-time” manufacturing, as
dispense fine-grained rewards that useful when accurate sales forecasts they add in the important element of
can be traced back to the original are unavailable and demand is vari- automated “just-in-time” financing.
rights holder based on the presen- able. Unfortunately they are fragile; This wouldn’t be possible without
tation of appropriate cryptographic any unexpected supply disruption a blockchain, since it can automati-
evidence. A model like this could, for risks stopping the whole manufac- cally reward participants without the
example, have allowed businesses turing process, leading to dreaded risk of funds being stolen or unduly
waiting on the delivery of goods “stock-outs.” By packetizing risk withheld.
trapped on the creditor-seized ships and increasing a pool of potential Another potential benefit: saving
of the bankrupt Hanjin Shipping KYM-ed suppliers, blockchain may the environment. This stems from a
Company in 2016 to liquidate their finally enable demand chains to rather non-obvious feature of “pull”
positions by selling tokenized rights scale beyond their traditional trust demand chains and the exchange
to those immobilized goods. It’s a limits and challenge traditional long- markets that power them: the
demonstration of how finance can standing trust relationships. concept of “reverse logistics,” which
be unfrozen at intermediate stages Demand chains exploit that covers all operations involved in
along the chain, breaking them up, fact that digital trade dramati- the return or reuse of products
and facilitating more flexible and cally changes cost equations and and materials. One might create
efficient means of aggregating the economics. A key reason why an exchange for a product’s reuse,
kinds of suppliers that operate in the e-commerce thrives is because it recycling or upcycling. Doing so
42 Consensus 2018

might incentivize the creation of the now trace and cascade back any economic relevance, relative to the
“circular economy,” greatly improving royalties to the appropriate benefi- impact of digital innovation. Already
the resource usage with potentially ciaries, forging a powerful new way the root cause of labor disruption
huge environmental benefits. In this
model, products are not optimally
priced for the point of sale, but for There is an opportunity for a
one step beyond the sale—the point
of reuse. Taking this idea further, grand bargain between the world’s
manufacturers might be encour-
aged to make a market in their own two great trading powers to establish
products where it is cheaper to
design a product for durability, and
rules for trading in Intangible
buy it back, rather than design for
planned obsolescence that exter-
Property using a global blockchain-
nalize the environmental costs.
Since 2017, the Europeans have had
based trade architecture.
a bold plan to kill “planned obso-
lescence” and encourage products to reward the creative process. MIT worldwide, digital automation will
that are end-user serviceable. A researcher Prema Shrikrishna calls have an accelerating impact on
blockchain-based model of demand this “IP over IP” (Intellectual Property people’s lives and livelihoods.
chains, with the added kicker of over the Internet Protocol), where The real danger for policymakers
tokenized incentives, could help manufacturing “supply” moves adja- lies in not recognising when a tech-
them get there. cent to market “demand.” nical innovation is fundamentally
Thus the very nature of trade changing the underlying archi-
Trade == IP Exchange changes from shipping tangible tectural assumptions, and brings
Cryptocurrency exchanges, which property in containers (atoms) to with it changes in market structure
now cover more than 10,000 unique intangible property in packets (bits). and competitive landscape. Rarely
digital assets, can be thought of This has huge ramifications for the does a bell ring to tell you it’s
as providing a market mechanism international trade policy regime. underway. That’s what the onset
for pricing intangible property, (IP). It’s unclear how the existing trade of blockchain technology portends.
(Note: I am deliberately applying the rules under the World Trade Organ- Governments must have their eyes
acronym “IP” to a wider definition isation’s Rules of Origin will apply and ears open.
of assets beyond “intellectual prop- in such cases or whether countries As for the immediate future there
erty” since most cryptocurrency will strategically hoard raw materials is certainly a risk of a US-China
technology is based on open-source such as rare earth elements. Given trade war, with Hong Kong possibly
software). the glacial rate of WTO negotiation caught in any crossfire. Yet there is
We now have an opportunity to rounds, measured in multiple years, also an opportunity for leadership
extend this approach to on-demand it is hard to see how the existing and for a grand bargain between the
Industry 4.0 manufacturing technol- regulatory regime will adapt to a world’s two great trading powers
ogies such as 3D-printing. Here, the world where manufacturing, trade to identify a common interest in
only element that is “shipped” is a and retail are “all digital,” even establishing new rules for trading in
digital design, whose provenance less so to a world where smart Intangible Property using a global
can be tracked to the original author containers and packages automati- blockchain-based trade architecture.
of the work using a blockchain (e.g. cally route themselves to their most Of the two outcomes, it’s clear to me
ascribe.io). A blockchain might also profitable market. that a trade war is not only power-
act as a market, one that functions This emerging paradigm suggests less in the face of a dramatically
like an efficient collecting society that divergences in manufac- changing economic architecture but
since the monetization event occurs turing processes and costs—and even more dangerous than ever to
long after the original creation was the nation-state-led trade wars common wellbeing. So to all you
made. With a blockchain, we can they trigger—will have decreasing trade war warriors … “Ding Dong!”
Consensus 2018 43

SESSIONS & TRACK DESCRIPTIONS
See maps on pp. 63–67 for location details
MONDAY, MAY 14, 2018

7:00am 7:00am - 7:00pm
REGISTRATION
2nd Floor Promenade
7:00am - 8:30am
BREAKFAST
Americas Hall 1 & 2 (3rd Floor)
8:30am 8:30am - 8:50am

Opening Remarks & State of Blockchain
Grand Ballroom, 3rd Floor
Kevin Worth, CoinDesk
Nolan Bauerle, CoinDesk
8:50am 8:50am - 9:00am

Blockchain Week NYC Kick-Off
Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, New York City
9:00am 9:00am - 9:10am

State of the Blockchain World
Don Tapscott, Blockchain Research Institute
9:10am 9:10am - 9:40am

Fireside Chat with Fedex
Don Tapscott, Blockchain Research Institute (m)
Robert B. Carter, FedEx
Frederick W. Smith, FedEx
9:40am 9:40am - 10:20am

Fireside Chat with St. Louis Fed
Diane Brady, dB OmniMedia (m)
Kames Bullard, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
10:20am 10:20am - 11:00am

NETWORKING BREAK
46 Consensus 2018

Schedule | Monday, May 14
TRIANON BALLROOM MERCURY BALLROOM GRAND BALLROOM EAST GRAND BALLROOM WEST
11:00am 11:00am - 11:40am 11:00am - 12:30pm 11:00am - 11:40am 11:00am - 11:40am

How Governments use the Scaling, Layer 2 and Equity or Coins? The Token Economy
Technology Cryptographic Innovations Innovation in early stage Like Michael Casey’s Coindesk
While there’s a near constant Detailed walkthroughs of finance shot to global attention column, “The Token Economy,”
discussion around how this innovative approaches to solve and fuelled a boom from the this panel will track the big
technology will be regulated, some of the most important first killer app for blockchain problems, the big ideas and the
there’s much less discussion challenges for developers. technology. This boom forced real solutions that can enable a
around how governments a steep learning curve on positive economic transforma-
Amy Yin, Coinbase
actually use the technology. venture capitalists and other tion. The author and advisory
Dr. Muneeb Ali, Blockstack
From digital fiat currency to investors who suddenly need a board chair leads a discussion
Eli Ben-Sasson, StarkWare plan to adapt and compete with with prominent industry devel-
asset management to land titles
Christian Decker, Blockstream a global market. These three opers, investors and entrepre-
and smart contracts that capture
regulatory compliance goals Alin S. Dragos, MIT Media Lab investors developed strategies neurs who have clear ideas
in programmed transaction early and had a tremendous about the new incentives and
authorizations, this panel will perch to understand all the economic forces unleashed on
track some of the latest devel- change. This panel tracks their the world.
opments in the regtech field. “ah-ha” moments, how they’ve Michael Casey, CoinDesk
managed change, and what this Advisory Board, MIT Media Labs
Marc Hochstein, CoinDesk (m)
innovation means for the invest- Digital Currency Initiative (m)
Wendy Henry, Deloitte
ment industry going forward. Brian Hoffman, OB1
Jennifer O’Rourke, State of
Illinois Noelle Acheson, CoinDesk (m) Matthew Roszak, Bloq
Jamie E. Smith, The Linux Kavita Gupta, ConsenSys Jennifer Zhu Scott, Radian
Foundation and West Exec Jalak Jobanputra, Future\ Partners
Advisors Perfect Ventures Maja Vujinovic, OGroup, LLC
Catherine Wood, ARK Invest
11:40am 11:40am - 11:50am

NETWORKING BREAK
11:50am 11:50am - 12:30pm 11:50am - 12:00pm

Mining Boom Remarks by the Premier of
“If you don’t find a way to make Bermuda
money while you sleep, you Hon. E. David Burt, JP, MP,
will work until you die.” Early Bermuda
miners heeded Warren Buffet’s
wise words and were among
the first successes in the market
that grew around bitcoin. Their
successes led to specialized
equipment with a high upgrade
frequency, energy powerhouses
that aim to lure miners, and new
jobs with forks, new block-
chains, and staked nodes. This
panel will cover an industry that
seems set for unlimited growth.
Jacob Donnelly, CoinDesk (m)
Igor Lebedev, SONM
Gideon Powell, Autonomous
Crypto Corp
Marco Streng, Genesis Mining
Consensus 2018 47

12:00pm 12:00pm - 12:30pm 12:00pm - 12:30pm?

Blockchain Governance — First the Rest, Then the
A Legislator’s Perspective West?
Legislators have a unique role In the early days of Bitcoin,
to play in the development of there was an idea that the lack
the blockchain revolution. The of incumbent financial infra-
incredible power of cryptog- structure in some developing
raphy placed in the hands economies was an opportunity
of individuals is at once a for cryptocurrency innovation
challenge for KYC compliance to blossom. Nature abhors a
and an opportunity to reestab- vacuum, after all. That lure
lish the privacy of individuals. In attracted some of the brightest
this new world, legislators must minds in the business. This
create tools to fight money laun- panel brings these pioneers
dering and terrorism financing together to hear their thoughts
while also protecting against after four years of development
identity theft. This panel looks and entrepreneurship to find out
at the high wire routine of both if these markets will lead inno-
a US and EU legislator as they vation for the rest of the world.
seek this balance. Bailey Reutzel, CoinDesk (m)
Perianne Boring, Chamber of Jed McCaleb, Stellar
Digital Commerce (m) Development Foundation
Eva Kaili, European Parliament Sunny Ray, Unocoin
Rep. David Schweikert, U.S. Elizabeth Rossiello, BitPesa
House of Representatives
12:30pm 12:30 pm - 1:30pm

LUNCH
1:30pm 1:30pm - 2:10pm 1:30pm - 3:50pm 1:30pm - 2:10pm 1:30pm - 2:10pm

Real Property All Kinds of Funds The Race Towards Changed Face of ID
The real estate industry is A sophisticated buy-side Interoperability Cryptographic authentication
on the cusp of tremendous emerged from cryptocur- Between all the public and baked into every operation
change as a result of blockchain rencies’ turbo-charged year. private chains, there exists a remains one of the forces
technology. This panel convenes This workshop is a series of tangle of platforms that have behind the enthusiasm for
startups that have conducted presentations from some of made tradeoffs between secu- blockchain technology. These
property sales that include legal the professional players in the rity, privacy, efficiency, flexibility, builders have worked from
title transfers, and highlights space as they discuss the prob- ease of use, and governance. this foundation and created
progress to add fractional expo- lems they solved to launch, their This panel will look at the ability powerful tools that are ‘just-in-
sure and crowdfunded projects investment theses, and other for these chains to interoperate time’ solutions to the growing
to the solutions tokenization can new developments from their as an important scaling solution threats to privacy and can
achieve. suddenly crowded ranks. unlocked from new network bring efficiencies to markets
Amanda Wood, REBNY (m Meltem Demirors, Athena effects: assets transferred from at a global scale. From the
Natalia Karayaneva, Propy, Inc Capital one chain to another, escrow integration of machines into
Jordan Clifford, Scalar Capital schemes, ‘identity chains’ linked our commercial relationships to
George Kikvadze, BitFury
to a commodities market, and digital wallets and new bespoke
Perrin Quarshie, Real Blocks Daniel Dehrey, Silicon Valley
other types of data flow. chipsets, this panel will describe
Bank
their work and what a world
Zach Hamilton, Airfoil Capital Rachel Rose O’Leary, CoinDesk
built from their tools would look
Joey Krug, Pantera Capital (m)
like.
Travis Scher, Digital Currency Charlie Lee, Litecoin Foundation
David Schwartz, Ripple Marc Hochstein, CoinDesk (m)
Group
Matthew Spoke, AION Ken Huang, TheKey.Vip
Bart Stephens, Blockchain
Capital Dr. Jutta Steiner, Parity Vinny Lingham, Civic
Technologies Technologies
Joseph Weinberg, Shyft
Network Inc.
48 Consensus 2018

2:10pm 2:10pm - 2:20pm

NETWORKING BREAK
2:20pm 2:20pm - 3:00pm 2:20pm - 3:00pm 2:20pm - 3:00pm

Secure, Decentralized Global Jurisdictions Content Monetization and
Connected Car Networks The global, borderless nature of True Net Neutrality
Car makers have partnered with blockchain technology remains While there’s a political debate
startups to deliver solutions to a challenge for individual going on around net neutrality,
a number of obstacles: data jurisdictions. Nations have it amounts to little more than
gathering for autonomous car taken a patchwork of different who gets to profit from content
tests, new fractional owner- approaches, which has led creators: internet service
ship models for the sharing to discussions self regulatory providers or platform providers
economy, and tools to identify organizations. This panel like YouTube and Facebook.
responsibility between firm- convenes the technical, regu- This panel convenes a group of
ware, hardware, software and latory, legislative and industry people who flip this debate so
individual parts in the event of leaders needed to orchestrate a that content creators have skin
an autonomous car accident. solution. in the game to monetize their
This panel convenes both major Gary DeWaal, Katten Muchin creations.
car makers as well as a startup Rosenman LLP (m) Brady Dale, CoinDesk (m)
to discuss the security, reliability Dr. James Smith, Elliptic Ned Scott, Steemit
and opportunity for decentral- The Hon Albert Isola MP, HM Ryan Shea, Blockstack
ized car networks. Government of Gibraltar Adi Sideman, YouNow
Leigh Cuen, CoinDesk (m Yuzo Kano, bitFlyer
Sebastien Henot, Renault- Brian Quintenz, U.S. Commodity
Nissan-Mitsubishi-Alliance Futures Trading Commission
Deniel Horvatic, Porsche Digital
Lab Berlin
Lief-Nissen Lundbaek, XAIN AG
3:00pm 3:00pm - 3:10pm

NETWORKING BREAK
3:10pm 3:10pm - 3:50pm 3:10pm - 3:50pm 3:10pm - 3:50pm

On-Device Key Advances in Privacy and Adapted Financial
Management Confidentiality Infrastructure
Bitcoin introduced a new need Recent years saw a succession Blockchains have the potential
for people to manage and of developments that underline to help traditional financial
secure their own private cryp- the extent to which individual infrastructure enhance regu-
tographic keys. This need was privacy has diminished; latory transparency, mitigate
filled by a boom in the creation Facebook, Equifax, and the list systemic/operational risk, and
of digital wallets that store, goes on. Cryptocurrencies are manage capital more efficiently.
manage and generate keys. perhaps alone in their business After years of tests, projects are
An unintended consequence goal to give us more privacy and ready to go live. These panelists
of this has led to the devel- confidentiality rather than less. offer a clear view of what
opment of sophisticated and This panel details the advances worked, what disappointed, and
bespoke microchips that can of the tools needed to secure how far these changes could
help integrate machines into privacy and confidentiality reach.
our contractual relationships from unrelenting technological Simon Taylor, 11:FS (m)
and secure the development of attacks and business models Chris Church, Digital Asset
the IoT through on-device key based on outdated commercial
Rob Palatnick, DTCC
management. relationships.
Dr. Stefan Teis, Deutsche Börse
Zaki Manian, Trusted IoT Morgen Peck, (m) Group
Alliance (m) Johnny Dilley, Crowd Machine
Nicolas Bacca, Ledger Jameson Lopp, Casa
Jordan Earls, Qtum Andrew Poelstra, Blockstream
Allie Clift-Jennings, Filament
Consensus 2018 49

3:50pm 3:50pm - 4:30pm

NETWORKING BREAK
4:30pm 4:30pm - 4:40pm

KEYNOTE
Amber Baldet
4:40pm 4:40pm - 5:00pm

The Most Secure and Reliable Commercial Networks in the World
The vision of a decentralized internet built from an innovative intersection of cryptography, engineering and market forces is fast
becoming a reality. Three important builders of this decentralized internet discuss how privacy and interoperability solutions; market
security, stability and incentivization; and a renewed push toward economic globalization are inspiring them and us to reimagine
commercial and personal relationships.
Amber Baldet (m)
Joseph Lubin, ConsenSys
Jimmy Song, Blockchain Capital
5:00pm 5:00pm - 5:10pm

Announcing txTENNA: A Mesh Networking Alternative Broadcast Method for Censorship-Resident Transactions
Richard Myers, goTenna
Daniela Perdomo, goTenna
5:10pm 5:10pm - 5:20pm

RSK, the First Public Smart Contract Bitcoin Sidechain, is Live!
From a White Paper in Consensus 2016 to a fully functional network in 2018, RSK brings the first open source smart contract platform
powered by the Bitcoin network.
Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, RSK
5:20pm 5:20pm - 6:00pm

Fireside Chat
Nolan Bauerle, CoinDesk (m)
Dr. Whitfield Diffie, Cryptic Labs
Zooko Wilcox, Zcash
6:00pm 6:00pm - 7:30pm

WELCOME RECEPTION
50 Consensus 2018

Schedule | Tuesday, May 15
TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2018

7:00am 7:00am - 7:00pm
REGISTRATION
2nd Floor Promenade
7:00am - 8:30am
BREAKFAST
8:30am 8:30am - 9:00am

Blockchain-Enabled Intellectual Property Management
Stephen MacKenzie, Koch Companies Public Sector
Linda Pawczuk, Deloitte
9:00am 9:00am - 9:30am

Enabling Enterprise Networks And a Token-Driven Economy
Bridget van Kralingen, IBM
9:30am 9:30am - 9:40am

Deloitte: Enterprise Blockchain Announcement
Rob Massey, Deloitte
Linda Pawczuk, Deloitte
9:40am 9:40am - 10:00am

Consensys Announcement: Making Blockchain Radically Simple For Enterprise
10:00am 10:00am - 10:20am

Blockchain In Enterprises – Digital Trust, Real Business Value
Torsten Zube, SAP SE
10:20am 10:20am - 11:00am

NETWORKING BREAK
Consensus 2018 51

11:00am 11:00am - 11:40am 11:00am - 12:30pm 11:00am - 11:50am 11:00am - 11:40am

Ports and Shipping Hubs Forging Democratic Tools Proof Of Work Pitch On Chain Financial
Blockchains can enhance the Individuals around the world Competition Products and Services
flow of goods, information and stand to gain tremendous Our two-part session on ERC20 ICOs were the start of
value between businesses and power through the proliferation investing will feature pitches canned contracts available
across borders. For a decentral- of blockchain technology. This from six entrepreneurs who will off-the-shelf. They led to the
ized system to succeed, multiple workshop is a series of presen- compete for bragging rights and most innovation early stage
stakeholders must navigate tations from people who aim to prize money in our Proof-of- finance has seen since VC
blockchains and use them to secure and spread these tools Work pitch competition. started to boom at a time when
form commercial relationships throughout the world, followed Silicon Valley was still covered
Naiem Yeganeh, FerrumNet.org
built from the intersection of by a Q&A with each presenter. with fruit farms. These simple
Ian Friend, Wilson Elser
cryptography and data. This Rob Allen, nodl.io smart contracts are only the
panel convenes some important Didier PH Martin,
Vanessa Grellet, ConsenSys beginning of what is possible as
stakeholders within ports and Interblockchain
Pavel Kravchenko, Distributed this panel will discuss the types
shipping hubs to discuss the Jean-Luc Marcoux, of on-chain financial products
Lab Interblockchain
coordination needed to make and services they are bringing
R. Jesse McWaters, World
this vision a reality. Federico Ast, Kleros to market.
Economic Forum
Noelle Acheson, CoinDesk (m) Clement Lesaege, Kleros Marc Hochstein, CoinDesk (m)
Michael Perklin, ShapeShift AG
Pindar Wong, Belt and Road Kuan Huang, Supermax Olga Feldmeier, Smart Valor
Blockchain Consortium Daniel Bar, Tenzorum Project Trevor Koverko, Polymath
Anil John, DHS Science & Moritz Neto, Tenzorum Project Shawn Owen, SALT Lending
Technology Directorate
Todd Mason Scott, IBM
Corporation
11:40am 11:40am - 11:50am

NETWORKING BREAK
11:50am 11:50am - 12:30pm 11:50am - 12:30pm 11:50am - 12:30pm

Enforcement Investor Panel The Global, Never-Ending
Regulatory compliance enforce- Entrepreneurs, enjoy fresh Trade Day
ment in the US falls under three perspectives from world-class Multiple daily market sell offs of
main branches -- the Securities investors who will share their greater than 25%. Habitual bull
and Exchange Commission, visions for the future of block-
runs of 100X growth. Deriva-
the Commodities and Futures chain technology and how to tives, liquidity pools, custody,
Trading Commission, and the raise money for your ideas. forks, airdrops and other forces
Department of Justice. So, we Matthew Roszak, Bloq that add more complexity
brought those responsible for Dan Morehead, Pantera Capital to market swings that are
enforcement across the US unprecedented in scale. Traders
Alex Lopatine, Park Capital
spectrum to discuss how they around the world are caught up
Lisa Cheng, Vanbex Group,
view their role in the industry.
Etherparty and Vanbex Ventures in peculiarities new to everyone.
Steve Bunnell, O’Melveny (m) This panel provides a bird’s eye
Robert Cohen, Securities and view of exactly how different
Exchange Commission Division cryptocurrency markets are from
of Enforcement anything that has come before.
James McDonald, CFTC Brian Kelly, BKCM (m)
Kiran Raj, Bittrex Bobby Cho, Cumberland
Sujit Raman, U.S. Department Hu Liang, Omniex
of Justice S. Michael Moro, Genesis Global
Trading
52 Consensus 2018

12:30pm 12:30pm - 1:30pm 12:30pm - 2:00pm

LUNCH DIVERSITY LUNCH
Americas Hall 1 & 2 (3rd Floor) Rendezvous Trianon (3rd Floor)
Join our annual ‘Diversity in Blockchain’ luncheon as we bring
together leading voices to continue an ongoing discussion to drive
towards an environment of inclusion in blockchain
Sponsored by Accenture
1:30pm 1:30pm - 2:10pm 1:30pm - 3:50pm 1:30pm - 2:10pm 1:30pm - 2:10pm

Industry 4.0 World of Tokens Deep Tier Finance Insurance
The secure integration of Some of the top minds in the This panel will chart some of For blockchains to flourish in
machines into contractual industry aim to map the entire the efficiencies that flow from the insurance industry, multiple
responsibilities and obliga- world of tokens. A series of ten blockchain-based trade finance, participants must be able to
tions marks the next phase of minute presentations designed focusing on new opportunities navigate the technology. This
the industrial revolution. With to share insight into a booming for suppliers deeper down the panel gathers the participants
experience in the world’s most industry is followed by a Q&A supply chain that find them- from a live experiment in Singa-
complex industrial processes, with each presenter. selves with unfavorable terms pore to see the progress made
these three panelists discuss Tim Enneking, Crypto Asset for their trade finance needs. to bring operational efficiencies
how they use blockchains to Management This panel charts how supply to the insurance business model
digitize commercial relation- Ryan Selkis, Messari chain visibility and the align- through the deployment of
ships within a manufacturer’s ment of the flow of information smart contracts.
Tuur Demeester, Adamant
internal operations as well as and the flow of money could Subhajit Mandal, LumenLab (m)
Capital
with their partners along the create entirely new markets forJJ Carroll, Swiss Re
Rob Massey, Deloitte
value chain. trade finance to flourish.
Kyle Samani, Multicoin Capital Lata Varghese, Cognizant
Brady Dale, CoinDesk (m) Noelle Acheson, CoinDesk (m) Tseng Ching Tse, Vault Dragon
Alex Sunnarborg, Tetras Capital
Sarah Banks, Accenture (m) Julio Faura, Santander PTE Ltd
Alex Tapscott, Blockchain
James Allen Regenor Research Institute Jack Lee, HCM Capital, Foxconn Zia Zaman, MetLife Asia
Carsten Stöcker, Spherity GmbH Group
Todd McDonald, R3
2:10pm 2:10pm - 2:20pm

NETWORKING BREAK
2:20pm 2:20pm - 3:00pm 2:20pm - 3:00pm 2:20pm - 3:00pm

Brands, Seals and Crypto Decentralized Electric Decentralization Requires
Collectibles Infrastructure Social Coordination
The anti-counterfeit qualities The terrible storms that hit the Twitter trolls, memes, sponta-
that Bitcoin introduced sparked Caribbean islands last autumn neous fundraisers, Telegram
Blockchain applications for washed away any illusion that whales, avatars for personal
brand authenticity, verifiable centralized electrical grids security… the decentralized
certifications and seals for can continue to fulfill society’s world is weird for many reasons.
organic foods or child-labor-free needs. The work of these panel- This panel gathers some crypto
production processes. These ists can do more than blackout celebrities to talk about the
same anti-counterfeit qualities prevention; it can bring decen- role social media and private
have found a home in the tralized electric infrastructure communications apps play in
collectibles industry. This panel that harnesses advancements the formation of consensus and
brings together entrepreneurs in green-tech and establish social scalability among a global
to discuss how they are all peer-to-peer energy to markets community.
using the technology to both fix around the world. William Mougayar,
important global problems and Bailey Reutzel, CoinDesk JM3 Capital (m)
to just have some fun. Dante Disparte, Risk Neeraj Agrawal, Coin Center
Brady Dale, CoinDesk (m) Cooperative Meltem Demirors, Athena
Sunny Lu, VeChain Jo-Jo Hubbard, Electron Capital
Tyler Mulvihill, ConsenSys Lawrence Orsini, LO3 Energy Stefan Jaspers,
Dieter Shirley, CryptoKitties whalepanda.com
Consensus 2018 53

3:00pm 3:00pm - 3:10pm

NETWORKING BREAK
3:10pm 3:10pm - 3:50pm 3:10pm - 3:50pm 3:10pm - 3:50pm

Changes at Exchanges, State of Blockchain in Before Crypto, After
Trades in the Crosshairs Healthcare Crypto
In the early days, bitcoin Consortium efforts feature Cryptocurrency buzz has
exchanges and traders flew heavily in blockchain projects spread like a virus since Satoshi
under the regulatory radar until in the healthcare industry. The launched the world’s first
awareness, hacks, and trade goal of much of these projects is blockchain. Startups, large
volumes grew. A regulatory to unite the disparate processes multinational companies and
regime that treated bitcoin and in healthcare and ultimately some banks were the first to
tokens like money then seemed improve patient experiences spread the enthusiasm. A new
to settle into place. The recent and outcomes. This panel will live host has appeared recently:
boom of ICOs and token diver- take a look at strides made relatively new and successful
sification, however, has made in healthcare to implement companies that raised capital
the regulatory environment blockchains as a viable solution through VCs or are publicly
uncertain, and exchanges and to some of the most challenging traded have suddenly caught
traders are in the crosshairs of issues that face the industry. the bug and jumped in head first
regulators and law enforcement Brian Behlendorf, to offer cryptocurrency services
around the world. Hyperledger (m) or leverage the early stage
Brian Klein, Baker Marquart (m) Robert Chu, EMBLEEMA funding mechanisms. This panel
Konstantin Gladych, Changelly brings together three different
Robert Miller, Medicalchain
examples of this trend and gives
Antanas Guoga, European Ted Tanner, Jr., PokitDok
them the stage to share their
Parliament Emily Vaughn, Change stories.
Jon, ShapeShift AG Healthcare
David Wachsman,
Wachsman (m)
Yoni Assia, eToro
Ted Livingston, Kik
Slava Rubin, Indiegogo
3:50pm 3:50PM- 4:00PM 3:50pm - 4:30pm

HTC Announcement: NETWORKING BREAK
Genesis Phone
Phil Chen, HTC
4:00pm 4:00PM - 4:10PM

Peernova Announcment:
Business and Operational
Intelligence Using
Blockchain-Based
Platform for Treasury
Payments
4:10pm 4:10PM - 4:20PM

Enigma Announcement:
Secret Contracts and
Privacy for DAPPS
Guy Zyskind, Enigma
54 Consensus 2018

4:30pm 4:30pm - 5:00pm

What Will it Take For You to Love New York Again?
The BitLicence has only existed for three years, and its legacy is already clear -- it has set New York back. In celebration of New York
Blockchain Week, this panel welcomes BitLicence refugees back to the city they left and offers them the stage to answer the simple
question; what will it take for you to love NY again?
Nolan Bauerle, CoinDesk (m)
Jesse Powell, Kraken
Erik Voorhees, ShapeShift AG
5:00pm 5:00pm - 5:30pm

When Moon?
This panel unites some of the earliest and most entrepreneurial Wall Street defectors to crypto. They discuss what they built, how Wall
Street is still trying to catch up, and how they envision Bitcoin’s ascension in the months and years to come.
Dave Chapman, Octagon Strategy (m)
Juthica Chou, LedgerX
Arthur Hayes, BitMEX
Michael Sonnenshein, Grayscale Investments
5:30pm 5:30pm - 5:45pm

Circle Special Announcement
Jeremy Allaire, Circle
Sean Neville, Circle
5:45pm 5:45pm - 5:55pm

Etoro’s Global Expansion
Yoni Assia, eToro
5:55pm 5:55pm - 6:00pm

Blockchain: Building the Future
Liana Douillet Guzmán, Blockchain
6:00pm 6:00pm - 7:30pm

INDUSTRY RECEPTION
Consensus 2018 55

Schedule | Wednesday, May 16
WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

GRAND BALLROOM TRIANON BALLROOM MERCURY BALLROOM
7:00am 7:00am - 5:00pm

REGISTRATION
2nd Floor Promenade
7:00am - 9:00am
BREAKFAST
8:30am 8:30am - 10:00am

Research Workshop
Hillary Carter, Blockchain Research Institute
Edward Felten, Princeton
Antonis Polemitis, University of Nicosia
Emmanuel Viale, Accenture Labs
Mawadda Basir, ColliderX
9:00am 9:00am - 9:10am 9:00am - 9:40am

EEA Announcement Accounting/Audit Panel
Ron Resnick, EEA
9:10am 9:10am - 9:30am

Decentralized Identity for a
Decentralized World
Marley Gray, Azure Blockchain
Ankur Patel, Microsoft
9:30am 9:30am - 9:40am

Tools for Trust: Enabling
Institutional Crypto Trading
Eric Larchevêque, Ledger
9:40am 9:40am - 9:50am 9:40am - 10:20am

Polymath 2.0 is Live What Kind of Lawyer Do I Need?
Trevor Koverko, Polymath John Beccia (m)
Lewis Cohen, DLx Law LLP
Ashley Martabano, Baker Marquart LLP
Karen Ubell, Cooley
9:50am 9:50am - 10:00am

Blockstack Announcement:
Above the Chain – Introducing
Decentralized Apps That Can Scale
to Millions of Users
Dr. Muneeb Ali, Blockstack
Ryan Shea, Blockstack
56 Consensus 2018

Schedule | Wednesday, May 16
GRAND BALLROOM TRIANON BALLROOM MERCURY BALLROOM
10:00am 10:00am - 10:10am 10:00am - 11:00am

SONM Announcement: The Future EEA WORKSHOP
Of Mining Tom Lombardi, Enterprise Ethereum
Aleksei Antonov, SONM Alliance
Connor Svensson, blk.io
10:10am 10:10am - 10:30am

Going Live with Streamr: A
Marketplace for the New Data
Economy
Henri Pihkala, CEO
10:30am 10:30am - 11:00am

Transitioning Consumer Companies
into Blockchain
Consumer companies face various chal-
lenges when transitioning into blockchain.
Hear first-hand experience from founders
and executives of billion dollar companies
and what advice they have for companies
entering blockchain.
Danny Fishel, Kik; Uriel Peled, Orbs
Daniel Skowronski, Coins.Exchange
Gil Shoham, ironSource
11:00am 11:00am - 11:10am

NETWORKING BREAK
11:10am 11:10am - 11:40am

Fireside Chat
Paul Vigna, Wall Street Journal (m); Balaji Srinivasan, Coinbase; Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures
11:40am 11:40am - 12:25pm

Fireside Chat with Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey, Square; Elizabeth Stark, Lightning Labs
12:30 pm 12:30pm - 2:00pm 12:30pm - 2:00pm

LUNCH DIVERSITY LUNCH
Americas Hall 1 & 2 (3rd Floor) Rendezvous Trianon (3rd Floor)
Blockchain has the potential to create positive change across the
globe. Join leading experts as we focus on the humanitarian side of
blockchain and explore how, together, we can improve the way the
world works and lives.
Sponsored by Accenture
2:00pm 2:00pm - 5:00pm

Blockchain Week NYC Job Fair Sponsored by Diginex
2:00pm 2:00pm - 2:30pm

Blockchain 101
2:30pm 2:30pm - 3:00pm

Blockchain 102
Consensus 2018 57

ROUNDTABLES & DEMOS
See maps on pp. 63–67 for location details
MONDAY, MAY 14, 2018

TIME RENDEZVOUS TRIANON (3RD FL) REGENT PARLOR (2ND FL)
11:00am 11:00am - 12:00pm 11:00am - 11:10am

IBM: START, ACCELERATE AND NEW ALCHEMY DEMO
INNOVATE YOUR BLOCKCHAIN
JOURNEY
In today’s digital economy, vast amounts of 11:15am - 11:25am
value are trapped inside processes and orga-
nizations that don’t connect. In this session,
RIPIO DEMO
IBM’s blockchain leaders will share their
experiences on how they worked with industry
leaders and startups across the world to break
down those barriers and create new business 11:30am - 11:40am
networks with more trust and transparency. AGRELLO DEMO
Come learn the top three things you should
do to start, accelerate and innovate so that
your blockchain strategy delivers real business
outcomes. 11:45am - 11:55am
GECKO GOVERNANCE DEMO
1:30pm 1:30pm - 2:30pm 2:30pm - 2:40pm

PERKINS COIE : DIGITAL ASSET TOTLE DEMO
CUSTODY FOR INSTITUTIONAL
PLAYERS
Over the past year there has been a massive
influx of institutional money into the digital
asset market which has brought with it very
specific compliance requirements for those
seeking to store digital assets on an institu-
tion’s behalf. In this session, we’ll hear from
leading entrepreneurs, executives, thought
leaders, and custodians about the various
avenues available for those seeking a quali-
fied custodian and the hurdles that must be
met in an entity wishes to hold itself out as
one. Panelists will discuss solutions ranging
from registration as a broker dealer to licen-
sure as a trust company and partnerships with
traditional banks.
58 Consensus 2018

Roundtables & Demos | Monday, May 14
2:45pm 2:45pm - 3:45pm 2:45pm - 2:55pm

DELOITTE: BREAKING BLOCKCHAIN SWEETBRIDGE DEMO
OPEN: ENTERPRISE ATTITUDES &
INVESTMENTS
Join Deloitte for a discussion encompassing
3:00pm - 3:10pm
medium to large enterprises’ latest attitudes,
activities and investments in blockchain tech- ATUM CHAIN DEMO
nologies. The discussion will include Deloitte’s
latest global survey insights and viewpoints
on:
3:15pm - 3:25pm
• Hype, or agent of transformation?
ELEMENTS GROUP DEMO
• Progress on blockchain deployments
• Investments made, and planned
• Factors driving adoption 3:30pm - 3:40pm
• Signals of innovation, by industry ATONOMI DEMO
• Barriers to adoption: Technical standards
and support from regulators could create
a tipping point
3:45pm - 3:55pm
ZICHAIN DEM
4:00pm 4:00pm-5:00pm 4:00pm - 4:10pm

Microsoft Roundtable PUNDI X DEMO
4:15pm - 4:25p
VERTALO DEMO
Consensus 2018 59

Roundtables & Demos | Tuesday, May 15
TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2018

11:00am 11:00am - 12:00pm 11:00am - 11:10am

LEDGER: SECURING THE WALL AURORA LABS DEMO
STREET DIGITAL GOLD RUSH
Can crypto work on Walll Street? What does it
take for financial institutions to join the party?
Eric Larchevêque shares his views on the 11:15am - 11:25am
current state of the market and how Ledger is RMP / CARROT DEMO
participating towards building a secure future
for institutional safekeeping. This keynote
will be followed by a panel session and Q&A,
bringing together hedge funds, industry 11:30am - 11:40am
investors and thought leaders to discuss their
HELLOGOLD DEMO
challenges and experiences with cryptoassets
custody.
Eric Larchevêque, Ledger
11:45am - 11:55am
COINDASH-BLOX DEMO
1:30pm 1:30pm - 2:30pm

STEPTOE: BLOCKCHAIN IN SUPPLY
CHAIN: NAVIGATING THE LEGAL
WATERS
There is an emerging sense that supply chain
management and trade finance may be the
industry where blockchain makes its biggest
mark. But all supply chains cross national
borders, and with national borders come
national regulators. Challenges will soon arise
in addressing the regulatory requirements
for such cross border supply chains and their
payment mechanisms. Join us for a panel that
will discuss these challenges, from retail and
consumer goods to highly regulated products.
60 Consensus 2018

Roundtables & Demos | Tuesday, May 15
2:30pm 2:45pm - 3:45pm 2:30pm - 2:55pm

FBG CAPITAL: EXPEDITION OF CHINA BITFURY DEMO
BLOCKCHAIN PROJECTS
Despite the volatility of the market and
3:00pm - 3:10pm
evolving of the compliance of the East and the
West, Chinese blockchain founders have never FINOVA DEMO
stopped innovation, and they continue to seek
the best people all over the world and dedi-
cated to improve the blockchain technology 3:15pm - 3:25pm
and apply into real user case at the same time. WOLEET DEMO
Right now they may spend more time abroad
than home for bringing more alliance and form
a world-wide community for new opportunity 3:30pm - 3:40pm
and consensus. The panelist all come from the
ZICHAIN DEMO
top-tier project founder from China and hosted
by one of the pioneering crypto fund FBG
Capital. The Expedition of China blockchain
projects would definitely reveal their story 3:45pm - 3:55pm
regards hard work from zero to one, and also CORAL HEALTH DEMO
can help people better understanding the
current blockchain ecosystem within China.
4:00pm 4:00pm - 5:00pm 4:00pm - 4:10pm

KPMG: FUNDSDLT, A BLOCKCHAIN COOLBIT X DEMO
BASED INVESTMENT
FUND INFASTRUCTURE /
CRYPTOCURRENCY OPERATIONS
4:15pm - 4:25pm
AND INSTITUTIONAL ADOPTION
ZCOIN DEMO
Using distributed ledger technology (DLT) and
smart contracts we intend to dramatically
improve efficiency in the fund transaction
processing. / As cryptocurrency matures and
institutional adoption picks up, crypto entities
and financial services organization are grap-
pling with a number of unique challenges. We
will discuss topics related to crypto opera-
tions, technology, security, risk management,
compliance and tax and how the industry is
responding to each.
Consensus 2018 61

Roundtables & Demos | Wednesday, May 16
WENESDAY, MAY 16, 2018

10:00am 10:00am - 11:00am 10:00am - 10:10am

SAP: WORLDS OF OPPORTUNITY OR TRUSTTOKEN DEMO
ENIGMATIC HAZE – BLOCKCHAIN IN
ENTERPRISES
After a brief intro to enterprise blockchain
10:15am - 10:25am
along a specific use case, prestigious
panelists will discuss different perspectives MONACO DEMO
of distributed ledgers in business scenarios.
The candid discussion will show the experts’
understanding of blockchain in corporations
and what experiences, learnings and best \10:30am - 10:40am
practices they have gathered in their projects INSILICO MEDICINE DEMO
so far. Gain insights how business processes
benefit from blockchain and learn from real-
world examples.
Raimund Gross, SAP SE 10:45am - 10:55am
Bill Fearnley, IDC EMERCOIN DEMO
11:00am - 11:10am
WAVES PLATFORM DEMO
11:15am 11:15am - 12:15pm 11:15am - 11:25am

SPARK PR: OPTICS VS. REALITY – EXANTE PLATFORM DEMO
HOW SHOULD MEDIA COVER CRYPTO
AND DLT?
Anyone consuming the mainstream media
recently might believe the cryptocurrency
craze is soon ending. By hyperfocusing on
falling valuation, many journalists, unfamiliar
with the complexities of the new industry,
are missing the groundbreaking power of
the underlying blockchain. Hear from top
cryptocurrency journalists and PR experts
as they discuss how to best message digital
assets for a broader audience and debate the
ways media coverage will change with a more
educated market.
62 Consensus 2018

CONFERENCE MAPS
Concourse Map
Consensus 2018 63

Conference Maps
Second Floor
Third Floor
64 Consensus 2018

Conference Maps
Fourth Floor
Consensus 2018 65

Conference Maps
Americas Hall I
66 Consensus 2018

Conference Maps
Americas Hall II
Consensus 2018 67

EXHIBITOR LOCATIONS
EXHIBITOR LOCATION LEVEL
403 2nd Floor
56 2nd Floor
410 2nd Floor
402 2nd Floor
48 2nd Floor
113 & Bryant Suite 2nd Floor
24 & Sutton South 2nd Floor
506 2nd Floor
420 2nd Floor
Information Center 2nd Floor
Concourse E Concourse
100 2nd Floor
201 2nd Floor
36 2nd Floor
BITSANE 413 2nd Floor
Holland Suite 4th Floor
Green Suite 4th Floor
503 2nd Floor
68 Consensus 2018

Exhibitor Locations
28 2nd Floor
21 2nd Floor
419 2nd Floor
Petit Trianon 3rd Floor
Gibson Suite 2nd Floor
406 2nd Floor

Color: #ffffff
Used on black or dark background
Color: #575afa
Used on white or light background
228 2nd Floor
Concourse A Concourse
An initiative of the
BLOCKCHAIN RESEARCH INSTITUTE
60 2nd Floor
66 2nd Floor
418 2nd Floor
11 2nd Floor
New York Suite 4th Floor
Madison Suite 2nd Floor
518 2nd Floor
Clinton Suite 2nd Floor
3rd Floor Promenade 3rd Floor
415 2nd Floor
404 2nd Floor
335 2nd Floor
Consensus 2018 69

Exhibitor Locations
14 2nd Floor
23 2nd Floor
17 2nd Floor
520 2nd Floor
13 2nd Floor
230 2nd Floor
105 2nd Floor
Mercury Rotunda 3rd Floor
Concourse H Concourse
26 2nd Floor
East Suite 4th Floor
300 2nd Floor
232 2nd Floor
Concourse F Concourse
135 2nd Floor
129 2nd Floor
305 2nd Floor
235 2nd Floor
70 Consensus 2018

Exhibitor Locations
441 2nd Floor
44 2nd Floor
Photo Booth 3rd Floor
507 2nd Floor
Midtown Suite 4th Floor
417 2nd Floor
30 2nd Floor
213 2nd Floor
312 2nd Floor
6 2nd Floor
121 2nd Floor
Hudson Suite 4th Floor
334 2nd Floor
407 2nd Floor
212 2nd Floor
526 2nd Floor
511 2nd Floor
133 2nd Floor
8 2nd Floor
514 2nd Floor
Consensus 2018 71

Exhibitor Locations
Lincoln Suite 4th Floor
46 2nd Floor
422 2nd Floor
38 2nd Floor
Korea Blockchain Consortium Concourse G Concourse
501 2nd Floor
Nassau Suite A 2nd Floor
325 2nd Floor
221 & Morgan Suite 2nd Floor
40 2nd Floor
315 2nd Floor
327 2nd Floor
Concourse D Concourse
408 2nd Floor
101 2nd Floor
311 2nd Floor
Harlem Suite 3rd Floor
Concourse B Concourse
16 & Sutton Center 2nd Floor
19 2nd Floor
72 Consensus 2018

Exhibitor Locations
217 2nd Floor
117 2nd Floor
20 2nd Floor
34 2nd Floor
307 2nd Floor
416 2nd Floor
516 2nd Floor
303 2nd Floor
400 2nd Floor
58 2nd Floor
229 & Nassau Suite B 2nd Floor
Beekman Parlor 2nd Floor
234 2nd Floor
524 2nd Floor
Concourse C Concourse
50 2nd Floor
331 2nd Floor
421 2nd Floor
424 2nd Floor
200 2nd Floor
505 2nd Floor
Consensus 2018 73

Exhibitor Locations
42 2nd Floor
323 2nd Floor
205 2nd Floor
10 & Sutton North 2nd Floor
54 2nd Floor
32 2nd Floor
27 2nd Floor
Touch Answer 9 2nd Floor
25 2nd Floor
15 2nd Floor
22 2nd Floor
5 2nd Floor
68 2nd Floor
52 2nd Floor
513 2nd Floor
131 2nd Floor
412 2nd Floor
414 2nd Floor
7 2nd Floor
64 2nd Floor
62 2nd Floor
74 Consensus 2018

IS GROWING.
JOIN US FOR OUR FALL CIRCUIT OF EVENTS:
Coming September 18-20, 2018 in Singapore
Coming October, 2018
Powered by
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MAGAZINE MAY 14–16 | NYC

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 1 5/9/18 9:09 AM

hat was the state history in mind. seeks to provide perspective.

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 1 5/9/18 9:09 AM

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 2 5/9/18 9:09 AM

CONSENSUS MAGAZINE STAFF

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FOUR BLOCK SPONSORS

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TWO BLOCK SPONSORS

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The Secure Ledger of Things

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 6 5/9/18 9:10 AM

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Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 8 5/9/18 9:10 AM

marketing.antiqueworld.com info@antiqueworld.com @AntiqueWorldOfficial @AntiqueWorldAW 800-988-8230

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 9 5/9/18 9:10 AM

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 10 5/9/18 9:10 AM

If, during the Consensus conference

Consensus 2018 11

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 11 5/9/18 9:10 AM

12 Consensus 2018

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 12 5/9/18 9:10 AM

Consensus 2018 13

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 13 5/9/18 9:10 AM

14 Consensus 2018

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 14 5/9/18 9:10 AM

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 15 5/9/18 9:10 AM

ADAPTING BLOCKCHAIN a last-mile delivery driver. Were

FOR IoT: ESTABLISHING gain near real-time insight into our

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 16 5/9/18 9:10 AM

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 17 5/9/18 9:10 AM

Blockchain offers hope for expressing contributes to the collective. This

18 Consensus 2018

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 18 5/9/18 9:10 AM

Learn more at mewconnect.myetherwallet.com

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 19 5/9/18 9:10 AM

immediate trigger of payment. Or simultaneously expands confidenti- of ownership of assets). However,

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 20 5/9/18 9:10 AM 441581-

Blockchain technology is quickly disrupting markets

PwC’s Blockchain Validation Solution provides a

For more information, please visit:

22 Consensus 2018

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 22 5/9/18 9:10 AM

CAPITAL SET FREE

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 24 5/9/18 9:10 AM

• Establishing platforms for transacting in digital assets;

• Registration and licensing of cryptocurrency businesses;

• Sponsoring or investing in ICOs.

Stephanie R. Breslow Charles J. Clark

Marc E. Elovitz Donald J. Mosher

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 25 5/9/18 9:10 AM

take some time, if ever, before this

26 Consensus 2018

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 26 5/9/18 9:10 AM

ICOs offer a more direct

route for both tapping

and deploying funds, for

matching founders with

investors. That turns out

28 Consensus 2018

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 28 5/9/18 9:10 AM

Consensus Agenda FINAL.indd 30 5/9/18 9:10 AM