Distributed Markets Wrap-up
Yesterday I attended Distributed’s Markets conference in downtown Atlanta and I wanted to provide some key takeaways and notes from an event sporting an incredible speaker lineup and program. For those unfamiliar, Distributed is a popular blockchain publication by BTC Media whom organizes a series of annual conferences in regards to Trade, Markets (Payments & Financial Services), and Healthcare. The Payments and Financial Services conference being held in Atlanta was fitting seeing that the city has crowned itself a FinTech hub (per my recent post).
Remittances and PaymentsPanel: Gabriel Abedd (Bitt), Justin Newton (Netki), Katherine McClure (UL), Moderator - Thiago Olson (ATDC)
Remittances make up 20% of global payments and 50% of payments revenue. The cost of these traditional cross border transactions will only continue to increase [so long as blockchain does not enter].
Brand loyalty with Western Union still has people utilizing their services despite ~15% fees. This hurts the parents sending their child $200 a month for rent much more than the 1x annual user. It’s the cost of trust in an outdated industry.
Many still rely on the idea their money is physically held in the Chase they pass on the way to work or the corner Farmer’s National Bank. It provides them a sense of security.
Open, permission-less networks utilizing bitcoin promote inclusion and value creation while allowing people without money or power to have a seat at the table.
When designing the UI it is important (at least initially) to hide the complexity of bitcoin/blockchain. Since the tech new and lacking public awareness the learning curve is higher therefore yielding low adoption rates.
BTC is the best solution to liquidity flow issues (money getting snagged). It’s fast, secure, and cheap.
IoT and BlockchainPanel: Shawn Wilkenson (Storj Labs), Lamar Wilson (Hijro), Jim King (Core Rights), Moderator - Patrick Deegan (DAC Technologies)
Internet of Things will rest above the blockchain. Thousands of transactions can occur and then settle on the blockchain. This was likened to a bar tab where you put your card down and then at the end of the night true up.
There’s an issue of scalability and how to balance completely trust-less transactions w/speed. IoT can eliminate back office intermediary functions such accounts payable/receivable, invoicing, procurement, and scheduling. However, auditing applications will need to be developed to ensure blocks transactions were entered correctly.
Smart ContractsPanel: Andrew Keys (Consensys), Howard Herndon (BlackLine Advisory Group), Moderator - Carol Van Cleef (BakerHostetler)
Smart contracts are basically IF THEN ELSE statements. They are software code which may be able to replace certain templated work done in MS Word. In the future we will see library templates of smart contracts used by, for example, law firms. This will cause the current cost of trust to plummet.
Could potentially secure self sovereign identity where users may secure all their information (
We also received a sneak preview of yesterday’s much anticipated publication regarding the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.
In summation, everyone agreed continued increased interoperability and cooperation amongst one-another is crucial for further development. Capitalizing on the strengths of blockchain/bitcoin: faster, cheaper, and more trustworthy, is key in scaling the technology. Proof of Concepts (PoC) are needed; however, to ensure blockchain ever escapes the beta stage.
Overall it was a phenomenal event and an incredible opportunity to hear from big figures in blockchain, namely Jeff Garzik, Brian Behlendorf, and Patrick Byrne. I had the opportunity to meet some incredible people while learning about blockchain’s current status as well much anticipated implications.