Blockchain E – Salon: What’s all the hype around Blockchain about? [VIDEO]

WiredBrief are delighted to bring to you another exciting panel event hosted by Legal Hackers MCR, which looks into Blockchain and what the hype is all about.

About this Event:

Are you tired of seeing generic news articles about Blockchain that just talk about it in terms of Bitcoin and daily price fluctuations?

Blockchain and decentralised ledger technology have many uses that extend past digital currencies. Their ability to create a secure trust-less, permissioned ledger is just one example of a feature, that will make the technology a crucial hallmark of the connected world and Internet of things (IOT).

If you are looking to expand your knowledge of Blockchain and better understand its place in our connected digital future, then come to the Manchester Legal Hackers E Salon where they’ll be finding out what the fuss is all about!

Host:

Xuening Qu – Legal Technologist at DWF

Co – Host:

Abigail Holt – Barrister at Garden Court Chambers

Event Co – Ordinator:

Geofrey Banzi – Legal Technologist at KPMG

Panellists

Adi Ben-Ari

Founder & CEO at Applied Blockchain

Adi has over 20 years enterprise software experience, more recently leading major deliveries of production blockchain and advanced cryptography solutions. Adi is widely recognised as an independent thought leader in the industry, a noted speaker at major conferences, experienced in educating C-suite on blockchain, confidential computing and privacy-preserving technologies, and acts as an advisor for a number of startups.

His work has been noted by the UK Government, where he was invited to present at Parliament and the House of Lords, and at University College London. Adi has contributed to the recent work of the Law Society on Blockchain, Legal and Regulatory Guidance. He has co-invented and designed a number of patents related to confidential computing, advanced cryptography, blockchain and mobile payments.

Will Foulkes

Senior Solicitor & Head of Blockchain at Stephenson Law Will is an experienced solicitor and specialist in distributed ledger technologies, digital assets and smart contracts, advising on multi-jurisdictional regulatory compliance and strategy for token-related fundraising. Will is an engaging and informative speaker on blockchain and has worked with the Law Commission’s Digital Asset and Smart Contract team on a number of key projects.

Jay Smith

Legal Engineer at Stephenson Law

Jay advises on legaltech, operations and blockchain at Stephenson Law, a key challenger in the legal industry, with a forward-thinking approach of how law firms should operate and embrace new technologies. Jay’s expertise and consultancy fuses design and tech with an expert understanding of law.

Andy Gray

Co-founder of KnownOrigin Labs and BlockRocket.tech

Founder, Blockchain Manchester

Andy builds blockchain products and solutions, developing decentralised applications (Dapps) with Solidity smart contracts and Web 3.0 tech, and with over 20 years commercial experience developing enterprise IT systems. Andy’s recent projects include the creation of a tokenised customer loyalty platform and experiments with crypto-collectibles for BrewDog and KnownOrigin.io, a digital art marketplace. Andy will speak about crypto-collectibles, blockchain art and proof of provenance.

The following questions were answered:

– Can you explain what blockchain is all about in three sentences? 9.16

– The primary value of blockchain is the fact it’s so secure. However, there must be potential breaches in blockchain, can you describe how potential breaches are dealt with? 10.56

– What do you see as the most interesting and evolving trends in distributed ledger technology? 16.53

– Fungible, non fungible… what does it mean? 21.59

– Some people say that the blockchain revolution hasn’t happened yet, and most of the existing blockchain applications can be achieved through normal cloud based applications. What do you say to that? 23.59

– What does the internet of things mean? 29.58

– Could you give us examples of existing blockchain projects, including some you’ve worked on? 32.10

– Who do I go to to design a system in regards blockchain? 36.14

– Adoption of technology often lags the creation of the technology. Legal regulation can often lag behind that! One of the challenges for blockchain is that it will be dotted all over the world, which brings into question legal jurisdictions. What are your thoughts on the regulation of blockchain and how that can be done practically? 41.16

– Can you explain what mining is? Why does it use so much electricity, and why does it pose a risk to climate change? 45.35

– Can you explain the practical differences and challenges proposed by proof of work versus proof of stake? 49.48

– When governments start accepting crypto as payment for taxes, that will be a tipping. How close do you think we are to this? 51.27

– How do see the system being regulated, or do you think it will it regulate itself? 58.55

–  Can the regulation keep up with the technology? 1.01.31

About Geofrey Banzi, Legal Technologist, Big Four 13 Articles
Geofrey Banzi is a Legal Technologist at KPMG, co-organiser and co-founder of Legal Hackers MCR and the founder of WiredBrief, a leading tech platform that connects readers globally to the connected digital world. WiredBrief specifically focus on raising awareness of important tech-law concepts and issues, with the aim of creating greater awareness and understanding of technology and its potential to shape society for the better, as well as its portended risks which crucially need to be mitigated against. Geofrey is also the author of Regulating Driverless RTAs: A Concise Guide to the Driverless Future and Emerging Policy Issues in the UK and is a leading voice in the UKs rapidly growing Technology law scene. Specialisms and interest include: * Corporate, Competition and IP Law * Self driving cars and AI liability * Project management (Legal tech) * HighQ and cloud infrastructure * Data visualisation and UX system design * Document Automation (Contract Express)