SIG Blockchain - History, use and disruptive potential

Hi Everyone,

Please join us for the first event in our Blockchain Special Interest Group series at T15B (http://www.t15b.com/), London's first Blockchain only dedicated workspace. This event is in partnership with Coinscrum (http://www.coinscrum.com/), London's largest Bitcoin Meetup.

This session is designed to provide an overview of Blockchain technologies and their disruptive potential. Bitcoin is the most well-known use case but there are many more disruptive applications; this session is designed to explore these new applications and their potential impact. This event is suitable for beginners who would like to learn about the technologies, no prior technical expertise is required and it's especially valuable to existing companies looking to create new efficiencies by leveraging Blockchain technology

We'll be photographing and videoing the session as usual for those of you who are unable to attend. Our photo library is here (https://www.meetup.com/NewFinance/photos/) and our video library is here (https://www.youtube.com/user/LondonNewFinance).

Students - we currently have a number of free tickets available for students, please join the group using your academic email and then message me if you'd like one.

Agenda

Please be aware that the agenda is updated on a regular basis

6:00pm - Doors open

Refreshments and Networking Opportunities

7:00pm Welcome address

Eddie George (https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddiegeorge), Founder & CEO, NewFinance

Paul Gordon (https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=75637123&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=oNpF&locale=en_US&srchid=232698001411894163452&srchindex=1&srchtotal=608&trk=vsrp_people_res_photo&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A232698001411894163452%2CVSRPtargetId%3A75637123%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary), Director, UK Digital Currency Association (https://www.ukdca.org/)

7:10pm Presentations

Adam Cleary (https://www.linkedin.com/pub/adam-cleary/44/b81/331), Bitcoin 101

Adam is the Founder, Bullion Bitcoin Limited (http://bullionbitcoin.com), a web based gold to bitcoin exchange. Bullion Bitcoin seeks to enable the direct exchange of physical gold bullion and bitcoin between Customers. On the bitcoin side the exchange sets high standards in security, transparency and auditability, with a Secure Wallet enabling users to audit their bitcoin holdings and see exchange transactions directly on the Blockchain.

Lúí Smyth (https://www.linkedin.com/pub/l%C3%BA%C3%AD-smyth/7/6b2/2b4), A brief history of money, where Bitcoin sits and a brief overview of the current Bitcoin ecosystem

Lúí is currently employed as General Manager at CoinJar (https://www.coinjar.com/), Australia’s largest Bitcoin wallet service provider.

Prior to that Lui was a Postgraduate Researcher at UCL where he conducted ethnographic research examining the politics and motivations of the Bitcoin community as part of UCL's digital anthropology program. His research included the largest qualitative survey of Bitcoin users to date (1000+ responses). He also examined the unique role of the block chain as a shared community canon, the demographics of early adopters, and the social processes that allow digital tokens to hold financial value. Click here for Lúí's blog (http://simulacrum.cc/category/bitcoin/)

Niki Wiles (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikiwiles), Alternative use cases. Asset issuance and exchange. Layers on top of the Bitcoin block chain

Niki is the Community Manager for Counterparty (https://www.counterparty.co/), another “Bitcoin 2.0” technology that is layered on top of the Bitcoin network.

Counterparty is a platform for peer-to-peer markets and financial instruments. Unlike centralised financial institutions, Counterparty provides open & secure financial tools and markets that do not require a trusted third party or middleman to use. The first of its kind, Counterparty aims to decentralise and democratise finance in the same way the Internet itself has done with creation and sharing of information.

Stephan Tual, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephantual) Alternative use cases. Dedicated block chains. How block chain based contracts can open up all kinds of possibilities

Stephan is the Chief Communications Officer forEthereum (https://www.ethereum.org/), a platform currently in development that is within a group often termed as Bitcoin 2.0 technologies as they have taken the basic premise of the block chain and applied it to different use cases.

Bitcoin (the currency) was the first app to function on a block chain but, at its core, is nothing more than a distributed consensus mechanism. Ethereum expands upon this concept and could be used to codify, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything: voting, domain names, financial exchanges, crowdfunding, company governance, contracts and agreements of most kind, intellectual property, and even smart property thanks to hardware integration.

8:00pm - Panel session

A panel session with our three speakers and Paul Gordon, moderated by Eddie George. This is a good opportunity for attendees to engage with the panel and ask questions.

8:45pm - Session ends

Closing address, Feedback and Thanks

9:00pm - After-party drinks & Networking

We'll retire to a local Bar for those of you who would like to continue networking

Cheers

Eddie

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CoinScrum (http://www.coinscrum.com/) is the worlds largest Bitcoin Meetup and helps you keep up with developments in the field by running regular events and creating community around Bitcoin and its associated technologies

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T15B (http://www.t15b.com/) is a London-based co-working space for ambitious entrepreneurs, angel, VC, and hedge fund investors focused on blockchain and math-based currency technology and services.