Turn Reactive into Crypto Gold

The blockchain is taking the world by storm. If you look at its tech fundamentals, it needs to be a distributed, resilient and massively scalable system. Does it sound reactive? Heck, it does to me. Tonight we have two awesome speakers: Paulo Lopes (https://twitter.com/pml0pes) from Vert.X and Red Hat will introduce the idea of blockchain and show us an example reactive implementation built from scratch. Then, Emanuele Francioni (https://twitter.com/Autholykos) from Web3 Ventures will take us for a ride in the real world, addressing scalability issues in the Ethereum network.

This event will be hosted at WeWork on Weesperstraat. "WeWork is the platform for creators. We provide the space, community and services you need to create your life's work. To learn more about WeWork's spaces and memberships in Amsterdam, send an email to amsterdam@wework.com or call +31 20 808 1143."

17:30: doors open: bring an ID document as WeWork requires it to grant access.
18:00: NO FOOD SPONSOR YET. CAN YOUR COMPANY SPONSOR PIZZA?
18:30: intro
18:45: talk #1: A lesson on Alchemy: turning reactive into gold!
19:15: break
19:20: talk #2: Scalability issues in Ethereum
20:00: wrap up and more drinks
20:30: lights out

Talk #1: A lesson on Alchemy: Turning reactive into gold!

Reactive systems shine at many levels, but not all that shines is gold. In this short lesson we will learn how to turn them into pure crypto gold. We want to build scalable distributed and robust blockchain code. There are many shining libraries for java virtual machine out there but are they reactive enough? We will learn the basics of what blockchain is, how you can interact with it and turn your code into pure gold. After this lesson you should know everything to purify, mature and perfect your “source code” making you a real alchemist.
The talk is code/demo driven, it will start by creating a simple reactive system and mix with the ethereum network. We will then learn about protocols and how we can benefit from reactive systems for this. The talk ends with a working scalable distributed and responsive ethereum based application.

Talk #2: Scalability issues in Ethereum

A big part of the Reactive world is about scalability and the current blockchain proposals take the issue on a whole new level. Imagine a distributed system where every piece of information needs to be delivered to every node in the network. Take this system and set the entire world as its boundaries. Then give it the power to run arbitrary software, potentially requiring coordination between multiple machines. This the gist behind Ethereum, a second generation blockchain, and the scalability challenge it poses is mind-boggling. Every exchange needs distribution and validation, so at the moment the Ethereum mainnet can process about 15 transactions per second - which has led to immense congestion suring the most successful ICOs of 2017. How to address such issues? This talk will give an overview of the current Ethereum setup and introduce the two most promising projects to solve its scalability issues - Cosmos and Plasma.