Arguments against Bitcoin - a panel discussion
Details
Note:
The discussion will be followed by the usual beer-to-beer at Central Station, opposite from the UOG, starting at 8pm.
Note FRANCAIS:
Discussion en anglais, suivie du traditionnel beer-to-beer au Central Station, en face de l'UOG, dès 20h.
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Bitcoin is seen as a controversial subject across society, and even within communities of interest such as the Bitcoin meetup sphere, heated exchanges about its nature and purpose can be commonplace. However, well-argued criticisms of Bitcoin are not a favored topic in such communities, and more broadly, remain relatively rare due to a lack of would-be critics willing to explore the subject in depth.
To explore and address such criticisms, our next meetup will feature a panel discussion on arguments against Bitcoin. Two panelists will be tasked with putting forward ideas critical of Bitcoin, ideas which will be contradicted or at least questioned by two other two panelists. The discussion will be moderated and the public will be encouraged to participate. Since every member of the panel believes to some extent in the promises of Bitcoin and/or blockchains in general, panelists will be pushed to question some of their own convictions.
Panelists:
- Ome: a self-described "crypto nihilist", Ome thinks deeply about decentralized social and technical systems, both in theory and in practice. His current company provides open-source software solutions for events management to institutions, and he was previously CTO of Bity, one of Switzerland's oldest running cryptocurrency brokerages.
- Marco Pagnini: a portfolio manager who initially trained as a software engineer, Marco set up the first BTC CFD from a publicly listed bank (Swissquote). He now manages a private family fund which among other holdings has a Bitcoin mining farm. Viewing cryptocurrencies as the natural digital evolution of finance, he believes they will reduce the entry barriers to financial services for the masses, while the programmatic setup can help re-establish trust and a desperately needed new unbiased neutrality.
- Taz: fractional CTO of a crypto brokerage offering tailored cashing out and compliance services, Taz previously completed a doctoral degree in physics. Besides staying constantly abreast of technical and commercial changes regarding Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, he maintains broad intellectual interests, from mathematical-logical puzzles to religion.
- Julien Groselle: a seasoned technologist with deep experience in computing as an infrastructure engineer and architect, Julien is CTO of the crypto projects analytics company DigNow. Passionate about the transformative power of blockchain technology and dedicated to driving innovation in the cryptocurrency space, he believes Bitcoin's ability to remove intermediaries is revolutionizing financial systems by providing greater transparency and accessibility.
Moderation:
The discussion will be moderated by Simon Perdrisat, an expert in digital transformation and technology governance with a focus on technology’s societal impact. Simon has written about the political motivations of Bitcoin developers, as well as the socio-technical imaginaries of decentralized dispute resolution protocols. He currently works at the Digital Strategy Office of the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland (HES-SO).
Bitcoin Geneva:
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/BitcoinGenevafr
- Telegram: https://t.me/BitcoinGeneva
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bitcoin-geneva-meetup/
- Meetup: https://meetu.ps/c/4vdwg/QsB7r/d