What is blockchain? Why does everyone, from tech experts to business moguls, believe it is bound to revolutionize society as significantly as the internet? Join us for an evening that helps us understand what it is, how it works and what the implications are for the future of our world.
Journalist and author Stephen Williams, who also heads a sustainable fashion startup which uses blockchain technology to manage distributed manufacturing, believes that blockchain is the technology that will lead us into a startlingly different future, where profit is clean and trust is a given. But are the blockchain logarithms not too difficult to keep the process honest? Do only people with the right hardware and capital have a seat at the virtual table? Who are the people and organizations in charge of blockchain? In Blockchain: The Next Everything, Williams describes how cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are just one example of transformative applications made possible by this relatively new technology. He makes clear why blockchain is so important for our future: it can help with everything from voting rights to economic inequality to corporate transparency to climate change. Blockchain: The Next Everything is an illuminating tour of a mind-bending new economic model – with the verve and page-turning appeal of a novel.
After his talk, Tey El-Rjula will present a case study about how his company Tykn is using blockchain technology to create a future where identities are portable, private and secure so that no one has to lose access to their identity every again.
This will be followed by a panel discussion with Stephen Williams, moderator Wouter van Noort and Stevie Conlon, cryptocurrency expert at Wolters Kluwer.
Click on the video below to hear Stephen P. Williams explain the basics of blockchain. You can read an excerpt here.
Program director Maarten delivered the following introduction to Stephen P. Williams.
