Tag: blockchain

A day hardly passes without an urgent headline focused on the economic transformation underway wrought by blockchain technology. The software is the power behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but Olin experts have been plumbing the deeper implications of the technology.

Here are five things business leaders should know right now about blockchain from Panos Kouvelis, director of Olin’s Boeing Center for Supply Chain Innovation, and Ohad Kadan, H. Frederick Hagemann, Jr. Professor of Finance and Associate Dean for Global Degree Programs. Then, watch for a way to learn more.

Peer-to-Peer Transactions—Like Cash

Blockchain technology has been developed as an efficient method for completing financial transactions, based on the principle of peer-to-peer involvement and fully decentralized and shared networks. It functions as a distributed ledger that provides visibility of all transactions to all parties in the chain, and it is built on an immutable database.

Early Applications

Beyond cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, etherium, and litecoin, the blockchain has been used in supply chain finance in areas such as clearing financial payments, using digital ledgers, and executing “smart” contracts.

Digital Inventory Tracking

Key inventory and asset resources can take on a digital footprint, which provides additional security and tracking capabilities. Applications have been built, relying on the blockchain, to track and trace goods involved in the supply chain for industries such as the diamond trade, food, and pharmaceuticals.

Applications Still Being Conceived

Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize supply chains and it requires the immediate attention of supply chain managers. Many are scrambling to understand how a technology developed to support cryptocurrencies might be applicable to supply chains and, in particular, to the supply chains of their companies. Experts say the technology will reduce friction in global shipping operations and complex supply chains that involve goods flowing across borders, through ports, and involving governmental agencies, manufacturing, and retail firms.

Kouvelis and Kadan will help business leaders get further up-to-speed on the ways blockchain technology will enhance (or disrupt) their industry in a two-day seminar May 22-23 called “Blockchain Innovation Strategies: Early Lessons from an Emerging Technology.” Click for more about this workshop.

The workshop is structured as a forum to learn more about the technology and equip attendees to know what questions to ask as they explore the implications of blockchain for their business. Coming out of the workshop, attendees should better understand the potential application of the technology in their supply chains, gain inspiration about possible immediate benefits the technology can provide, and confront obstacles and challenges in implementing it.

Blockchain is an emerging technology that has the potential to create a paradigm shift in the way we think about financial transactions. It has the ability to record transactions via a shared ledger and can be applied across many industries and currencies. The first major application of blockchain was Bitcoin, an unregulated cryptocurrency that was very resource intensive to mine. But business applications for blockchain will likely differ in several key areas.

At The Boeing Center’s 9th annual Industry Conference in October, Ed Corno, Client Technology Leader at IBM, gave a presentation on blockchain from the IBM perspective. He claimed that the technology’s business applications will focus on identity over anonymity, selective endorsement over proof of work, and assets over cryptocurrency.

Ed Corno, Client Technology Leader at IBM

Corno defines the four key tenets of a shared, replicated, permissioned ledger (as characterized by blockchain’s business applications) are consensus, provenance, immutability, and finality. This shared ledger would serve as the one record of all transactions across the business network, and participants would be able to see only relevant transactions.

According to Corno, the requirements of blockchain for business are the aforementioned shared ledger, a smart contract embedded into the transaction database, the privacy to ensure that transactions are secure and verifiable, and trust between all participants.

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Digital disruption will meet financial services on July 24, 2017, at Olin Business School, to determine how blockchain technology will shape the future of trading. The second annual Distributed: Trade blockchain conference is sponsored by Olin’s Wells Fargo Advisors Center for Finance and Accounting Research (WFA CFAR), BTC Media, and the SixThirty fintech seed fund and accelerator.

Anjan Thakor

“The WFA CFAR is pleased to support the second blockchain conference on the Washington University campus,” said John E. Simon Professor of Finance Anjan Thakor, director of doctoral programs and CFAR. “This is a unique opportunity to exchange ideas about one of the exciting new developments in financial markets.”

An accompanying 24-hour blockchain hackathon will be held from July 22 to 23 at  T-REX, the technology incubator located in downtown St. Louis.

The conference will build on the revelations and groundbreaking progress made last year with proofs of concept and lessons learned from industry trailblazers. More than 300 attendees will hear from over 40 speakers.

Returning speakers include Brian Behlendorf, executive director of Hyperledger, and Iliana Oris Valiente, strategy and execution lead for Deloitte/Rubix. New speakers include Andrew Keys, head of global business development for ConsenSys, and Brook Armstrong, CEO and co-founder of Blockskye.

“The inaugural Distributed: Trade conference was such a success, both for attendees and our presenters, that we knew it would return to the international trade and financial services hub of St. Louis,” said David Bailey, CEO of BTC Media. “This year we plan to build on that success and take a deeper dive into the disruptive potential that blockchain technology has in this space.”

The conference is being presented by BTC Media in partnership with SixThirty, the global fintech seed fund based in St. Louis, and is the first global event focusing on blockchain technology applications for both trade networks and financial services.

“Distributed ledger technology holds a ton of promise for the ‘world of trade,’” said Atul Kamra, managing partner of SixThirty. “We are bringing together leading thinkers and practitioners to the ‘Show Me State’ to realize this promise and accelerate adoption.”

Distributed: Trade will be a place for blockchain technology innovators, enterprising startups, and firmly established legacy players to discuss the opportunities presented by distributed ledger technology in global payments, insurance services, supply chain management, and capital market operations.

“Distributed is an awesome series of events,” Behlendorf said. “I always have interesting conversations and find the panels go well beyond the standard format and content. It’s great to be able to dive deep into a given sector during each event. I attend as many as I can.”

For details and registration, visit distributed.com/trade.

Source: BTC Media news release

The Distributed Blockchain Conference is the first global event focusing on blockchain technology applications for both trade networks and financial services. We are fortunate to be able to host such a groundbreaking conference at Washington University in Emerson Auditorium next Tuesday, June 14^th  from 8-5 p.m. This conference will bring together the industry’s leading blockchain technology companies with major enterprises to brainstorm how the new technology will disrupt and optimize trade networks and financial service. Still on the fence? Here are four reasons you should add The Distributed Blockchain Conference to your summer schedule:

1. Delve into the impact of blockchain on financial services and trade networks

Blockchains are the most revolutionary technology development since the Internet. Money can be transferred cheaply and more efficiently on a global scale, removing the middle man from the equation when making transitions.

2. Real use cases will demonstrate how blockchain technology can provide efficiency gains and cost savings

Forty of the world’s top financial firms are already experimenting with this technology and this number is expected to continue to grow. Fluent, a financial operating network with WashU roots, will be demonstrating their products tracking supply chain and offering product and proof-of-concept demos, helping you understand how some of the largest firms can embrace this new technology.

3. Network with the innovative leaders 

CEOs from the world’s leading blockchain startups and executives from the world’s most innovative corporations will come together to reimagine international trade networks. The event is primarily sponsored by SixThirty and BTC Media, which are both large contributors to the fintech industry. There are 45 speakers at the event, including Brian Behlendorf, the Executive Director of Hyperledger Project at The Linux Foundation; David Bailey, the CEO of BTC Media; Jeff Garzic, the co-founder of Bloq, and many more.

4. This is the first blockchain conference of this magnitude to be held in a non-coastal city

St. Louis is the first Midwest city to be selected to host a conference about blockchain, and for good reason: Home to many startups, elite colleges, and nationally-recognized fintech company SixThirty, St. Louis is a vital logistics and fintech hub. This conference offers you the rare opportunity to learn more about this revolutionary technology and network with some of the largest names in this growing industry.

Learn more and register today!

Please use discount code for WU students- DISTRIBUTEDWASHU