Abstract

Vitalik Buterin (inventor of ethereum) and Stephan Tual (CCO, ethereum) will give a talk on ‘Blockchain Technology’.

Blockchain technology addresses the problem of how to establish a consensus between members of an untrusted network, the so-called “Byzantine Generals’ Problem”. This innovation, first introduced by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto as part of the bitcoin protocol, has been called “the biggest thing since the internet”. The blockchain offers a solution to the double-spending problem for transactions over an open network, making possible a new generation of “cryptocurrencies” the best-known of which is bitcoin. The implications of this technology, however, go much further..

From the Telegraph recently: “Bitcoin is giving banks a run for their money. Now the same technology threatens to eradicate social networks, stock markets, even national governments. Are we heading towards an anarchic future where centralised power of any kind will dissolve?”