Retrospective - The Blockchain Conference 2016

This segment will focus on the activities of financial markets players and the startups that are joining forces to re-invent securities processing.

The chairperson for this segment is David Easthope, SVP, Securities and Investments Group, Celent

This segment will focus on non-financial services use cases for block chain technology and implementation approaches

The chairperson for this segment is Andrew 'Flip' Filipowski, Founding Partner, Tally Capital

Delivery vs Payment, often referred to in the bitcoin world as "Atomic Swaps"; is the cornerstone of mutual fund accounting. These funds are often legally prohibited from paying for a security before it is delivered. This talk will explore the three different technical mechanisms in use in the block chain space to enable DVP settlement of trades. It will touch on Namecoins' atomic swaps, Ripple's exchange orderbook, and the new attempts at inter-ledger settlements in the space.

Presented by Ryan Singer, Founder & CEO, Blockchain Clearing Corp..

This session will provide a business overview of smart contract concepts, how they relate to block chains and how they might be created. Examples of how smart contracts can be used by companies to underpin commercial transactions will also be covered.

Presented by Sergey Nazarov, Co-Founder & CEO, SmartContract

A panel of experts will discuss recent activity related to the financial markets' adoption of distributed ledgers and point to likely directions in the next 12-24 months.

Participants include:

Brad Bailey, Research Director, Capital Markets, Celent (Moderator)

R. Jesse McWaters, Project Lead - Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services, World Economic Forum USA

Ron Quaranta, Chairman, Wall Street Blockchain Alliance

Patrick Salami, Founder & CTO, HitFin

Mark Smith, Founder & CEO, Symbiont

This session will include a business and technology introduction to Ethereum and will also highlight a number of applications that have been built on top of the platform:

* Balanc3 - A triple-entry accounting system that leverages the immutability of Ethereum’s block chain to ensure the integrity of accounting records, combined with smart contracts to process invoices, payments and other business activities.

* Transactive Grid - Which provides real-time metering of local energy generation together with a marketplace for the purchase or sale of kilowatt hours, including spot and derivatives trading.

* Ujo Music - An infrastructure to support rights management for the creative industries, keeping track of intellectual property and automating royalty payments.

Presented by:
Kieren James-Lubin, Founder & Chief Data Scientist, BlockApps
Roman Mandeleil, Founder & CEO, <ether.camp>

Running on Microsoft Azure's ETH BaaS (Ethereum block chain-as-a-Service) the Ethereum Total Return Swap (eTRS) highlights core block chain benefits by combining several smart contracts into a financial use case that stretches well beyond transfer of value.

Presented by James Slazas, CFO, Enterprise Capital Markets, ConsenSys

Block chain technology introduces a new means of connecting disparate information silos, whether that is between multiple parties or within a large organization. Policies can be added to block chain data management allowing stakeholders to automate workflows and reporting. Shared ledgers allow multiple parties to connect to the same data store and create logic around how they do business with one other.

This presentation discusses how connecting business logic to shared ledgers creates “smart networks” and how this will impact cross-industry trust and value exchange.

Presented by Micah Winkelspecht, Founder & CEO, Gem

An opportunity to network with other attendees and to chat with speakers and sponsors.

An opportunity to network with other attendees and to chat with speakers and sponsors.

This segment examines how block chain approaches can help to reduce the friction of - and create new opportunities for - commerce.

The chairperson for this segment is Pete Harris, Principal, Lighthouse Partners

The chairperson for this segment is Stepan Gershuni, Co-Founder, Business Development, BlockNotary

This panel will explore how block chain technology is disrupting established players in the corporate and personal payments space.

Participants include:
Gil Luria, Managing Director, Research, Wedbush Securities (Moderator)

Olaf Carlson-Wee, Head of Risk, Coinbase

Cheryl Gurz, SVP, Retail Operations, The Bancorp

Chris Larsen, Co-Founder & CEO, Ripple

This panel will explore business, organizational and technical approaches and options that IT enterprises might consider as they look to deploy block chain technology.

Participants include:

Pete Rizzo, U.S. East Coast Editor, CoinDesk (Moderator)

Chris Finan, Co-Founder & CEO, Manifold Technology

P. Bart Stephens, Founder & Managing Partner, Blockchain Capital

Ray Valdes, Research Director, Internet Platforms & Web Services, Gartner

The presentation is looking at block chain and banking, focusing on where the technology can be most effectively used. Three areas have been selected, which could have great effect on making banking safer and adding a greater level of trust and confidence in banks. These are:

• Identity - One of the biggest issues for banks is to know with whom they are dealing. This has lead to a creation of a billion dollar industry in KYC (Know Your Customer), on-going KYC with anti money laundering (AML), Sanctions and Black and White lists that are constantly changing. By establishing at the start a block chain identity, banks dealing with this identity can be assured that the actions reported have been verified by more than one party.
• Payments/Securities Lending - Often banks have a closed loop in certain areas, for example, Securities Lending, where participants need to have certain attributes. Block chain provides that circuit where each participant can see who has done what trade and agrees and confirms it. The flow of payments and movement of securities can be seen by the ones in the loop. Tracking of Foreign Exchange (FX) movements is another example as everyone can to see the movement and rate of the FX as the payment/security is moved
• Supply Chain - It can be argued that the ‘Letter of Credit’ (LC), was the first block chain.  Started by the Egyptians around 200 BC, the LC guarantees a seller will receive payment once certain delivery conditions have been met and verified. 2,000 years later the LC is still an active part of global trading. Block chain, with its capability to be verified by many parties, can unlock the trapped capital in the supply chain awaiting movement.

Presented by John Bertrand, Industry Value Engineer - Banking, SAP

Factom has been busy developing new tools to leverage the security of the block chain, without the scalability limitations of bitcoin. See the three latest tools that could change data as we know it. Take away knowledge to influence your industry and learn what is in store for block chain in 2016.

Presented by Tiana Laurence, CMO, Factom.

Trusted third parties are central to the double-entry system of accounting. Accountants trust that bank statements are accurate, and investors trust that audited financial statements accurately reflect a company’s financial position. Unfortunately, records can be altered or deleted, and auditors can ignore fraud and other criminal activity.

With triple-entry accounting, financial transactions are recorded in a cryptographically secure block chain in which the receipt IS the transaction. When block chains eliminate the need for a trusted third party, this increases transparency and efficiency while reducing data duplication, the risk of fraud and overall IT costs. This presentation will discuss transaction flows in a triple-entry accounting system, the companies building those systems and some future implications.

Presented by Daniel Winters, President, Global Tax Accountants and Chairperson, Tax & Accounting Working Committee, Wall Street Blockchain Alliance

An opportunity for executives from block chain startups to find out what really matters to their peers in the enterprise IT space.

Participants include:

John Mathon, Independent Enterprise IT and Cloud Consultant

Ray Valdes, Research Director, Internet Platforms & Web Services, Gartner