Last week, our Blockchain Solutions Architect, Peter Borovykh, spoke at an excellent panel of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and finance experts in the heart of New York City. The event was titled “Banking On Blockchain: Exploring Decentralization”, and discussed the future of banking, where decentralized finance is going in the near future, and how blockchain has already deeply impacted the finance space. Alongside BlockchainDriven on this panel were representatives from AirSwap, MakerDAO, and Ideanomics.
Peter and the other panelists discussed every topic from Libra, to decentralized exchanges, to regulations. Peter also had a chance to discuss the blockchain applications that we at BCD have consulted and worked on in Banking and Financial markets, which provided excellent insight to the audience filled with finance and blockchain professionals.
Banking is changing drastically, and entrenched companies are facing this new reality. At BlockchainDriven, we regularly consult with banks, funds, and other companies within the banking industry, so BlockchainDriven’s expertise was perfectly-suited to this panel.
AirSwap, one of the world’s premier decentralized exchanges, discussed the usability barriers that people face when interacting with decentralized finance, or blockchain technology as a whole. MakerDAO, responsible for one of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies (MKR), discussed the issue that should be at the forefront of every blockchain solution: demand. BlockchainDriven has seen this time and time again, and hearing it from other sources confirms that our analysis is correct. Blockchain projects again and again use blockchain in interesting and unique ways. The only issue is… there isn’t a demand for the product. Technically brilliant, theoretically interesting, but no demand. Here is what MakerDAO had to say about Libra:
“Good in that its starting a conversation, but bad because I don’t consider it a cryptocurrency. But I think our politicians and public will start to realize that because of this negativity around Facebook as a whole in the data privacy element.” - Ian Harvey of MakerDAO
Ideanomics and Peter had a lot to discuss (and, frankly, agree with each other) on issues such as regulation and Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Libra. Ideanomics had some choice words about Libra, as well:
“Facebook in itself is an economy, it’s an ecosystem… and they want you to use [Libra] as a currency within the ecosystem itself. But is it good or bad?” - Kate Lam of Ideanomics
All in all, the panel was challenged by blockchain specialist Art Malkov (the moderator), the audience, and each other to show their technical and theoretical chops, and they all did brilliantly.
BlockchainDriven was also a sponsor of this event, run by TechForward NYC. We have sponsored several events in the past and have found that it is the best way to connect with the most important people in the NYC blockchain ecosystem and find new clients. I’d also be lying if I said there wasn’t any altruism involved, however. BlockchainDriven is committed to blockchain growth, and we believe that communities of innovators is how this happens, so it’s a no-brainer for us to sponsor these events that house a very tight-knit community.
The other sponsors of the event were BigApps, a NYC government-driven initiative aimed at bringing blockchain into government; TaxMap, a startup aiming to dominate the tax industry on blockchain; and Fusion, a powerful connected ecosystem for financial transactions. All of us sponsors had a chance to speak to the audience about our companies and why we all love sponsoring TechForward NYC’s events. Before and after the panel, we had space to network with the NYC blockchain community. In past events, the connections we’ve formed have led to partnerships, big press, and new clients.
This event was a huge success for everyone involved, and BlockchainDriven is really happy with Peter speaking at the event, and our ongoing sponsorship of TechForward NYC’s blockchain initiative events. If you go to one of these events, seek out BlockchainDriven representatives! This is probably the easiest way for you to get a face-to-face discussion with our leadership team.