Blockchain Expo 2018: All Info

Decentralized ledger technology has gone far beyond the confines of conventional economic relationship models. Blockchain-driven solutions are gaining traction in an increasing number of industries, where small startups and large-scale enterprises strive for adopting cutting-edge protocols to create robust decentralized business ecosystems.

However, as is always true with emerging technologies, there is a comprehension gap that still hinders many business owners from implementing blockchain solutions. To bridge this gap, some cornerstone blockchain topics were set on this year’s panel agenda.

A panel hosted by the Blockchain Social Club Meetup at Blockchain Expo Europe 2018 focussed on several decentralization aspects that have paramount importance for the global business community. The audience expressed concern regarding governmental regulations toward blockchain, the role of venture capital investments for incentivizing decentralized ledgers, and the lack of accessible knowledge base for blockchain acquisition.

photo_panel Participants were unanimous in the view that businesses of any size and industry can definitely capitalize on blockchain-backed apps and protocols. While clarifying their positions on decentralization, the panelists expressed confidence that a new approach might be beneficial for all stakeholders, including business partners as well as end-users.

The panel members showcased deep understanding of blockchain implementation processes and shared their diverse expertise in big enterprise organization, gaming industry and real estate.

The panel moderator started off the discussion asking about the perspectives of introducing decentralized ledgers as an essential architectural constituent for today’s business models.

Dennis O’Connell, Senior Global Architect at Bank of America, emphasized that building decentralized protocols and raising investments for blockchain app development could be a crucial evolution step for next-generation business ecosystems.

We will undoubtedly witness significant disruptive technology shifts in every single industry that will be powered by blockchain-driven solutions in the next several years.

Natalia Karayaneva, Founder and CEO of Propy Inc., stressed the importance of prioritizing the role of developers and coders who can make it happen for companies to prosper from decentralization. She also told the audience the story of Ethereum and its winding road to success. In her opinion, startups launching and deploying their own protocol blockchains have every chance to catch up with well-known market players and even outperform the front-runners.

There should be some kind of incentive and support from government in our countries for blockchain app development startups as they are the only ones who can open up new horizons for business. They just need some time to evolve.

DMarket Founder & CEO Vlad Panchenko highlighted the necessity of creating a universal decentralized tool that would enable companies to manage smart intuitive transactions flows without any central governing authority involved. One should adhere, however, to the following certain sequence of steps, namely orchestrating an actionable protocol, then developing a blockchain app, and finally applying it to a proper business sphere.

Introducing a robust blockchain-driven solution requires considerable skills and flair both on the development and implementation stages. Being properly adjusted to a definite business, it can exceed all expectations.

Later all the participants focused on a question concerning current regulations for ICOs/ITOs. The topic resonated with the floor, since the legal status of blockchain technology remains unclear to most attendees. The panelists assured the audience that there is a silver lining in the governmental attitude both in the US and Ukraine toward legitimizing blockchain models. In particular, Natalia Karayaneva said they had already been through getting preliminary government approval for opportunities of remote overseas real estate transactions.

Thus, having a sound legal foundation would greatly speed up the blockchain space and persuade late movers to engage with the promising decentralized environment.

Finally, the discussion group zeroed in on the risks that might jeopardize the decentralization process. All the speakers were quite cognisant of potential issues associated with improper blockchain model implementation. From their standpoint, all the issues arise out of low awareness among business owners about new tech-enabled solutions.

The panel members highlighted the need for a mass non-profit educational campaign aimed at disseminating relevant information on blockchain-related topics within the global business community. Vlad Panchenko also mentioned that the gaming community, being at the forefront of advanced technologies, was much more conscious of blockchain benefits than other groups. So far they already enjoy safer, faster, cheaper and more transparent decentralized services.

All in all, the participants agreed upon the fact that decentralized blockchain technology had become a prominent game-changer for both small startups and large enterprises in terms of workflow optimization and transaction performance. To leverage its advantageous features all stakeholders, including business owners, venture capitalists and end-users should join their efforts and bridge the information gap.