BSV Blockchain recently held its inaugural Enterprise Utility Blockchain Summit in Bengaluru, India.
The summit, which took place on 5 and 6 August 2022, was aimed at bringing together technocrats, business leaders, developers, investors, policymakers and thinkers who are curious about the future of global connectivity and the nature of 21st-century commerce.
Both days offered an exciting line-up of presentations and discussions which focus on the latest developments across the BSV space and new use cases for blockchain technology.
Recap: Enterprise Utility Blockchain Summit – Day 1
The first day of the Enterprise Utility Blockchain Summit saw presentations from speakers whose experience encompassed a wide range of industries and technologies. This included a keynote address by Chief Scientist of nChain & Founder of SVPool Dr Craig S. Wright.
The audience was also treated to several panel discussions on technical and popular topics related to blockchain technology, including security and risks, payments and CBDCs, commerce and online gaming.
Decluttering the discourse around Bitcoin
The conference began with a panel discussion on decluttering the discourse around Bitcoin between Coingeek’s Kurt Wuckert Jr. and the Founder of Timechain Labs, Rohan Sharan. The presentation focused on the utility and value of Bitcoin and how the discussion can be shifted away from the speculative nature of crypto assets.
Sharan pointed to the value of the triple-entry ledger system offered by the BSV blockchain and its utility in eliminating fraudulent transactions. He highlighted the original Bitcoin white paper and its ‘purity’ which was ultimately lost as changes were made to the protocol, subsequently derailing the original vision of Satoshi.
Wuckert Jr. detailed the history behind how the BSV blockchain was founded and why it is the original Bitcoin. He also talked more directly about other crypto assets such as BTC and Ethereum and why BSV is the better protocol in every way. The duo also focused on some of the key benefits of BSV and why the protocol is ‘pro regulation’.
Keynote address by Dr Craig Wright
In his keynote address, Dr Craig S. Wright talked about what he called the ‘holy grail’ of Bitcoin – focusing on its potential as a P2P electronic cash system. He discussed precisely why the BSV blockchain offers unparalleled privacy and security and noted that the ultimate goal is to have all data remain with the user.
He also expanded on his original vision for Bitcoin and how people often misunderstand his ideas of decentralisation. Dr Wright noted that this idea is a threat to traditional payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard who are reliant on being ‘middle-men’ to make their money.
He further discussed the idea of identity and validation on the blockchain and why he designed certain processes such as hashes in a way to exclude third parties and instead emphasise the individual. ‘If Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn want our data they should pay us for it. We shouldn’t be giving it to them, they should be paying us.’
Security and risks of blockchain adoption
Following his keynote, Dr Wright again featured in a panel discussion focusing on the security and risks of blockchain alongside Kapil Jain of nChain and Prof. Sandeep Shukla
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
The discussion primarily focused on the actual security features of the blockchain and how it works. The panel then shifted the talk to focus on the risks associated with blockchain technology and the relevant mitigation strategies that need to be introduced.
This was then expanded to the use case for blockchain technology – including at a regulatory governmental level, and the security issues that national governments must consider before adopting blockchain technologies.
Payments, commerce and CBDCs on blockchain
The next two-panel discussions focused broadly on how the blockchain can be used in the payments sphere. The first panel featured five panellists and the discussion was specifically focused on payments and the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Panel speakers included:
- Leandro Nunes – NChain
- Sudeep Choudhari – National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI)
- James Belding – Tokenized
- Lorien Gamaroff – Centbee
- Priya Karnik – Pay3
The second-panel discussion on payments focused specifically on introducing the blockchain ecosystem into online payments and broader e-commerce possibilities. It also considered the role of regulators such as the ONDC. The ONDC is a private non-profit Section 8 company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade of Government of India to develop open e-commerce. Speakers included:
- Parimal Priyadarshi – Nu10 Technologies;
- Jaikrishnan Jaisankar – ElectricPe;
- Srikanth Chunduri – Framewirk;
- Supriyo Ghosh – ONDC;
- Sujith Nair – Beckn Foundation.
Evolution of Gaming: from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0
The next panel discussion focused on how the gaming industry is set to see a fundamental sea change as shifts from Web2 to Web3. Rafa Jimenez of HandCash said that having the technology of having actual cash on the Internet through the BSV blockchain is a ‘game changer’ as it provides new ways to monetise content.
It also allows developers to create new experiences for people by allowing them to keep their digital assets by tying them directly to the blockchain through NFTs, he said.
This was echoed by Mohit Kataria, Co-founder of Nu10 Technologies, who said that play-to-earn games have existed for decades, but that blockchain technology allows this to become more transparent and decentralised. What has to happen is that Web3 games need to be engaging in the first place for this model to work and that gamers need to enjoy their time in the game enough to warrant parting with their money.
Nitish Mittersain, Founder and MD of Nazara Technologies, said his team’s games are only possible on the BSV blockchain due to their scalability and stability. He added that developers need to be able to trust the protocol that they are working on, and that this is only possible on BSV.
Regulation and blockchain
The next two panels both focused on how BSV blockchain technology can be used in the regulatory and government spheres.
The ‘India-stack and self-sovereign identity’ panel, which included members of India’s national government, considered the possibility of incorporating blockchain into the country’s identity system. While the panel members noted that there was some pushback about integrating the new technology, the group said that there was also a willingness on behalf of the Indian government about adopting blockchain and learning how it works.
Similarly, the ‘Regulation and Blockchain’ panel discussion focused on the immutable nature of blockchain and its wide applicability in governance in everything from managing police cases to paying bills and organising accounts.
IPv6, IoT and the role of blockchain
As the adoption of Internet-based services and applications continues to grow exponentially, the standards which underpin the global network have necessarily evolved to cope with the billions of connected devices and users interacting globally. A prime example of this is the adoption of IPv6 – an Internet Layer protocol standard that allows each device connected to the Internet to be assigned a unique 128-bit IP address.
The IPv6 panel focused on how this protocol aligns with blockchain technology and featured heavy hitters Dr Craig S. Wright and Latif Ladid, Chair at 5G World Alliance & President of the IPv6 Forum.
The panellists noted that the ability to deliver end-to-end networking using IPv6 address space is crucial to unlocking the efficiencies and capabilities of an unbounded blockchain protocol like BSV.
The BSV blockchain is the only public blockchain capable of scaling to meet the demands of enterprise-scale applications and was designed to function as an extension of the Internet that allows for peer-to-peer payments and complex data transfers without intermediaries.
Recap: Enterprise Utility Blockchain Summit – Day 2
The second day of the Enterprise Utility Blockchain Summit saw further presentations and panel discussions, including a presentation by sCrpyt on smart contracts as well as a keynote speech by Joe Holles de Peyer, the COO of Gate2Chain.
Smart contracts on the blockchain
Xiaohui Liu of sCrypt gave a presentation about smart contracts on the BSV blockchain. He explained that while most people associate Bitcoin with payments, it has far more utility, including smart contracts.
Liu also provided background on the security of smart contracts on BSV, including Schnorr signatures and the fact that they are Turing complete.
He also provided an overview of why sCrypt is better than other similar smart contract-focused companies and gave a technical overview of how a smart contract works on the BSV blockchain compared to the inferior (and vastly more expensive) Ethereum protocol.
Second keynote – Gate2Chain
Day two’s keynote speech was given by Joe Holles de Peyer, the COO of Gate2Chain.
Gate2Chain offers easy and accessible ways to integrate many of the BSV blockchain’s powerful features, from Metanet objects and payment channels to layer-one tokenisation and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The keynote primarily focused on what it is like developing on the blockchain and breaking ground in a new industry. He also provided an outline of the services offered by Gate2Chain including wallet infrastructure, direct and conditional payments, Metanet objects and NFTs.
Holles de Peyer also provided a walkthrough of Gate2Chain’s backend systems and showed off exactly what customers can expect to receive when they open an account.
The keynote then ended with a brief Q&A session where Holles de Peyer answered on some of the technical challenges that Gate2Chain is addressing.
Business on the blockchain
In a series of quickfire presentations, several companies gave an overview of the work they are currently doing on the BSV blockchain. Some of the highlights include:
- Cedi – A startup aimed at helping gig workers secure funding;
- Timechain Labs – A startup focused on BSV app development;
- Moneyswipe – Provides cross-border money transfers through BSV.
- Gate2Chain – Offers easy and accessible ways to integrate many of the BSV blockchain’s powerful features.
The presentation also focused on some of the benefits of building in the BSV ecosystem, how to get involved in the development, and some of the real use cases of development.
Banking on blockchain
The banking on blockchain panel primarily focused on what the future of the banking industry would look like if it moved onto a blockchain protocol. Specific focus was given to central bank digital currencies and the possibility they could replace the existing Swift cross-border payment system.
The panellists noted that significant work is already being done by both startups and the traditional banking sector to introduce Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and smart contracts to make payments and settlements faster. They noted that blockchain technology also allows for other features in the banking space, such as banking in the metaverse and introducing other new ways to communicate with customers.
The panel also focused on the storage of data and personal details, as well as educating customers about the safety and security features on offer.
TAAL
A panel hosted by TAAL gave insight into the work that the group is doing to improve mining and infrastructure on the BSV blockchain.
TAAL is a publicly traded, Canada-based infrastructure company that focuses on building a microtransaction economy on the BSV network by scaling transaction throughput and data capacity. The company has already broken records for the largest block sizes ever mined on a public blockchain and doubling its maximum supported block size from 2GB to 4GB is a breakthrough upgrade that has widespread ramifications for miners and the entire BSV network.
The panel provided a broad overview of the work done by TAAL, and some of the more technical aspects of the mining infrastructure and also included a Q&A session where participants were able to ask the company questions directly.
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