Rio Blockchain Conference 2019 — an overview
Everything that happened at the Rio Blockchain Conference 2019 at Museum of Tomorrow
When EOS Rio team decided to organize the EOS Community Conference, giving back was always a key value on this endeavor. This means having in mind all the time what value are we providing for the EOS Community. But also, how we can help our fellow Brazilians and Cariocas understand how blockchain will impact their lives and how to make the best out of it.
This is how the Rio Blockchain Conference (RBC) was born, as a gift from the EOS Community to Rio and Brazil. Co-hosted by EOS Argentina, and co-created with the Museum of Tomorrow, a science and technology museum and one of the most visited attractions in Rio, RBC focused on demystifying the technology and present decentralized applications already operating and impacting the lives of people.
More than four hundred attendees enjoyed the opportunity to witness professionals from all over the world, presenting real applications and new trends on the ecosystem.
Morning Track — What is blockchain and what is it used for?
The morning was composed of lectures explaining the technology’s history and its basic fundamentals. From Satoshi’s whitepaper to smart contracts, from bitcoin’s purpose to programmable blockchains.
Lecture I — Technology History
Speaker: Courtnay Guimarães [Technology Director — ABCB]
The first lecture was given by Courtnay Guimarães, tracing the history of blockchain until nowadays.
Lecture II — Simplifying blockchain: What is this technology for anyway?
Speaker: Thiago Cañellas [CEO — EOS Rio]
Thiago Canellas gave an interactive talk about the purpose of blockchain and how this technology can disrupt current business models in the world.
Lecture III— Smart Contracts
Speaker: Matias Romeo [Co-founder — EOS Argentina]
Matias Romeo gave a straightforward and valuable talk about what are smart contracts and its basic concepts.
Lecture IV — Blockchain Status
Speaker: Gabriel Aleixo [ITS]
Gabriel Aleixo is a senior researcher at the Technology and Society Institute. He gave a talk about the current state of the technology, key protocols, challenges and solutions. Also, with an overview of the current market and prospects.
Panel A — Expert’s Chat from Top Programmable Blockchains
Host: Sebastian Wain [CoinFabrik]
Participants:
– Igor Lins e Silva [EOS & BOS]
– Marcelo Brogliato [Hathor]
– Solange Gueiros [Ethereum]
The first panel was a chat with experts from current top programmable blockchains, from Ethereum to EOSIO chains, to Hathor, an in-home network born in Rio de Janeiro.
The debate was on fire and prompted a discussion about the different technologies, their complementarities and common challenges.
Afternoon Track — How is this technology being used?
After the lunch break, the schedule included talks and panels, which started to discuss specific themes: legal aspects, enterprise blockchains projects, financial inclusion and sustainability.
Lightning Pitches
A series of lighting pitches were presented to show the audience current use cases of blockchain, projects already developed and running.
The projects showcased were PredIQt, Yolo, SocialBlocks and DAOstack.
PredIQ is a blockchain-based prediction market Dapp on the EOS mainnet, part of the Everipedia family of knowledge.
Yolo is a decentralized token swap platform, in which you can easily swap tokens, even within a dApp.
The third pitch was from SocialBlocks, a social impact project focused on training blockchain professionals and connecting them with companies in the field.
The fourth and last pitch was from DAOStack, a tool that lets you create DAOs — Decentralized Autonomous Organizations — currently running on Ethereum.
Lecture V — EOSIO, the ultimate dApp platform
Speaker: Daniel Keyes [EOS Nation]
Daniel introduced the software EOSIO, teaching what sets EOSIO apart from other blockchain protocols, and what makes it a great choice for building decentralized applications capable of attracting everyday users.
Lecture VI — Blockchain in Universities
Speaker: Rafael Nasser [co-founder ECOA PUC-Rio]
Rafael Nasser works in a prestigious university in Rio, PUC-Rio. He co-coordinates the technological innovation programs in the university. He gave an insightiful talk about how are blockchains being adopted inside univesities and how this knowledge is being explored.
Panel B — Legal and Regulatory Aspects
Host: Rosine Kadamani [co-founder — Blockchain Academy]
Participants:
– Ricardo Mafra [lawyer — Vieira Rezende]
– Claudio Maes [Standards Development Manager — CVM]
The word Blockchain is often much more remembered in the context of financial fraud and scams than as a genuinely disruptive technology. This panel seeks to demystify the technology image by presenting the precautions to be taken when evaluating a project, and by advising entrepreneurs and developers on how best to conduct their business regarding the current legal and regulatory aspects.
Panel C — Blockchain Use Cases for Enterprises
Host: Ciro Jorge [creator — BNDES Garagem]
Participants:
– Thiago Guimarães [Solution Architect — IBM]
– Julia Carlini [Food Quality and Safety Manager — Carrefour Brasil]
– Cristiano Gomes [Digital Architecture Leader — Santander]
In this panel, participants were all from major companies nowadays and they discussed the possibilities and use cases of blockchain in global enterprises, from supply chain to micropayments.
Panel D — Blockchain & Financial Inclusion
Host: Paulo Vieira [Co-Founder — Vieira Rezende Lawyers]
Participants:
– Davi Monteiro [personnel manager — Banco Maré]
– Sebastian Valdecantos [MonedaPar]
This was an inspirational on how blockchain can provide financial inclusion, transforming lives and boosting the economy.
Sebastian Valdecantos explained Moneda Par, a project establishing community currencies, amid Argentina’s economic recession. Davi talked about Banco Maré, an initiative born inside the Maré community to help them pay their bills, and that today envolved into an app that allows that and much more, using their crypto currency.
Panel E — Promoting sustainable use of ecosystems through blockchain
Host: Danuza Mattiazzi [journalist]
Participants:
– Renato Paquet [CEO — Polen]
– Vanessa Spiess [founder — Rastra]
This Panel showed real use cases for sustainable applications using blockchain.
Renato Paquet showcased Polen, an impactful platform for buying and selling recycling credits. Vanessa Spiess present Rastra, a platform that brings transparency and traceability throughout the fashion chain.
Closing Speech — Decentralized Autonomous Organizations
Speaker: Michael Yeates [eosDAC]
Michael Yeates presented and discussed those new forms of the human organization, using decentralization as the basis for a fairer and more egalitarian society.
Interviews were conducted during the event to let the speakers express the feeling of spreading their knowledge and experiences with all those enthusiasts. Despite their thankfulness, it was unanimous how important it was for them to explain that blockchain does not resume its features to schemes and frauds as the media is used to propagate, but that there’s a of sectors which could benefit from its application.
Although it’s known that one day wouldn’t be enough to help the public reach a good level of understanding, our idea is to make this an annual event.
We thank everyone involved in the making of this event, from our co content creator Museum of Tomorrow, our co-host EOS Argentina, and our sponsors: platinum sponsor EOS Nation, gold sponsors Boscore and NODE ONE, and silver sponsors eosDAC and EOS Cannon.
