Day 3 at RISE Conference in Hong Kong
The final day at RISE Conference closed out three days of talks, panels, and discussions on blockchain technology and the decentralized future. Check out a recap of ConsenSys’ afternoon workshop below about enterprise blockchain solutions and blockchain’s future in government.
On the last day at RISE, ConsenSys took over one of the partnership work areas to host an afternoon deep-dive into some of ConsenSys’ projects as well as a panel of experts on government adoption of blockchain technology. Just now catching up with RISE? Read about ConsenSys speeches and panels on day 1 and day 2.
Kaleido, the Blockchain Business Cloud
Kaleido, the Blockchain Business Cloud, is an enterprise solution easing the adoption of blockchain technology for companies. The platform allows enterprises to stand up their own private or private-permissioned blockchain in a matter of minutes. Sophia Lopez, founder of Kaleido, took the stage to discuss the vision from which the platform was born and its promise for enterprise clients. Recap below:
Currently, businesses all have their own data and proprietary systems. To manage these internal systems, companies spend a tremendous amount of cost and risk. The question has always been: how can you conduct business better, faster, and cheaper? We believe the answer is blockchain technology, which allows businesses to become more efficient while also reinventing business practices with all the crypto economic incentives allowed by DLT.
The issue is, of course, that blockchain is hard — but it doesn’t need to be. We developed Kaleido to allow people and technologists to focus their energy on the high-value aspects of their platforms rather than spending time on the blockchain protocol layer. Currently, businesses roll out a new product in three stages, Proof of Concept (PoC), Pilot, and Product. When seeking to roll out a blockchain product, companies confront issues with each of the stages:
Proof of Concept: When first diving into the integration of blockchain technology, companies almost immediately run up against the dense, highly technical, hard-core elements of blockchain protocol. It is, simply, hard — and it is a technical barrier to entry many companies are unable or unwilling to overcome. Many companies, therefore, become stuck at the PoC stage, and are forced to implement only a fraction of the original blockchain vision,.
Pilot: Should a business move to the pilot stage, they are confronted with the theoretical issue of determining distributed governance and sharing. The reinvention of business practices with blockchain technology requires companies to decide precisely who has access to precisely what information. This degree of granular decision-making is not only hard to decide, but difficult to implement. This stage is another area in which businesses get stuck, hindering an eventual product deployment.
Product: At the final stage, companies are charged with actually delivering a product to consumers. At this stage, the challenge becomes speed and to-market time. Blockchain technology is early, but companies are racing to deliver a viable product to customers. The development aspect of an application on top of blockchain technology can take time and, in particular, can be negatively affected if neither the PoC nor Pilot stages were conducted to their full capabilities.
The result of many enterprise attempts to deliver a blockchain-based product through the three phrases is a product that is watered down, barely a shell of the original vision the company had for the project. This is the problem Kaleido is solving. We are challenging the economic equation through radical simplification.
Our mission is this: We promise to make blockchain radically simple for organizations to adopt so that our societies will fully benefit from decentralized models and technologies. Come join us today to continue building the decentralized future.
After Sophia’s talk, co-founder Jim Zhang took the stage to demonstrate to the workshop just how easy it is to set up a blockchain instance with Kaleido. In 15 minutes, he set up a node, determined governance, and established a functioning instance of a blockchain.
Panel: Future of Government on Blockchain
To end the day, members of the ConsenSys Mesh took the stage to discuss their opinions on the future of the government integration of and relationship with blockchain technology. The panel was moderated by Aiai Garcia, Business Solutions at ConsenSys. Panelists included Aaron Wright, Professor at Cardozo Law School, Co-Founder of Brooklyn Project, & Co-founder of OpenLaw, Joyce Lai, Legal at ConsenSys and Brooklyn Project, and Dr. Guang Zhao, Strategy at ConsenSys. Summary of the panel below:
Garcia: What are the possible applications of blockchain technology for government? What are some limitations?
Wright: Blockchain is, at its core, an asset management platform. In today’s society, governments often are the ones who manage and/or regulate a tremendous number of assets in a country. In the future, blockchain technology will make this management/regulation immutable and instantaneous. We will move from a paper-based, delayed-reporting world to a more dynamic, real-time world. We can imagine voting systems. Access to new markets. Deep liquid markets. New ways of managing properties. In the next five, ten, twenty years, we will witness increasingly more cooperation and interoperation between countries and economies.
Lai: One particularly relevant application is tax collection. With smart contracts, you can build in escrow conditions to divert payments to certain places automatically and in real-time, without back office costs. OpenLaw has published a real-world use case showing how companies can use smart contracts for employee tax purposes. With smart contracts, governments can collect taxes in real time — this a more dynamic way for governments to collect. Additionally, blockchain technology would provide radical transparency for taxes — we would be able to see precisely where governments are using citizen’s taxes.
Zhao: Digital identity is also crucial to recognize. In the past 10–15 years, many government agencies have transformed from a paper identity system to digital. But hackers still can access centralized government records and compromise someone’s identity. By moving from electronic-based to government-based digital identity, we protect citizens better. Government transparency is also key. Money coming from citizens in the form of taxes flows downward from city to district to village. A study has shown that that $10 turns into $1 after flowing down to a village level in the Chinese infrastructure — where does that money go? Governments will be held accountable in a blockchain-powered future.
Garcia: Many entrepreneurs are attracted to blockchain technology because it is decentralized. Where should blockchain companies set up?
Lai: The US is in a competitive position. From a regulation standpoint, it is true that most regulatory bodies don’t want to over-legistlate and stifle innovation. They want to encourage growth. Generally, the US is encouraging of lots of different technologies. Additionally, there are great universities and good talent here. But I think, depending on what type of business you’re trying to set up, other areas might be more competitive — banking in Hong Kong, for instance. It is not that different than traditional businesses; some countries and cities have made an effort to be more friendly of certain business structures, and they will continue to do so.
Wright: Joyce [Lai] nailed it. Most tech companies are decentralized similar to blockchain technology. In terms of setting up a legal entity, the US is still a great place to do it. You can set up a company in an hour, and there are standards in place to ensure a robust business model. There is incredible developer talent in the US, but definitely not exclusive to the US. What’s important to recognize is that blockchain will help drive a global ecosystem, where people can work effectively and without hindrance wherever they are. ConsenSys is one of the largest companies to successfully do that.
Zhao: There are two places to think about if interested in technology. With respect to sheer size of the market, China & the surrounding regional market cannot be matched. If your business is focused on ICOs or cryptocurrencies, however, there is nothing in mainland China — you’ll have to go to Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore. If you’re purely interested in the technology as a platform and the size of an addressable market, it is prudent to get your foot into the China market as soon as possible. The best practice still remains to be forming a company in the US and then spreading into China.
Garcia: Is government relevant in a future where blockchain governance is distributed?
Lai: I am immensely enthusiastic about the technology. I believe most people want and need the kinds of services provided by traditional government — fire departments, militaries. I don’t think governments should be replaced by blockchain technology. I think the tech can evolve and improve how governments serve their citizens
Wright: There is a good possibility that some services traditionally provided by governments can be replaced by blockchain-powered consensus governance. But national governments and services? I believe those will still be around.
Zhao: Hierarchies naturally exist. From an efficiency standpoint, it is more efficient for national organizations. Governments and governance may become more decentralized in the future, but it will be some sort of decentralized hierarchy, they won’t disappear altogether.
Looking Ahead
The ConsenSys team packed up and left the RISE Conference for the last time this year. The Meshians who came from abroad flew back home, while the APAC team stayed in the region to continue promoting ConsenSys, Ethereum, and the decentralized future in the area. If you have been keeping up with RISE, you will have noticed that much of the discussion — blockchain or otherwise — has centered around the growing interconnectedness of the world, and of East & West in particular. Later this month in San Francisco, a tech event known as Distributed will also be exploring the blockchain-fueled increasing relationship of countries along the Pacific Rim. We at ConsenSys are committed to a global, interconnected future, and look forward to continuing to promote it across the world.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author above do not necessarily represent the views of Consensys AG. ConsenSys is a decentralized community withConsenSys Media being a platform for members to freely express their diverse ideas and perspectives. To learn more about ConsenSys and Ethereum, please visit our website.
