Blockchain Insights From Experts Procured By The Economist

Intermediation and The Blockchain Panel Featuring Experts From The DTCC, Cornell and Columbia Business School

What better resource to gain diverse, expert insights on Blockchain than The Economist?

The edChain team had the opportunity to do so live as a supporting association for The Economist’s annual Finance Disrupted conference. The conference, held in New York City, featured speakers including Dan Schulman, CEO Paypal; Walt Bettiger, CEO Charles Schwab; Sasha Orloff, CEO, LendUp and Adena Friedman, CEO, Nasdaq.

While numerous topics relating to FinTech were discussed, blockchain was a heavy focus (much more so than last year’s event which we also attended). Here are some quotes from a diverse group of speakers, relating to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology:

Economist Moderator Interviewing Dan Schulman, CEO Paypal

“In a practical terms, cryptocurrency is not a currency now.”

- Dan Schulman, CEO, Paypal

“Blockchain is an evolution that becomes a revolution over time,”

— Adena Friedman, CEO, Nasdaq

“Public and private wallets are coming to a phone near you”

— Drummond Reed, Chief Trust Officer, Evernym

“What is blockchain you ask? To me it’s red the herring.”

Oxford Style Debate Concluding The Conference

— Arun Sundararajan, Author, The Sharing Economy

“ Blockchain can solve global root of trust.”

— Yorke Rhodes, Microsoft

Marcos Dinnerstein, editor Digital NYC “Does Paypal want to integrate crypto?”

Dan Schulman, CEO, Paypal: “Let me think how to answer that..”

Moderator: “It can be a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’”