Agenda

• The rise of Bitcoin and its Blockchain
• Behind the Bitcoin: Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
• Altcoin, Coloured Coin, Bitcoin 2.0, Crypto 2.0, Smart Contracts and more
• The Global & Australian Context for Cryptocurrency & DLT

Speaker: Tim Lea,  CEO,  Veredictum.io

Frustrated by a corporate career in finance, working with such names as GE Capital, HSBC, and Lloyds Bank, Tim took the entrepreneurial leap of faith and plunged deep into Web 1.0 in February 1995, setting up an internet cafe-bar & restaurant and a web design house, which he sold in 2001, prior to calling Australia his home.

Here, he followed his passion for screenwriting, culminating in him writing, directing and co-producing an internationally award-winning feature film, 54 Days in 2014. When Tim came across the Blockchain for the first time in August last year he had that light bulb moment when he realised there was the chance to finally do something about film piracy and theft, and he set up Veredictum.io.

Tim is a regular speaker, writer and trainer on the strategic application of Blockchain.

• How might decentralized blockchain technologies enable new forms of non-hierarchical governance?
• How are DAO’s expected to reshape organizational infrastructure, structures and professional roles?
• Will DAO’s revolutionize ownership and business models?
• What are the challenges in implementing DAOs? How do we go about modeling governance processes?

Hugo is the co-founder and Head of Innovation of Bit Trade Australia, the nation’s leading fixed-price bitcoin exchange. Hugo currently works as a developer at Bit Trade Labs, a blockchain product incubator, and enjoys solving problems and making things.

• The practical limits of blockchain and smart contracts
• How the emergence of blockchains, and shift from monolithic firms to markets, is a signal that a new generation of solutions, “direct interaction” solutions will emerge
• Provide examples of how these solutions will change the business landscape
• Outline who will benefit from this shift, and who might be in trouble
• What it will take to remain competitive  in this new environment

Peter has spent his career working at the intersection between business and technology. He has worked in Asia, Australia, Europe and the US, lived in Silicon Valley through boom and bust, and held leadership roles in global organizations as well as start-ups and research and development labs. These days he works as a consultant and advisor on the business and technology sides of the fence.

Panel Discussion –  Future of Blockchain in Financial Services

• Seeing beyond the hype: which problems can blockchain applications realistically solve? Which use cases will prove to be scalable for large financial institutions?
• What is driving investment in blockchain within the financial services? Will blockchain change the established business models of financial institutions?
• How will ownership of and responsibility for blockchain architectures develop?
• Disrupt or be disrupted? What could be the cost of not investing in blockchain?

Gary Collins
Panelists:
Peter Evans-Greenwood, Fellow, Centre for the Edge
Deloitte

Nick Addison, CTO,  Finhaus Labs

• Whether digital currency is a form of money or currency as legally defined
• Whether issuers or intermediaries need a licence under banking or financial services law
• Whether KYC rules apply to digital currencies
• Whether general consumer protection law applies (misleading conduct, unfair contract terms etc.)

Dr. Rhys Bollen has been practising in the area of consumer protection, corporate and financial services law for 17 years, both in private practice and with the government. He has written widely in the field, focusing in recent years in consumer protection regulation (particularly in the financial services industry). He is currently Executive Director, Regulatory Policy – Better Regulation with NSW Department Finance and Services. Previously he was Assistant Commissioner Policy & Strategy, NSW Fair Trading and prior to this, Senior Manager, Consumer Policy with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Rhys teaches Company Law and Banking Law at Sydney and Monash Law Schools. He has a PhD in financial services regulation, and masters degrees in law and business.

• Compare popular consensus mechanisms, such as Proof-of- Work (Bitcoin), Proof-of-Stake (Peercoin), distributed consensus (Ripple)
• Understand how the mechanics of reaching consensus can affect the development of blockchain applications and use cases
• Discuss the difficulties of blockchain technology, particularly from a consensus view point, as well as potential solutions worth exploring

Speaker: George Samman, Committee Chair -Blockchain and Financial Services; Residence for Blockchain, Wall Street Blockchain Alliance; Tyro Fintech Hub; Startupbootcamp

George is Entrepreneur in Residence for Blockchain at Tyro Fintech Hub and Startupbootcamp. George is a blockchain advisor and consultant to global financial institutions and startups. He also writes a blog on blockchain technology and use cases at sammantics.com. George also co-founded BTC.sx, now magnr, a bitcoin trading . He is also a former Wall Street Senior Portfolio Manager and Market Strategist as well as a technical analyst. George holds the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation.

• Cryptographic Security Strength & Post-Quantum Cryptography
• Long term security analysis of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple assuming no Quantum Cryptography
• Security analysis of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple in a Post-Quantum Cryptography world
• Securing cloud computing and distributed systems using Blockchain techniques

Speaker: Peter Robinson, Former Senior Engineering Manager, RSA (Security Division of EMC)

Peter Robinson is a former Senior Engineering Manager at RSA where he focuses on innovation. He has managed teams which have delivered many complex security products and components; the most recent of which provides the underlying security behind RSA’s Via Access. Peter has been working in the software industry for more than 25 years and he holds 14 granted patents and has 8 active patent applications in areas of cryptography, distributed computing security, Android security, and graphical password design. Currently, his research interests are Blockchain and Smart Contract security.

• Advantages and disadvantages of public vs. Private blockchains
• Will Private blockchains undermine the inherent security model of blockchains?
• Emergence of hybrid models
• Evaluating the organization and business model for the optimal type of blockchain

• Context & understanding why is blockchain technology a major topic
• 5 essential principles of blockchain functionality
• Introducing 3 stages to a crypto-economy
• Use cases under consideration – what are banks doing with blockchain?
• Our beliefs regarding the blockchain discussion, and why you should be experimenting now

Speaker: Philip Gomm, Banking and Capital Markets Leader, Capgemini

Philip is a Director and the Banking and Capital Markets Practice Leader at Capgemini. Phil works with the senior executive of our banking clients to assist drive technology enabled strategic change. He is deeply familiar with today’s digital transformation agenda. Together with his core banking transformation skills, Phil has globally recognized expertise in payment and payment related systems, and has worked for leading IT professional services organisations including IBM and PwC, where he consulted across multiple Tier 1 Australian Banks and local and international FS organisations. He has held senior technology business engagement roles for both NAB and Australia Post. Today Phil focuses on the Fintech sector and new and emerging disruptive technologies.

For centuries market friction such as imperfect information, interaction and innovation has been the greatest barrier to wealth creation and is estimated to be costing global and local business billions of dollars due to a drag on efficiency. IBM Global Financing, a channel financing operation that spans a worldwide network of more than 4,000 suppliers and partners, is using Blockchain technology to resolve and reduce disputed transactions, historically in the order of 25,000 each year, which previously tied up around $100M in capital at any given time. IBM’s implementation of a distributed ledger for its business networks, based on blockchain technology, eliminated these frictions and transformed the way in which businesses work together and people interact. With everything in potential flux, from banking and airline reservation systems to social security and interactions with the department of motor vehicles, IBM is working with clients to explore how they too can leverage the benefits of blockchain. Dee McGrath, Vice President, Financial Services IBM Asia Pacific, will explain why IBM is investing so heavily in this disruptive technology and building out an ecosystem of partners and clients to rapidly advance the adoption of distributed ledger technology across industry.

Dee McGrath is Vice President of Financial Services Sector in Asia Pacific. She is responsible for the strategy, capability and execution of Financial Services business across 12 countries focusing on helping clients in banking, wealth, insurance, payments and capital markets integrate IT with business insight to create and deliver value for their customers and shareholders. Dee has worked with major banks, insurance companies and regulators throughout Asia Pacific over the course of her career in financial services. She has led business strategy and operating model transformation and merger integration, as well as guided the development and management of very significant global client relationships.

• The reality for large firms adopting new market infrastructure technology and a discussion on whether an Uber moment could evolve within Equity Capital Markets.
• Pre conditions for conversion and the cost benefit analysis.
• Does the pathway need to be global to succeed?
• Winners and losers are likely to emerge and then the lobbying for the status quo begins.
• Driving to an outcome will require firms to align to allies in the competition for success in Blockchain adoption.
• Who are the early adoptions in Equity Capital Markets- could conversion be retail or buy side lead?

Danielle Henderson is a financial services professional with over 15 years experience in global markets post trade. In addition to senior leadership roles providing market infrastructure, Danielle has worked on client side in Prime Brokerage, Clearing, Settlement and Securities Services driving service delivery, strategy and innovation. She has worked in and covered Asian, European and Australian markets. In her recent role as General Manager Clearing Services at ASX she was responsible for Customer Forum engagement and spearheading industry change to a T+2 Settlement cycle. She has a deep understanding of Australian Capital Markets and strong industry relationships.

With a background that also spans working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas Danielle has expertise in regulated, market and volume driven businesses and understands the necessity to manage capital and risk. These businesses are also technology platform dependent requiring scalable and cost effective operating structures, which informs Danielle’s commercial perspective on the management of infrastructure businesses.

With this understanding of front to back securities processes she is currently exploring the impact of distributed ledger technology and blockchain in capital markets post trade.

• Rationale, benefits, costs and other considerations for developing blockchain applications for the capital markets
• Implications on costs, organizational structure and the wider industry
• What should be the model for adoption in the capital market?

• Pertinent issues currently surrounding “identity” and the use of blockchain as a secure storage for a vast array of data types
• Case study: How UNICEF could encode DNA of new born African children onto a blockchain, thereby providing them with an immutable record of identity
• How to secure such personal details via biometric, sound and various 2FA passwords to allow the growth the global trust machine

Speaker: Jonathan Ewing, Co-founder & Blockchain Solution Architect, Bitto NZ

Jonathan is a nominee for the 2016 Innovation NZ Awards, for work on strategic thinking for large scale power network diversification towards blockchain mining operations, time shift mining and side chain processing – a multi million dollar national savings initiative to put New Zealand on the global cryptocurrency map.

With 18 years ICT experience, he has focused on enterprise solutions, information design, technical analysis and knowledge management and has worked for major brands throughout wider Asia, Australia, the Middle East & Europe. A solid backstory for a fintech solutions specialist.

As an early Bitcoin miner and investor, he understands the complexities and technical aspects of disintermediation and the truly decentralized opportunity that abounds within the Bitcoin protocol. He has a deep knowledge of data systems, disintermediation rationale, smart contract technology and future enterprise applications using the blockchain.

• Current Outlook for Blockchain Standards and Regulation
• Proposed Standards
• Will Standards Encourage or Limit the Development of Blockchain Applications?
• What are the Implications of Regulatory Constraints on Application Development?

Dr Bronwyn Evans is CEO of Standards Australia and has previously held positions as Deputy Chair of The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering and member of the Centre’s Finance and Risk Committee, Chair of the Medical Technology Association of Australia Board and Chair of the National Board of the Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management. In 2014 she was awarded the Engineers Australia President’s Award. In 2014 and 2015 was recognized as one of Australia’s 100 most influential engineers in 2014, and in 2015 was acknowledged as one of Australia’s Knowledge Nation 100. Currently, Dr. Evans is leading Standards Australia in developing the first international Blockchain standards.

• Meeting contract law and evidential requirements
• What are the privacy concerns?
• What are the confidentiality concerns?
• Additional issues for APRA regulated financial services entities
• Insurance contract limitations

Alec is a partner in the Digital Law (including Data Privacy) team at EY with over 26 years’ experience. He has a diverse cross-border Asia Pacific practice with an emphasis on solutions in the areas of data privacy/cyber security, information (including Big Data analytics and IoT), e-health, e-commerce (including online marketing), Blockchain, smart contracts and distributed ledgers, Cloud computing, sourcing, open source software and commercial IT and IP.

Alec is described by Chambers Global – The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business Guide as ‘superb…. a genuine regional expert’; by Asia Pacific Legal 500 as ‘probably one of the best lawyers in his field’ and ‘a Cloud computing and data privacy expert’ and ’is brilliant on software licensing … has a wide knowledge of IT/IP issues both in Australia and globally’; and by Leading Lawyers as ‘a sought after IT lawyer in Australia, he’s a highly pragmatic professional who assisted us in getting a very commercial result’. The Australasian Legal Business Guide to Technology, Media & Telecommunications notes Alec as ‘the primary partner mentioned for IT work, and… highly regarded’.

Since 2013 Alec has been selected as one of the Leading Information Technology lawyers in Australia (and the world) by Who’s Who Legal and described as a ‘distinguished practitioner… lauded by clients for his excellent advisory work in… privacy’. Alec was also recently recognized by BestLawyers Australia as one of the best outsourcing lawyers in Australia.

Alec has been appointed to the editorial board of and is one of only three Australian experts for and to Data Guidance’s online ‘Global platform for data protection and privacy compliance’ and the only Australian on the editorial board of the global journal e Health Law & Policy published by Cecile Park Publishing. Alec has also been appointed by Bloomberg BNA as its country expert/editor for Australia for its new online global data privacy and security offering.

• Regulatory trends and timeline
• How will virtual currency and blockchains be regulated differently?
• How does existing regulations for securities and derivatives apply to virtual currencies as a type of financial instrument?
• How does existing regulations apply to blockchains – as an alternative trading system?

Moderator:
Nicolas Giurietto, CEO & Managing Director, Australian Digital Currency & Commerce Association

Panelists:
Alec Christie, Partner, Digital Law, EY

Dr. Bronwyn Evans, CEO, Standards Australia

Tessa Hoser, Non-Executive Director & Consultant, Norton Rose Fulbright

Workshop Leader: Tim Lea, CEO, Veredictum.io

Frustrated by a corporate career in finance, working with such names as GE Capital, HSBC, and Lloyds Bank, Tim took the entrepreneurial leap of faith and plunged deep into Web 1.0 in February 1995, setting up an internet cafe-bar & restaurant and a web design house, which he sold in 2001, prior to calling Australia his home.

Here, he followed his passion for screenwriting, culminating in him writing, directing and co-producing an internationally award-winning feature film, 54 Days in 2014. When Tim came across the Blockchain for the first time in August last year he had that light bulb moment when he realised there was the chance to finally do something about film piracy and theft, and he set up Veredictum.io .

Tim is a regular speaker, writer and trainer on the strategic application of Blockchain.

• Evaluate the existing blockchain protocols: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Hyperledger, etc.
• Distinguish POW, POS and consensus systems
• Evaluate the pros and cons of adopting such validation mechanism as well as the impact on security and privacy
• Is private blockchain the only way to solve the privacy issue in public ledgers?

Tom is also the Founding Director of the first Blockchain Academy established in Australia to run dedicated courses teaching software developers and non technical people about the Blockchain technologies.

It is The Academy’s vision to create a talent pool of local blockchain software developers who can work on exploratory blockchain projects with local, national and international clients from public sector markets, industry, academia and support the start up community.

As a freelance programmer, entrepreneur and online educator, Tom has been organizing and teaching at the Brisbane Ethereum Blockchain Meetups for almost 2 years, and helping people from all walks of life understand what blockchain actually means and how the technology can be applied to solve real world problems.

It is Tom’s mission to teach people new skills for the 21st century to work on solving 21st century problems through a new type of reliable Information Technology made possible with the latest Digital Governance Systems and at the same time awaken the human spirit we all have inside.