[Event] International Symposium on Blockchain Advancements 2022: A New Interoperability Dimension Coupling DeFi and CeFi

Coinlive reporting at the International Symposium on Blockchain Advancements: A New Interoperability Dimension Coupling DeFi and CeFi event at InterContinental Singapore.

Ultra-efficient Blockchain Design

Dr. Radia Perlman, who is currently a Fellow at Dell EMC and is called the “Mother of the Internet”, is covering the topic “Ultra-efficient Blockchain design”. She opens her speech by introducing blockchain, pointing out that the hype of bitcoin, the representative of cryptocurrency, is due to people making money from it. The more hype it gains, the more money gets poured in. Dr. Radia also explains bitcoin’s goals, which is decentralisation, and design, which is a ledger that could prevent false transactions.As many users are focusing on the wrong side of centralisation, Dr Radia explains what “centralise” is and its benefits. Centralised entities usually have many servers, storing data in multiple places, as well as making it efficient for global users. When bad things happen, they are always the first to blame, thus making them look “bad”. In fact, centralisation is exactly what users need. Lastly, she also talks about the usage of blockchain and the problem it is solving. She tells us not to assume blockchain will be the right solution for everything and remember to compare various approaches in order to choose the right one.

Blockchain Security Considerations

Charlie Kaufman, System Security Architect at Dell EMC, is covering the topic “Blockchain security Considerations”. He brings up blockchain security and states that most security issues are not from the blockchain itself but from the applications. The blockchain design is robust; if the blockchain maintainers lose contact with each other, each connected group will continue to add new blocks and confirm transactions as though the others do not exist. However, some blockchains will halt if a network partitions into too many small groups. So, there is a design tradeoff between possibly halting and producing forks. The result of forking could be bad, depending on the application. Charlie also talks about the features of public and private blockchains. In summary, blockchain is a tool that does something exceptionally well but poorly too. Blockchain might help with an application’s security, but that is not all. Therefore, knowing the problem and picking the best tool for the job is crucial.

Moving Towards Safe and Trusted Digital Currency

Antony Ruddenklau, Global Head of Financial Services Innovation and Fintech at KPMG International, is covering the topic “Moving Towards Safe and Trusted Digital Currency”. He starts off by sharing the current state of digital currencies. Despite the fall of some of the most prominent pioneers in the crypto space, investment activities in blockchain and crypto are here to stay. Global central banks are also actively evaluating their own CBDCs. Antony believes digital currencies have disruptive potential but have yet to be adopted at scale due to a few challenges, such as the lack of consumer protection, robust business models, control and governance, and trust. To drive digital currency adoption, regulators responded with increased regulatory activism, extra-territoriality, and consumer protection. Web3 companies and developers, to regain users’ and investors’ trust in crypto, could enforce the following: establish institutional grade control and processes, manage financial stability risks from digital asset activities, develop market infrastructure, and safeguard investors against harm.