It’s 2018, and Times Square won’t get left behind. The Digital Chamber of Digital Commerce unveiled a huge ad in the Big Apple to put the words “blockchain” and “investment” on everyone’s lips. Their tag line: “Blockchain Advocacy at the Intersection of Innovation, Investment and Policy.”
As blockchain, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies emerge from the murky shadows of Silk Road (guns, drugs and money launderers) and cross into a friendlier light, the Digital Chamber aims to demystify the actual technology. Leading the effort are Perianne Boring, Founder & President, and CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, aka #Cryptodad, a crypto-supporting rockstar because of his recent testimony on blockchain and Bitcoin before The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Giancarlo got real with deniers and announced that the new day had already dawned when he acknowledged how hard he’d failed to interest his own children in the stock market. They were too busy brushing up on Bitcoin and cryptos. His recommendation: “We must thoroughly educate ourselves and the public about this new innovation.”
Understanding blockchain won’t happen overnight as the cryptocurrency market is home to over 1,400 projects, in addition to a growing number of private, corporate blockchain ecosystems like the ones being developed by IBM and Japan’s online retailer Rakuten. The use cases are varied, complex and remain largely untested in the real world. Speculators continue to invest in the hopes that some of these projects will reach fruition and cross a figurative DotCom bubble-burst finish line that threatens to leave the vast majority of well-meaning and enterprising development teams on the cutting room floor, as it did during the early days of the internet.
A key distinction for blockchain is how much the technology intersects with artificial intelligence, and how it goes far beyond connecting people across borders to share photos, tweets and music. Blockchain technology and all of its players are setting the roadmap for computers to communicate seamlessly through smart contracts – without people – stipulating and executing rules and agreements for all types of transactions, and to integrate highly sophisticated machine learning algorithms that can reshape society and drive a whole new economy.
This week the Chamber of Digital Commerce is hosting its Third Annual DC Blockchain Summit on March 6 – 8 in Washington D.C. in conjunction with Georgetown University. The event will seat the old with the new, eviscerating the divide and advancing the promise of progress in an effective manner without the vituperative comments by old guard bankers designed to make Bitcoin hodlers feel like dumb, pimply kids trading World of Warcraft cards.
Speakers will include Jordan Earls, Co-Founder and Lead Developer of Qtum; Dave Gedeon, Vice President of Nasdaq; Andrew Garner, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Innovation Group, Wells Fargo & Company; Dr. Jim Liew, Assistant Professor of Finance, Johns Hopkins and Senior Advisor, BlockMedX; and James Sullivan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Services, U.S. Department of Commerce, ITA.