2016 Consensus Conference: Blockchain technology leaders discuss the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto and the industrialization of technology

Rage Review : The convening of the 2016 Consensus Conference has sparked heated discussions in the industry. From the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto to the industrialization of blockchain technology, from the initial concept formation of technology use cases to the actual adoption in the later stage, from decentralized technology to market interference, from the tracking of lawbreakers to the implementation of law enforcement. The industry celebrities brainstormed, which can be described as a large-scale brainstorming. The practical application of blockchain technology has a long way to go, and I hope that the convening of this conference will bring substantial progress to its development.

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2016 Consensus Conference: Blockchain technology leaders discuss the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto and the industrialization of technology

Some say Bitcoin is in crisis as the community seeks to reach a consensus to industrialize the technology and increase its capacity. Discussions on this issue were revived today at the 2016 Consensus conference.

Perhaps the most notable panelist today was former Bitcoin Core maintainer Gavin Andresen, who announced the previous night that he had gathered evidence proving that Australian cryptographer Craig Wright is Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.

Satoshi Nakamoto -- Craig Wright

As a result, the attendance was quite high when Andresen discussed topics with Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum investor), Eric Lombrozo (Bitcoin Core developer), and Neha Narula (Digital Currency Initiative Project of MIT Media Lab). VeriFi Chairman Pindar Wong even interrupted the opening of the meeting to invite Andresen to speak, at which time he denied that his account was hacked and did not admit that his statement was deceptive in any way.

Andresen said:

“I was there when Craig Wright signed block #1 with his key, and that was the first block mined on that computer. I know for sure.”

Buterin disagreed and refuted the statement. He said: "To prove something, you can either use simple and clear means or use bluffing gimmicks. If you choose the latter, it's because you don't have simple and clear direct evidence at all."

In-depth discussion on industrialization issues

After discussing the above topic, the topic of conversation shifted to why we need to pursue this consensus. It may be difficult to trade using technical protocols, and why we need to pursue this consensus has become a topic of increasing concern in the discussion group.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said:

“I’ve found that blockchains, in general, require a very unique environment for open use. They are different from traditional companies, countries, or software systems because no one organization has direct control over it. This is interesting because the organization that controls it is usually non-specific.”

The panel said that it is difficult to clearly define the protocol because there is no single channel that controls it. In addition, the panel also proposed the requirement to establish a layer of consensus beyond compatibility, because if two nodes do not reach an agreement, then there may be a disagreement.

Andresen said:

“There is a balance between compatibility and diversity, and Bitcoin developers must take the definition of the protocol more seriously.”

But the final conclusion may be drawn by Neha Narula, who simply summarized the views of most people in the Bitcoin community:

“What’s really new and exciting is the publicly accessible platform that can circulate money and make sense. Of course, there are a lot of people who are more interested in the closed, private aspects of blockchain, but I think you’re completely missing the point of this technological revolution.”

From conceptual evidence collection to actual production use

During the conference, there was also a panel discussion based on proof of concept, focusing on different technical issues, that is, how large companies can derive new ideas and use blockchain as a way to solve problems. The ideas and even demonstrations of new use cases for blockchain are similar, but the actual development and use are completely different. In response to this issue, Meltem Demirors of Digital Currency Group, Scott Mullins of Amazon Web Services, Catheryne Nicholson of BlockCypher, and Eric Piscini of Deloitte all participated in the discussion led by Laura Shin of Forbes.

Nicholson pointed out that for those who have not yet joined the development team, it is necessary to start from the concept and then develop it into production use. She explained that providing proof of concept is a complete hacker mentality, and it takes 10 engineers to work through 10 projects to gain something.

However, she also said that from evidence collection to formation, it is a complete reconstruction process.

Catheryne Nicholson

Nicholson said:

“Providing proof of concept doesn’t mean you can start manufacturing. As Deloitte has said repeatedly, it’s a complete re-start and the environment is completely different. You come up with these use cases first, and then you start thinking about how to actually put them into use.”

She said that a team can only move on to the next step and expand product production by starting over again.

However, Piscini raises a challenge regarding the generation of ideas.

He said:

“One of the challenges we have in the industry right now is that people are using blockchain to solve problems when there really aren’t problems to solve, or we could solve them in other ways.”

Demirors explained that what blockchain can do is remove the reliance on a trusted intermediary. She said if an organization is exchanging paper documents, this is where blockchain can be used.

But grand plans aside, those looking forward to the technology being put into use should also be aware that it will take time to achieve the desired outcome, the panel suggested.

With this in mind, everyone agreed with Piscini’s advice that users should start with the basics and then evolve as they go.

“Don’t start at the bottom. Use existing technology to develop the projects that are most important to you.

Decentralization and disruption of existing markets

Many people who understand blockchain technology firmly believe that it can use decentralized models to run other business models.

Participants in the panel included Perianne Boring of the Association for Digital Commerce, Brian Hoffman of OB1, Ryan Shea of ​​Blockstack Labs, Elizabeth Stark of Lightning, and Erik Voorhees of Shape Shift, who discussed how to apply this model to projects in emerging markets.

Initial discussions involved OB1, creator of the decentralized bitcoin-focused marketplace OpenBazaar, which Hoffman said has been used in 130 countries and downloaded 110,000 times since its launch.

But when it comes to illegal activity, Hoffman tried to explain why platforms like OpenBazaar are able to profit from allowing illegal activity to occur.

He said:

"The point is, with eBay or Etsy, we control the entire technology stack, but this is different. We are a software development team, and what we build is an open source project. We invent tools and encourage fair use. But in reality, it depends on what the network users will do."

Voorhees explained that, strictly speaking, there is a double standard regarding blockchain and other new technologies, depending on how law enforcement and regulators view the Internet, email and mobile phones.

But as the panelists talked about their own projects, the topic gradually changed: to succeed, they still need to rely on each other. Hoffman explained that if you want to integrate every altcoin into OpenBazaar, the time limit may be a problem. However, if you use the Shapeshift platform, individuals can use any currency to complete the payment of goods, and then these currencies will be automatically converted into Bitcoin.

In addition, there is the possibility of integrating more large corporate customers.

In the end, the panel agreed that the technology is still in its infancy and there is still much that needs to be done. In addition, everyone felt that there is no need to establish a standards body at this time, but it could be considered in the future.

However, they expressed their caution about large companies getting involved in the formulation of standards, because it might eventually turn out that large companies are in charge of all matters.

Law enforcement and anonymous transactions

During the meeting, the topic also mentioned the need to find a relative balance between free software development and law enforcement to prevent improper practices in Bitcoin and blockchain application services.

Brian Klein of Baker Marquardt, Prakash Santhana of Deloitte, James Smith of Elliptic, and Zooko Wilcox of ZCash discussed the topic, hosted by the Blockchain Alliance, centered around how law enforcement can track crime.

Part of the reason, they say, is that criminals are the first to adopt technology. Weinstein joked, "Except for Al Gore, criminals were the first to learn how to use the Internet."

There was also a discussion on whether or not to include privacy options.

He said ZCash encrypts everything and gives the key to the author. He said removing the need to interfere with privacy would make transactions more secure.

Ultimately, they boiled law enforcement down to a cat-and-mouse game, with criminals using technology to get ahead and law enforcement chasing them. The panelists all agreed.

Smith said that to ensure the enforcement of the law, his company has two things to do. The first is to analyze transactions and data to confirm the connection between the two. The second is to conduct investigations and research.

“We collect a lot of data from the vast web to analyze the market and how various businesses operate.”

Normally, people think of Bitcoin in terms of network security. Solve these problems and Bitcoin will be useless to criminals.

Finally, Weinstein said:

“It’s not that we want criminals to stay away from Bitcoin, but that criminals should flee Bitcoin as soon as possible.”

Tomorrow is the second day of the conference, and other guests will be present, including former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, R3 Consortium CEO David Rutter, and 21 Inc CEO Balaji Srinivasan.