Blockchain 2015, a conference geared towards banking professionals interested in digital currency technology, has kicked off in New York.
The single-day event, sponsored by American Banker, a financial services media service, is bringing together people from the banking and digital currency sectors, including those who have dabbled in both, and regulatory institutions. It is being held at Convene 730, New York's largest dedicated conference center. Convene's facilities were also home to a recent invite-only event by Bitcoin exchange itBit for Wall Street executives, which was also focused on blockchain technology for banking.
The gathering will attempt to answer the following questions:
- Can the technology behind Bitcoin be bifurcated from the currency, as some recent entrants claim?
- Is the endgame the decentralization of trust, as Bitcoin's early adopters proclaimed, or just more efficient business processes?
- And will coming regulations allow digital currency innovators to safely flourish – or simply squelch them?
Notable attendees include: Blythe Masters, former executive at JPMorgan, now CEO of Digital Asset Holdings; Benjamin Lawsky, former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS); Suresh Ramamurthi, Chairman and CTO at CBW Bank, which last year adopted the Ripple protocol; Barry Silbert, founder of Digital Currency Group and SecondMarket; Peter Kirby and Jacob Dienelt, respectively president and head treasurer at Factom.
