A journey into the future in the earth of technology

[Music]

in my country

i’m no longer able to pay for a netflix

subscription

because my government orchestrated a

currency and financial crisis

and blocked all international

transactions

in my country i have to go each week to

the bank

and wait for hours in line just to

withdraw my salary from the atm

yes in 2021 i still have to withdraw

banknotes

because i cannot choose my credit card

anymore

even better in my country you could lose

your life savings in the blink of an

eye this is the story

of the many hardworking women and men of

my country

this is also my story what i’m

describing

is the current economic state of lebanon

and blockchain can solve it with a new

payment system

incorporated by the blockchain

technology

from cryptocurrency to smart contracts

blockchain is propelling us to the dawn

of a new revolution

i’m sure you have already heard those

words but have you ever wondered

how they are affecting our daily lives

and how can they transform the largest

industries

blockchain is not just a financial

revolution

i believe just like how the internet in

the 2000s

changed the way we communicate

blockchain is set to transform

all human affairs as we know it

i come to you today because three years

ago

i embarked on a new journey when i

joined the fintech

at first i worked in traditional finance

but six months in the company shifted to

crypto

and this is when i was tasked to lead

our main crypto project

we started it from scratch from the

drawing board

i have learned so much over the course

of the past two years

so today allow me to share with you my

journey

through the cryptosphere and the

blockchain world

so what is blockchain blockchain

is a decentralized database

to better illustrate it i’m gonna take

the example of a wardrobe

inside of it you have all your clothes

just like it a database is a wardrobe

that contains all the information

the difference between a regular

database and a blockchain

is that blockchain has the ability to

not only store the data

but also the history of the data

it stores where and how the data went

who has it and guarantees the security

of your information

in other words once an information is

stored on the blockchain

you cannot change it or alter it

and this is how i would define the

blockchain

a non-falsifiable secured and

decentralized

database so what is decentralized

in a decentralized world more power is

given to the people

like you and me there’s no one

who is more important than the others

there’s no central bank no central

control

in that sense the governance of the

blockchain

is decentralized the first use case

on the blockchain was bitcoin it was

very revolutionary

because people behind it wanted to

change the world

and change currencies by providing

a trustable digital currency with no

need of a central bank

and what we call cryptocurrency is

actually

a decentralized currency that does not

need proper governance

and the transaction needs to be

validated

by the majority of the network instead

of

one central body and as it is created on

the blockchain

it does not only contain the data which

is the value of the coin

but it has records of where this data

came from

where it went who manipulated it

you can track all of its movements

which makes it much better than the

traditional system

as with all the information embedded in

it

and its open access you can identify

money laundering operations for example

today central banks are printing money

unlike a regular currency bitcoin

does not need a budget to print it

since it is printed on the cloud by

servers and softwares

and this is what we call mining

today we still deposit our money and our

traditional account

we don’t have it our bank has it

at any point a government entity

can decide to exercise a capital control

and i could lose my access to my equity

however if i owned cryptocurrencies

since they are printed on the blockchain

and deposited on the internet

i could have direct access to it using

only my crypto password

today if i want to send money i have to

go

through my bank my bank through the

central bank

the central banks through other

intermediaries bank

which makes it very complex and involves

many parties

on top of direct access to my money

blockchain enables instant transfer of

our money

the transaction is validated recorded

and secured directly on the blockchain

which is a major enhancement in terms of

cost

and time of the transaction and in less

developed countries

this could put an end to corruption

blockchain features and functionalities

have developed beyond financial

instrument

as it has potential for many areas in

many large

industries using the second application

on the blockchain

ethereum also known as smart contracts

what does it mean on top of its

interesting value as a coin it

is possible to pre-define parameters

that once triggered can automatically

execute a contract

and it has large effect on the travel

industry

let’s go back to the last time you

traveled

my guess is you had to wait at least 60

minutes in line

either in the queue to check-in or

boarding

or you may have waited for hours just to

get your luggage

it never arrived and you had to go to

your important meeting in shorts

blockchain steps in this multi-trillion

dollar industry

to provide us with more reliable

and secure travel solutions

let’s start with the identification

process

think of all the data you need when

traveling from booking a hotel

to a flight reservation and at the

airport

using blockchain technologies all this

data can be

securely stored on the blockchain

and accessible at the airport it will

also be provided to hotels and airlines

these parties will make sure that the

traveler

is having a safe and correct journey

and of course making the travel more

convenient to the people

24.8 million pieces of luggages

got lost in 2018 alone

just because airlines relied on their

central

tracking solution

blockchain can provide timely

information

about the movement of your luggage

using decentralized databases airlines

can share real-time tracking data

easily and provide a single source of

truth

of your check luggage from the boarding

to the plane to the arrival airport the

traveler will have access to this data

using his smartphone

blockchain knows no boundaries

interest in crypto has accelerated as

major leaders

started adopting it the government of

china the bank of japan they both

started

pilot experiment phases to create their

own

digital assets mastercard incorporation

said it would allow cardholders to

transact in digital assets elon musk

announced that tesla invested 1.5

billions of dollars

in bitcoin twitter and uber are also

considering getting paid in

cryptocurrencies

there are millions of transactions

happening

the implication is huge it’s a big

success

major leaders are making the first step

and i believe

the humanity will take it from here

blockchain should transform and reinvent

so many

industries insurance

with smart contracts triggering

automatic reimbursement

healthcare with your magical life

accessible

all your life even the agriculture

with the traceability of your food from

consumption

to production we are now

at blockchain 3.0 which means that

blockchain evolved from its first and

very complex

first version with the creation of

bitcoin

to blockchain 2.0 was the rise of

ethereum

but still had many inefficiencies

blockchain 3.0 should be the final push

it needs

to gain its mainstream adoption

with the creation of robust and useful

applications

this evolution reminds us of the iphone

when it was first created we didn’t

needed it

but nowadays can we live without a

smartphone

the question is no longer if the

blockchain works

but how we will make it work for us

thank you

[Applause]

[Music]

you