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