Kadena Presents “Blockchain Summer: The Road to Mainstream Adoption”
Highlights from our panel discussion on what it will take for blockchain to go mainstream.
We were pleased to host our fellow NYC blockchain community members on Wednesday, July 31 at our Brooklyn headquarters for a night of blockchain, banter, and barbecue.
Our panelists Tarun Chitra, Founder and CEO of Gauntlet Networks, investor Arianna Simpson, and Eli Polanco, formerly of J.P. Morgan’s blockchain team, joined Kadena Founder and President Stuart Popejoy and moderator Jon Victor from The Information to discuss: What will it take for blockchain to go mainstream? How do we measure adoption? How do we build trust in the wider world for blockchain?
We enjoyed a spirited discussion by our panelists, from how Paypal was a precursor to blockchain peer-to-peer payments to different takes on how much modern society already over-trusts technology.
Our favorite thought-provoking moments include:
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Jon Victor asking, “Is UX/UI the only thing mainstream adopters care about?” Our panelists cite other adoption concerns beyond UX/UI: from clients who want interoperability with existing database systems to, as Eli Polanco explains, governments whose support will actually facilitate access to underprivileged communities.
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Arianna Simpson commenting on how the conversation sparked by Facebook’s Libra “is good for everyone in blockchain” through the awareness that it raises. Tarun Chitra, who reviewed Libra’s code in his role at Gauntlet Networks, states that on the technical end, “Libra developers are confident” that their blockchain will be decentralized and distributed.
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Stuart Popejoy explaining how Kadena plans to address security and scalability, and how he believes, “The future of blockchain is going to be us, or look a lot like us.” His position is that competition in the blockchain space is “healthy” and welcomes the field of players in both enterprise and public blockchain.
We look forward to more conversations and community events. Stay tuned on our social channels (below) for our next engagement!
