Room For Discussion

Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that launched just a few weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, is currently worth an estimated $41 billion. Digital coins like Bitcoin have become a global phenomenon. There are currently just under 1400 different coins in circulation, trading on 190 digital exchanges. How do these coins differentiate themselves, what aspects give them a viable future and do they have the potential to replace currency as we know it? Cryptocurrencies carry a very ideological philosophy with them. Blockchain, the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies, could facilitate a world that enables us to trust strangers without a third party necessary to verify transactions. This has the potential to change our lives and threaten the position of established ‘trust-based’ institutions. What would this blockchain ruled world, without intermediaries, look like?Our guests for this session are Masahiro Yasu (Founder and CEO of Alis—the first Japanese social media platform using blockchain) and Alfred Pre