Secure distributed ledgers

Designing secure permissionless distributed ledgers for centralized payment processors is challenging. The majority of existing ledgers are unable to scale-out; those that have, significantly compromised security and decentralization.

We invite you to join us in discussing the dilemma of security and scalability, and in examining some of the recently proposed solutions — specifically OmniLedger.

Make sure to RSVP to the event at https://binarydistrict.com/courses/blockchain-for-payment-processing/

Program

18:30 — 19:00 — Networking

19:00 — 19:15 — Binary District collaborative technology community: Fostering learning and innovation

19:15 — 19:30 — The State of Blockchain Industry: An Overview, Laurenzo W. Mefsut

19:30 — 20:00 — OmniLedger: A Secure, Scale-Out Decentralized Ledger. Philipp Jovanovic, Cryptographer, Postdoctoral Researcher at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

20:00 — 20:30 — Chainspace: A Sharded Smart Contracts Platform. Mustafa Al-Bassam, Researcher at University College London

20:30 — 20:45 — Fireside chat with Philipp Jovanovic and Mustafa Al-Bassam

20:45 — 21:30 — Networking and drinks

About the speakers

Philipp Jovanovich is a cryptographer and Postdoctoral Researcher at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He will be providing insight into the scale-out distributed ledger that is able to preserve long-term security under permissionless operation. OmniLedger is said to ensure strong correctness and security by using a bias-resistant public randomness protocol combined with an efficient cross-shard commit protocol.

Mustafa Al-Bassam is a PhD researcher at the Information Security Research Group of the Department of Computer Science at University College London, where his research interests include the intersections of peer-to-peer systems, distributed ledgers and information security. He is also an advisor to Cognosec, an information security services company.

Moderator: Laurenzo W. Mefsut

Is the founder of The New Athens, a blockchain institute working towards the public good through enlightened self interest and digital direct democracy. He joined the blockchain revolution in 2015 from a background in art and academia in Cambridge. Through 2017 he evangelised distributed democracy in New York and has returned to London to build responsible civic institutions on the blockchain.