Blockchains and the emerging Internet of Value : from Packet Switching to Penny Switching - seamless interconnection of blockchains and value networks

Abstract

Sean’s   talk   will   be  grounded  in  exploring,  articulating  and
demonstrating  the  emerging  blockchain  based  Stateful Internet – a
concept   that  has  its  roots  in  how  interoperable  data  in  the
blockchain,   and   associated   technology   concepts,  are  becoming
increasing  core  in  many enterprise and fintech value chains and end
use  application  scenarios.
The   talk   will  highlight  the  parallels  between   the  Stateless
Internet  today,  and  the  evolution  of the Internet in the 90’s and
onwards through the dot.com bubble period.
In  focussing on the challenges that arise in scalable, interoperable,
secure deployments and solutions, a protocol stack for the Internet of
Value that has direct parallels with the traditional Internet Protocol
suite  naturally emerges.   This has major significance for developers
and  end-users  alike  as  it  provides  a  demonstrable  pathway  for
transitioning  and  onboarding  of both systems and associated IP into
the   new  blockchain  based  internet  paradigm.    The  benefits  of
discretizing  and  packetizing  ‘value’ – for both the network and the
end  use case – will be highlighted.  Sean's talk will use Interledger
protocol stack as an exemplar.

Interledger  was  born out of a project to build a blockchain-agnostic
smart  contracts platform. A key challenge was neutrality: how could a
decentralized  app  buy  resources like storage and computing, without
being  tied  to  a  specific blockchain? Across the internet, apps and
services  face  a  similar  issue  of how to directly monetize without
relying on a single cryptocurrency, a proprietary network like Visa or
PayPal,  or a monolithic platform like Apple. Interledger was designed
to answer the question: What would  a universal network for sending value, independent of any company or currency, look like?
The   solution,   employing  a  network  of  decentralized  exchanges,
packetizes  value  with  trustless sending.  In doing so it has direct
parallels   with   the  internet  protocol  suite,  primarily  through
splitting  functionality  into  analogous  layers to help localise and
resolve  issues local to each level.  The talk will briefly go through
each  of  the layers to explain their roles and highlight the benefits
of focusing Layer 3 on interoperability.

For  potential  innovators  and developers in the space, the talk will
highlight  pitfalls  to avoid in choosing an approach and platform for
your  product;  and  demonstrate clearly why you should design for and
adopt  interoperability  from  the  outset  to maximise your potential
market and user experience.

Short Bio

Sean  is  CTO  and  Co-Founder  of  INOX  Labs,  primary architect and
developer  of  Flare  Network  and part of the Interledger team.  INOX
focus   on   future  enterprise  scale  distributed  applications  and
solutions  leveraging  blockchain and distributed ledger concepts.  In
meme  terms  INOX  positions  itself as the DeepMind in the blockchain
space.    INOX’s  first product is Flare  - Flare is a new distributed
network  that  uses  the same style of consensus as Ripple and Stellar
(Federated  Byzantine Agreement). Flare is Turing-complete and can run
full smart contracts.
Sean  holds a BA BAI in Engineering from Trinity College Dublin, and an
MSc   in   Machine   Learning  from  UCL.   He  is  also  convenor  of
Interledger’s community activities in the UK and Ireland.

Venue