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The welcome speech.
With such a wide range of talent in the room, it was a challenge to ensure that everyone had a similar level of knowledge and understanding around the disruptive technology (hopefully our blockchain glossary helped)!
One thing we loved seeing…
The collaboration between everyone there. We ran short Q&A sessions at the end of each talk; Some people asking questions like what is blockchain? And others with more knowledge on the subject helping to give answers from different perspectives.
Rhodri Davies, Charity Aid Foundation:
An Introduction To Blockchain.
The first talk explored many blockchain-related topics and ideas (we know there’s a lot!). Things like decentralisation, smart contracts, transparency and trust.
Rhodri gave a fantastic introduction to what blockchain means to charities, but don’t take our word for it, check out his talk below:
Satya Van Heummen, Giveth:
Building The Future Of Charity.
Our second talk kicked off after a quick Q&A from the first. This time focusing on the problems that charities are facing before looking into ways blockchain could be a solution.
The talk from Satya was incredibly valuable as it concentrated on problem-solving rather than simply stating the benefits of using blockchain technology.
Cecile Baird, Blockchain For Good:
Next up Cecile Baird presented a ‘think tank’ style discussion, exploring blockchain for the greater good of humanity, society and the wider world.
Using real-world examples of organisations already utilising blockchain technology and what these lessons teach us about the future of the third sector.
Duncan Cook, Talk Walk Run:
Let’s Shape The Blockchain For Good.
The big reveal. Our last speaker Duncan introduced CUBE’s latest initiative, Talk Walk Run.
Which sectors is blockchain disrupting? Who’s using the technology right now? How is blockchain changing the way organisations operate? All of these and more were answered in the talk:
The panel chat:
To round-off an eventful day of intrigue and insight, we hosted a ‘hot-seat’ style Q&A with all of our guest speakers. Coming from different backgrounds meant that we had a range of opinions and ideas that were developed further by this kind of collaboration.
A few of our favourite questions:
Does Blockchain governance only really work at scale?
How does the risk of speculation equate with the “for good”, risk-averse nature of charity?
How do we solve the “Meatbag Problem” when it comes to leveraging blockchain technology, where human intermediation/validation is still necessary?
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And guess what?
We don’t have all the answers! But this kind of session was meant to reveal those more difficult, complicated, specific queries that we don’t have all the answers to.
That way we can collaborate by sharing our knowledge and experience, look at the bigger picture and start to uncover the practical ways charities can start using blockchain technology.
I believe that there is a very near future where we will be using blockchain, the bitcoin blockchain maybe, other distributed ledgers, to do central operational tasks. Chris Fabien, Head of UNICEF Innovation Fund
Published on 22 January 2018, last updated on 10 April 2019