15 Jun 2017

Blockchain Conference Astana 2017 Results

Blockchain Conference Astana, the most anticipated blockchain event of Kazakhstan, took place on June 14, 2017. The Conference was attended by participants from across Kazakhstan. Over 250 experts showed an increased interest in the blockchain technology capabilities for Kazakhstan. The BConference featured speeches by 22 speakers from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, Belgium, Great Britain and Switzerland.

The Conference was opened by the Chairman of the Board of the Astana International Financial Center Nurlan Kusainov. During the welcoming speech, he outlined the priority areas for the modernization of the Kazakhstan economy laying special emphasis on the blockchain technology.

The Founder of Kuna Bitcoin Agency & Co-founder of Bitcoin Foundation Ukraine Mikhail Chobanyan opened the first section of the Conference. He revealed the features and prospects of the bitcoin cryptocurrency as well as key aspects of the blockchain technology. The Head of the Innovation Activity Department at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Russia) & CEO at Cyber.Fund Marina Gurieva continued the Conference with an in-depth presentation on trends and prospects for the blockchain economy development in the public and private sectors. Marina’s presentation on the unique features of blockchain for the public sector was followed by a speech of the Lawyer, Founder & Managing Partner of the law society Juscutum Artem Afian. Reports on the blockchain for the public sector gave place to a report on the regulation of cryptocurrencies and ways of using blockchain technologies in the world and CIS countries, which was delivered by the Director of Legal Services Group for Deloitte CIS technology projects Artyom Tolkachev. The first section was completed by the Prime Source Director & Co-founder Eugene Scherbinin, who spoke about the features of the technology application in the financial sector.

The second section started after a short break. It was opened by the eGaas Founder & CEO Oleg Strelenko with a presentation on the blockchain solutions for e-gov. The Technology & Integration Consulting Head at CISA Deloitte Ukraine Sergei Bondarenko pursued a subject presenting DocSensus, a registry of corporate documentation based on the blockchain technology. The Senior Consultant of the management consulting department at KPMG Kazakhstan Zarina Kuzhmaganbetova spoke about the practical application of the blockchain technology in the notary. The CEX.IO Leading Developer Oleg Kudrenko continued the Conference with a presentation on “Smart Contracts: The Beginning of the End of Corruption”. At the end of the second section, the Waves CEO & Founder Alexander Ivanov spoke about the advantages and differences between IPO and ICO.

The discussion panel became a concluding chord of the second section. It involved Nurlan Kussainov, Marina Gurieva, Alexander Ivanov and Artem Afyan. The main questions from the audience were devoted to the legal regulation of cryptocurrencies in the territory of Kazakhstan, ICO and attraction of investments, as well as acceptance of payments in crypto-currencies by legal entities in Kazakhstan.

After the lunchtime, the Hotmine.io BDM Aleksandr Momot continued the Conference with a presentation on the mining features. The Chief Technical Evangelist & Leading Blockchain Strategist at Microsoft Konstantin Goldstein and the IT Architect & Technical Manager at IBM Kazakhstan Mikhail Korotko shared business solutions based on the blockchain technology of their own development. The Sofitto CEO Aleksandr Vasilchenko and the Otkritie Bank SPM Sergey Lukashk told about the blockchain-based solutions for fintech. Alexander delved into the topic of uniting the blockchain technology with traditional banking card products; and Sergei presented the experience of Russian banks in designing and creating KYC profiles for the blockchain. The BlockEx CEO Adam Leonard spoke about the usage of blockchain technology to build the transparent and accessible capital markets. The Conference ended with a presentation on the blockchain case studies. The FoodBlockchain.XYZ Director General Angel Versetti presented a solution designed for food industry; the toomuch.energy CEO Luc Graré showed developments in the field of energy.

The Conference organizer AroundB thanks all participants and partners for their interest in the blockchain topic and high-quality discussions. The scale of the Conference shows a real interest in and a huge potential of Kazakhstan for the implementation of its own blockchain solutions. We are confident that everyone will know about actual Kazakhstan projects based on the blockchain technology in the near future.

We also express thanks to our sponsors Prime Sourse, Waves and Cryptoviser, demo area participants and official Conference partners, MOST business incubator, Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan and the Community of Kazakhstan IT Managers for having supported us.

Let’s Blockchain this world together!

The photo report is available here >>

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