CEO/Co-founder of Bankymoon & Centbee to MC 4th annual Blockchain Africa Conference
Lorien Gamaroff, a well-known thought leader and speaker in the South African blockchain community, will be the Master of Ceremonies at the 4th annual Blockchain Africa Conference. The conference is hosted by Bitcoin Events Pty Ltd and takes place in Johannesburg on 8-9 March 2018.
As South Africa’s foremost blockchain expert, Lorien has been invited to speak all over the world on cryptocurrencies and distributed ledgers, and their benefits for emerging economies. He has addressed the IMF, World Bank, FBI, Commonwealth Secretariat, South African Reserve Bank, and a host of banking professionals and attorney generals.
“Interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has been growing rapidly in the last few years. This is especially true in emerging economies such as those in Africa, Asia and South America. The potential for these technologies to create new opportunities and solve the problems of legacy institutions is seemingly boundless. Multiple incumbents are threatened with disintermediation if the promises touted by pundits, specifically within but by no means limited to the financial services industry and central banking itself, hold true. With all this unbridled optimism it is important to understand these innovations and to what purpose they may serve. The annual South African Blockchain Conference serves an important role in highlighting those companies and thought leaders that have demonstrated success in delivering progressive solutions in this space. It brings together many of the minds that are at the forefront of these vital technologies and that form a pillar of the 4th Industrial Revolution. It is unmissable for those who want to be prepared and benefit from it.” – Lorien Gamaroff
Andrew Keys is the first confirmed speaker for the 2018 Blockchain Africa Conference. Andrew is Head of Global Business Development at ConsenSys and Co-founder of ConsenSys Capita. ConsenSys is the largest organisation in the world dedicated to Ethereum and the Web 3.0. It’s a venture production studio building decentralised applications and various developer and end-user tools for blockchain ecosystems, primarily focused on Ethereum. Andrew will be speaking about the New York based blockchain software technology company’s latest projects.
At the 2017 Blockchain Africa Conference, Mr Andreas M. Antonopoulos, a well-known and highly respected authority in the digital currency and blockchain space, was the keynote speaker while tech giant SAP was one of the premier sponsors for the conference.
Local and international speakers discuss use cases in cloud storage, smart contracts, Blockchain-as-a-Service, payments such as remittances, micro payments, settlements and clearing, record keeping, audit trails, identity, intellectual property, ownership and supply chain management. The 2018 conference will address requested topics around performance and scalability of the blockchain, and challenges that regulators face with this technology.
The blockchain unlocks new opportunities in Africa, and offers advancements and innovation in various fields. Just this month, Pick ‘n Pay, one of SA’s largest retailers, successfully conducted a bitcoin payment trial at its head office’s canteen store in Cape Town. Furthermore, South Africa’s largest financial institutions have set up the South African Blockchain Financial Consortium, with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and Financial Services Board (FSB) participating in observer roles. This is a positive step towards promoting this technology to institutions – from government to financial and non-financial industries. It potentially reduces the existing lag between innovation and regulation.
Early Bird conference tickets are available until 30 September 2017. Standard ticket sales open on 1 October 2017. Groups of 10 or more receive 10% off the standard ticket price. A limited number of start-up tickets are available and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.