Monica Singer: The Art of the Possible with Blockchain Technology

Hello. I've got 17 minutes to explain a very difficult concept because blockchain is definitely going to disrupt every industry. So it's my role today to very briefly explain it in plain English, without any type of language that will confuse the audience.

So to, for the opportunity here, we, nobody can deny the disruption that is coming in the same way that we don't use our series anymore. We use Spotify, or we don't really take taxes. We have Uber, or we Google no more basic Britanica. We don't have videos anymore. We have Netflix finance, capital markets, and many industries will be disrupted due to the introduction of the internet of value. And I'll briefly explain how is this coming about? When the internet was created in 19 94, 19 95, it all started with text. Then we both, and then we saw that we could transfer voice.

And then we, well, we were more, we saw that we could send videos, but we could not ever use the internet to transfer transactions or value. Now everything has changed and we know we can use the internet. And that's why there is that explosion of innovation taking place. The one thing that is for share in the same way that I tell you that you can use the internet without knowing that the technology that it uses is called T C P I P I will not spend any time explaining the technicalities of how blockchain takes place, but I will explain to you the applications.

The other thing that I want to bring to your attention is that this is the very beginning. If you had told me in 19 94, 19 95, that one day, for example, there would be an app called WhatsApp. And that I would be able to use this app, press a button and call anybody for free in the internet. I would've said never the same is happening with the blockchain technology. The uses that have been developed every day are beyond anyone's imagination. Let me take you down the rabbit hole.

So, as I said, we started with the internet wave 1.0 first version, just images, texts, emails. At that time, you know, there were people that I'm never gonna use the emails. I don't want to touch this. It's scary. It's for use or porn or for gambling or for bad things. I don't want to touch it. And now today we know no one can live without internet.

And this is exactly what's gonna happen with weight three point where everybody will be it in a complete way to the way that we've been using it until now, then we had the evolution of what 2.0, where certain companies came and said, don't worry, don't worry. You can use our app for free, for free. And you know what? We didn't know that this for free wasn't for free, we had become the product that we're using, our data that are using our data and they are more monetizing our data.

So the whole idea is what if we develop a new version of the internet with 3.0 that the person, the owns the data shares the data when it wants to and monetize it. And it's peer to peer, we in future will not use all these intermediaries. And we will be very careful how we share the data with home. And we will have achieved something that for me, hope to be able to see this one day, which is this concept, which I saw with very big pain, to see these people from Afghanistan, leaving their country with nothing, not even a suitcase.

Imagine if one day we will be able to leave wherever we are and just take an USB with us. So not even a USB, just know that all our data, all our information, our assets, our degrees, the qualifications, who we are, medical records, everything is now sitting in a cloud that I will be able to prove that I'm a chartered accountant. Wherever I go.

I'm not having to rely on the central database of my almond mater the university I'll be able to download from selfing identity data, all that information that needs if I need to who I, and why I, and this is the world that we in order for to explain block. I use an example that I really have put together. Very simplified example, to show you how bad is the world of commerce that we create. And I'm saying we, because our chartered accountants, I feel that in certain ways have contributed to this mess, but we contributed to this because we didn't know any better.

We were told we needed to rely on central database intermediaries and all these people are going to sell that. And you need to trust, put the trust on intermediaries. We were also told you need a bank account. You cannot use cash. You need to open an account and some countries have more protection than others. In terms of your counterpart risk of dealing with the bank, I can assure you, emerging markets do not offer their protection. And therefore the deposits are always exposed to the risk of the commercial bank that you have to work with. So lemme give you an example in the world today.

If you take the bottom, two people assume the bottom left is buying computers. The bottom right is selling. So the one that buys in the books in the laser double entry created 500 years ago by called in those books. We still doing general interest in that way, that entry. So in the books of the buyer is computers credit cash in the books of seller cash, credit computers. Now to you that the buy and the seller do this interest independent from each other. They don't care what each is doing in their books and break. Why? Because we created the concept. Don't worry, shareholders, don't worry.

Don't worry. Nobody's cheating here because I put the twos on the extreme writer left, the auditors will come and will verify that these transactions are correct accurate, and they represent what's happening in the business. The sad part, can I show you the audits? If there's pollution or lack of internal controls, the audits cannot pick it up. So here we come, we wait a year, the audits come, they do the audit and then oops, the company fails. And everybody goes and where, where the body goes up.

We, we, the auditors, the truth is that it's it's. We know now that this system is broke, show you more in the, in the middle of the bank. Everybody has a bank account and we do reconciliations and we have lots of people in the back office, writing the books reconciling, and everybody is keeping their own. And did you learn that a company has three sets of books, one for the shareholders, one internal and one for the taxmen. So on the top list, I put the taxman.

So the tax one has to rely on this share books, to collect the taxes and hope that the audits will come and tell them the truth that the taxes have been collected properly. And then on the extreme top right hand corner, I put their registrar banks, the regulators of the banks who had to regulate the banks and the regulators are relying on the auditors to make sure that the books are records are fine. And the auditors relies on the management to ensure that they are telling the truth. As we know, we have examples in Germany, Wirecard terrible in South Africa about DBAs.

The management was colluding cooking. The books, the auditors were in colluding permission with the management and everybody was lying to the regulators. So guess what? The bank failed, the money disappeared.

So, as we know, in the scenario of commerce and finance in the world, this system is broken. So it took a group of people called sat to create a white paper called the white paper, creating Bitcoin to say, this is broken in the financial crisis. Two eight. When Luman went, this group of people said, this has to stop. We cannot carry on in the way that we have created the capital system. What if we do something completely different? And that's the magic of the blockchain.

I am convinced that sat is not an accountant because accountants couldn't have come up with such a brilliant idea, because this idea is based on mathematics. We are more into the double entry and relying on trusted third parties, because we are the trust that, so what did the group called? Sathi say it's it's for me, one of the incredible decisions of the 21st century. So with Sathi studies, what if we take all the actors, the buyer, the, the orders of the orders of the, say the text from the regulators, everybody. And we put them to look at this, which is the single version of the truth.

Single version of the truth is decentralized. It doesn't require reconciliations. Why? Because as the general entries, everybody gets to see the same general interest. So now you've got all these actors looking at the entries and confirming whether or not it is true. So that means that order can be done real time. That means you don't need reconciliations. That means you don't need third parties if you don't want to. And that took the bank out of the way. Why? Because in future, each person will have their own wallet and they can become their own bank. So you won't have to have a bank account.

You'll have an app where you are going to have your digital cash, digital assets, digital information, all under your control. And you will interact peer to peer, not through an intermediary, not through, not through a Facebook peer to peer. So this is a massive change. But on top of that, what Sathi says is what if the, where we report the transactions it's. So it's called the complete order trail of every transaction that ever took place. And nobody can change it. Nobody can amend.

Nobody can cheat because if we cheat, if won cheat, everybody can on top of that because, you know, I don't think Satoshi trusted human being let's put the trust in the computer, but does it mean we're gonna code a and this mathematical formula will prevent anybody from colluding and teaching. There are many types of cryptography. Bitcoin has called one called proof of work, and Ethereum is moving to the one called proof of stake. I don't have enough time to go that, that explanation, but you can research. And then yes, this, this the one that everybody can see and record the same version.

I'm going to ensure that escape by many people in the internet, no mainframe, no suite messages, no silos, no central databases, decentralized, decentralized is the most important concept of everything we building in the internet. And then everything must be digital. So we will have a reflection of every single asset reflected asset, digital twin, and then to end this whole infrastructure that's changed the world in 2014, this incredible person called vital, came up with the idea of a smart country that was built in the theory platform.

And that's why if you have a look at the new world of centralized finance, it delirium that is being used as the key platform for DFA. Why? Because DFA is a smart contract. So it's the ideal platform for this technology. So what is a smart contract? A smart contract is a programs. The simple program it's incredible because a small contract will really not only reduce the number of contracts that are written and signed, but it will reduce the amount of people that you need, because you're gonna put the conditions in the program of this blockchain. What is the small contract?

If this happens, therefore that happens. An example in future insurance industries will be totally disrupted well because small contracts will replace insurance companies. Why? Because let's assume I want to buy life insurance. And I go to a small contract, no people, no, no, no humans, no buildings. Just technology provider.

Say, if I die, no, when I die, when die, when I die, this my beneficiaries. So the moment that the Oracle, the external database feeds into the smart contract, the confirmation that I'm there automatically the smart contract will look at the beneficiaries bank accounts and pay or wallet in whatever currency. I decide that they should be paid and automatically paid my life policy, no phone calls, no arguing, no waiting for the executor. The insurance will be paid the moment that can you see the applications of the smart contract for any, any industry.

And that's why in the last two years, there has been an explosion of decentralized finance operation for lending, for trading, for insurance, for derivative, why all base on this logic? If this happens, therefore that happens. And that's why the say that this blockchain technology is the best in the most important invention. Since the internet is the transmission. Can you see why? Because the trust is relying on people's relying on, and once return cannot be broken as the code and sure that the code is reflecting exactly intention of the parties, then you have a very secure system.

And then to conclude on this, why it's so essential, do you realize that's inclusive? Why? Because internet, anybody can participate. Anybody can create a smart contract. Anybody can create a decentralized protocol. Anybody can interact with a protocol. Nobody's gonna ask you questions and complain if you're a woman, or if you live in gua or it doesn't matter where you live, where you come from, can you meet the requirements of the contract is robust. Why? Because we, by every single version of the truth is in decentralized form in many, in many copies.

And therefore in order let that one goes down, we've got many copies, no problem. And in order to hack all these copies, you need more than 51% of the ability to hack. And I'm saying with all the other controls that are in place, it's very difficult to hack. So the Bitcoin protocol, the theum protocol have never been hacked, nearly impossible. You've got like a hundred thousand nodes just in the protocol. You need 51% of those, you know, 51,000 notes to be able to, to change the blockchain of Bitcoin. It's also sensible.

It's funny, you know, I'm sure you heard recently that China banned the use of crypto in China. There's what nothing happened to big Bitcoin, a little bit of a blur on, on the, on the price, but Bitcoin will carry on. Nobody can stop it. It's the internet. And then you will also have different levels of privacy. Although it's quite transparent. We are building functionality, especially in the theory platform for privacy to be respected, to the extent that people request.

And finally, which is the most amazing thing is that this technology will resolved the issue of financial inclusion of the unbanked bank, because you will be able to offer transactions of value to everybody. The important, it doesn't matter where they come from political affiliation geographically. There's no monopoly and no discrimination. This for me is where again, completely changes.

And then finally, to explain that in the fourth industrial revolution, with all the other additional technologies that are available, like artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, internet of things, blockchain is really the key pillar that will bring it all together. In terms of key use cases that I'm seeing. I work for the biggest blockchain company in the world.

Consensus the most interesting use cases are really supply chain and train finance, anything to do with capital markets, anything, you know, from asset management changes, of course, money's completely being reimagined by the creation of stable coins and central bank, digital currencies, and many, many, many other changes that are happening. Of course, the crypto markets, how many crypto currencies have been produced? Many these centralized finances where I really believe the world is gonna go self-sovereign identity, especially health data, where you will control your health data.

Non-functional focus for every type of art and music and buildings, a real estate that is imploding in the last year. Governments will realize that they could embrace this technology to reduce fraud and corruption, and they'll be able to collect taxes on a real time basis and give transparency to the investors, to the, the tax people, the people that contributing tax the taxpayer keep transparency as to where the money is going.

And then finally, of course, environmental, social and governance projects, where you're going to be really able to measure the impact in the environment against what you're trying to achieve very much to be used by social impact projects. And then the one thing I have to tell you, this technology waits for now, one in the last, really in the last three years, I have seen so much change. I just listed some of the things that I have seen, and I really recommend that you, that the time is now for you to embrace this technology because it waits for no one.

And not only that, the last thing I want to say about this technology is that it's easy to implement. It's you learn by doing, you learn by reading. And therefore, if I had to say way too, from here, if you are an enterprise, join the enterprises theory Alliance. If you are a developer, come and join the consensus academy developer courses. If you are a chartered account like me, I have learned that all this information is available for free in the internet. Just subscribe to all the papers, the newsletters, the podcast. There are so many every day you could spend the whole day just learning.

But the most important thing is for you and your business. Explore, explore an application, explore by doing by crypto, have the experience of the, of the internet of value, and also start applying your ideas in your own business. So follow your LinkedIn. I share a lot papers and, and, and on Twitter too. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much for the opportunity. And it was my pleasure.