“Blockchain” was certainly the buzz word of 2017 although many of the projected benefits had not been fully realized last year. Many analysts are instead predicting that 2018 will be the year when we see more widespread adoption and practical applications of this technology. Blockchain is a peer to peer distributed ledger technology which maintains a continuously growing list of cryptographically-secured data records hardened against tampering and revision. It can help establish trust, accountability, and transparency while streamlining business processes.

This session will first provide a high-level explanation of how blockchain works along with addressing current limitations of the technology. We will then explore promising use cases such as IBM and Maersk’s joint venture to digitize the supply chain and the use of the transactive electric grid by such companies as LO3 and Filament. We will also examine certain limitations that are imposed on blockchain by current legal structures such as contract law and privacy laws that may slow the adoption of blockchain in certain sectors.

Lastly, we will address some of the recent high-profile hacks involving blockchain (cryptocurrency in particular) and explore why those hacks do not necessarily tarnish blockchain’s reputation for security, but instead, point to other weaknesses within the current system in which blockchain is used.

What you’ll take away:
•   A high-level understanding of blockchain along with both its capabilities and limitations
•   Exposure to a variety of use cases for blockchain including supply chain, energy, voting and smart contracts
•   Discussion of the risks posed by recent high-profile cryptocurrency hacks and how to mitigate those risks

Speakers:
Allison Clift-Jennings is the co-founder and CEO of Filament. With an engineering background in both hardware and software as well as experience with startups in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City, she is well suited with both the business and technical aspects of Filament's industrial IoT platform. Allison also serves on the Computer Science & Engineering advisory board at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her personal interests lie in systems theory, permaculture, and music production.

Amanda Witt is a Partner in Kilpatrick Townsend's Atlanta office and a co-leader of the Cybersecurity, Global Privacy and Data Governance Team. She is also a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US and CIPP/E), as certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She advises clients on the areas of U.S., EU and global privacy, cybersecurity, technology transactions, e-commerce, outsourcing, licensing and procurement, intellectual property protection, strategic alliances, software and mobile app development and licensing and cloud computing. Along with having a master's degree in international intellectual property from a European university, her practice includes advising clients in connection with international software licensing, global privacy, foreign distributorships and foreign procurement of services. Ms. Witt currently teaches cyber law and privacy as an adjunct professor at Georgia State’s College of Law.