1. 1. Eris and Ethereum Decentralized computing on a blockchain Aron van Ammers Blockstars.io
2. 2. A bit about me Aron van Ammers Active in fintech (more "TECH" than "fin") Background: Model Driven Software engineering, University of Twente
3. 3. A bit about me Background: CTO of I&DT, building Curasoft, SaaS for health care
4. 4. Down the rabbit hole 2014: time for a change What's happening? Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Smart contracts Decentralization May 2014: Certinio, independent consultant
5. 5. Down the rabbit hole Nov 2014: Blockstars.io A full-service agency dedicated to designing, developing, launching and managing Blockchain businesses Projects MoneyCircles.com AssetCha.in Several other projects in stealth
6. 6. A bit of history The road to Bitcoin
7. 7. A bit of history The road to Bitcoin
8. 8. Bitcoin: the first blockchain Solution to the "byzantine generals problem" A minority of bad actors can't game the system Digital scarcity Trustworthy ledger without the need to trust a single party
9. 9. Bitcoin: the first blockchain How does it work? Peer-to-peer technology A shared public "database" "Wasting" energy as a proof of work Easy to check, extremely hard to break More or less detailed explanations of the "how" available on demand
10. 10. So what is a blockchain? Wikipedia: "...a distributed database that serves as a public ledger.."
11. 11. So what is a blockchain? Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum founder): "A blockchain is a magic computer that anyone can upload programs to and leave the programs to self-execute, where the current and all previous states of every program are always publicly visible, and which carries a very strong cryptoeconomically secured guarantee that programs running on the chain will continue to execute in exactly the way that the blockchain protocol specifies." https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/04/13/visions-part-1-the-value
12. 12. So what is a blockchain? Preston Byrne (Eris Industries): http://pt.slideshare.net/PrestonJByrne/dgw-birch-erispresen
13. 13. "Bitcoin 2.0" After the success of Bitcoin and its limits, a lot of initiatives to build "Bitcoin 2.0": Alternative coins or "altcoins" Sidechains Smart contracts Smart assets Crypto-equity ... Our take: Distributed, decentralized, verifiable information systems that possibly have an economic aspect to them.
14. 14. Decentralized applications Both Ethereum and Eris are platforms for building decentralized applications or "DApps" Away from the client-server model Freedom?
15. 15. Decentralized applications Like Bitcoin is "decentralized money" (or money of the people), DApps allow "decentralized computing" or (apps of the people) Decentralized development leads to fundamental questions: What is money? What is identity? What is reputation? What is a business? What is a government?
16. 16. Decentralized applications: why? Trust Traceability Verifiability Preventing concentration of power
17. 17. Ethereum
18. 18. Ethereum Building a new blockchain from scratch "Computer on a blockchain" (very slow, but very trustworthy) Single, public blockchain like Bitcoin Many implementations Infinite possibilities which may or may not be practical and useful
19. 19. Ethereum: culture Crowd funded Open source No commercial motives "hackers and hippies" Politically motivated
20. 20. Ethereum: culture
21. 21. Ethereum: business But: "big corp" is watching and taking part IBM/Samsung ADEPT Ethereum fork Connected washing machine that is a financial actor
22. 22. Ethereum: how does it work? The blockchain contains "contracts", which are compact computer programs Every node in the network verifies the execution Every user can create a contract All transactions cost a small amount of cryptocurrency
23. 23. Ethereum: how does it work? Contract development: compact programs
24. 24. Ethereum: how does it work? Contract development: compact programs
25. 25. Ethereum: for the end user Separate browser
26. 26. Ethereum for the end user Or in every browser? Problem: security
27. 27. Ethereum for the end user Access by end users is an unsolved problem for all "crypto 2.0" platforms Low barrier to entry Usable security
28. 28. Ethereum: state of the platform Testnet operational
29. 29. Ethereum: state of the platform Early days Development environment is stabilizing Many applications / businesses are being built No projects in production yet
30. 30. Ethereum: state of the platform Whisper: secure direct communication Swarm: secure file storage
31. 31. Ethereum: tech impression Augur: prediction markets http://www.augur.net/
32. 32. Ethereum: tech impression Development node (AlethZero)
33. 33. Eris Industries "Fork" (clone) of Ethereum Building a platform for the enterprise Strong legal background A playful bunch of people
34. 34. Eris Industries vs Ethereum Not "one true blockchain", but millions of them Blockchains are useful for closed and open purposes Applications may or may not have a financial aspect Blockchains have permissions (and hence controllers)
35. 35. Eris Industries File storage: builds on IPFS (independent) No parallel for Whisper yet
36. 36. Eris Industries: state of the platform More stable Well-documented toolset Commercial support But also early days. Ready for development, not ready for apps in production.
37. 37. Eris Industries: tech demo 2gather: decentralized "YouTube"
38. 38. Case studies What are your challenges?
39. 39. Tracking the blockchain ecosystem 200+ blockchain startups Financial and non-financial Big, small, non-profit, corporate https://www.blockstars.io/ecosystem
40. 40. Impact for future development Software and devices as economic actors The question of "What is money" will be further debated As will revenue models, business structures, government, Much more secure software altogether From "client-server" to "participatory architecture"
41. 41. Contact @aronvanammers @blockstarsio Slides will be on: http://www.slideshare.net/Blockstarsio