“We’re here to help humanity. It’s worth it to reach out and talk to people…for us to understand them and what are the challenges that mainstream institutions currently face and what role can the technology have in addressing them.”
Etherium founder Vitalik Buterin in the video “When New Technologies and Dated Policies Collide”
The Future of Governance and Blockchain Technology
In October 2017, CIGI welcomed ETHWaterloo to host the largest Ethereum hackathon. The 36-hour event gave 400 developers the opportunity to build applications using the Ethereum platform — a blockchain infrastructure that facilitates secure, peer-to-peer data transfer without involving a third party. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin spoke to CIGI Senior Fellow Julie Maupin about the future of the technology, building relationships between developers and regulators and the need for governance. Maupin also provided legal mentoring to participants and judged the final competition.
In November, CIGI partnered with UN Climate Change, the World Bank and major industry brands to take part in Hack4Climate during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Bonn. Sponsors brought bright minds to work on utilizing blockchain technology solutions to help tackle climate change. CIGI provided background research and helped identify project areas. Hackers proposed technological solutions such as using blockchain to report monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions or peer-to-peer exchange of carbon assets.
CIGI continues to explore the international law implications of using blockchain technology in international financial transactions and potential regulatory frameworks.