We have a new kid on the block: blockchain. No, this is not just bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, just as the Internet is not merely email. This niche technology platform is, as the name suggests, a chain of blocks; and a block is a set of files containing information. In layman’s terms, blockchain is a vast networked database; but unlike conventional systems, there is no one central authority, the records are all shared among the members of the network.

The Blockchained India team   | Photo Credit: by arrangement

Blockchain might be confusing to understand, but the excitement it has created is not without reason, largely due to its far-reaching potential. It’s already hugely disruptive in ways we hadn’t ever imagined.

Road to Dapp Fest

Blockchained India, a network of this fintech’s champions, will host a conclave — India Dapp Fest 2019 — in Bengaluru from June 11 to 15. Billed as the ‘festival of blockchain’ and one of the biggest such gatherings in Asia, it will unite a vast number of enthusiasts and practitioners of this platform, both from India and abroad, and it promises to provide “a first-hand perspective and highly impactful insights not seen anywhere else.”

The first three days of the event will see multi-track hackathon and workshops, and during the remaining two days, there will be conferences, with as many as 25% of the speakers from abroad.

“We are looking at around 1,000 people participating in the five days; most of them will be developers and the rest will be the ones who will help take the developers to the next level,” says Akshay Aggarwal, national head and co-founder, Blockchained India. The event will showcase a number of distributed apps. “They might be nascent, but there are opportunities for everyone,” he says.

Charting the growth of blockchain in the recent past, Akshay says, “When we organised India Blockchain Week in September 2017, barely anyone was looking at it the way we were looking at. It’s no longer India-specific, it’s global. And, many of the enthusiasts are today practitioners.”

Manav Ailawadi, co-founder, Blockchained India, says Bengaluru was chosen as the venue since it has the perfect environment for an event like India Dapp Fest. “It is the Silicon Valley of the country. Most of the big enterprises are here, so most of the innovations in technology also happen here. The city has a vibrant technology and startup ecosystem.”

The theme of the conference will be not just to promote the platform and help in the creation of applications, but also to spread awareness about the immense potential that blockchain has to improve the efficiency in the processes of various sectors.

The hackathon — which will basically be setting problem statements for crowd-sourced innovation and then mentoring the participants to build impactful solutions — is free to attend and is open to all. It is being held with the aim of coming up with innovative solutions for all fields — there will be a wide range of topics from enterprise-grade blockchains to public networks and decentralised market places. The tracks for the hackathon will be revealed at the venue.

Each team can have up to four members and there will be special prizes for an all-girls team. Those who can’t code can also take part, but it is better they team up with someone who can code. It is open to those who are very new to technology as well. The workshops that will happen alongside will have experts to provide hands-on guidance to build on different platforms. The participants will also be able to take forward their work by interacting with enterprises and investors.

The last two days of the five-day event will feature conferences, during which speakers with a wide experience in the blockchain ecosystem will provide first-hand perspectives and insights. There won’t be live streaming, but fans of the technology who might not be able to make it to the event can look forward to videos on the website.

If you haven’t heard of Jaspreet Bindra, one of the speakers at Dapp Fest, we’ll bring you up to speed; he’s the founder of advisory firm Digital Matters, which makes moves with regard to blockchain among other things. He points out blockchain resolves two problems that internet hasn’t been able to solve. “Internet solved the information problem with search; it solved the distribution problem with platforms like YouTube, Amazon etc; it solved the communication problem with email, messenger, chat, etc. But very few people have trust in the internet because of false information and security issues. Internet was supposed to bring in one level playing field, with no intermediaries. But it has actually created more intermediaries than before, like huge software, social media and e-comm companies.”

The way forward

Just like with Artificial Intelligence, there is a scramble to embrace the new technology because it comes with a lot of promises. In a PwC survey of 600 executives from 15 territories in 2018, as many as 84% said that their organisations have some association with blockchain technology. According to Gartner, by 2030, the annual business value generated by blockchain will be more than US$3 trillion.

Perhaps, this is why experts, including Akshay, observe that blockchain platforms are already a reality and some of the issues are getting resolved as we speak. He concludes, “The next stage is the mass adoption of these apps. An event like India Dapp Fest will be the ideal occasion for companies to make the best of this new technology.”