The Blockchain Workshop aims to educate financial industry executives on bitcoin through a series of talks covering emerging blockchain payment networks, regulatory challenges, financial inclusion and more. It is currently being held today in London.

The event is organized by Constance Choi, founder of blockchain law firm Seven Advisory, as well as two Harvard law professionals: Law Lab Co-director John Clippinger and Berkman Center for Internet & Society Research Fellow Primavera De Filippi. Deutsche Bundesbank, the University of Oxford and the European Commission’s Startup Europe are some of the event’s partners, and sponsors include Barclays Bank, international law firm Bryan Cave and Swedish Bitcoin exchange Ecurex.

Blockchain Workshop

“We believe that the rapid emergence of blockchain technologies presents revolutionary opportunities and challenges to the future of modern society as we face the 21st century,” Choi said. “The fundamental lack of understanding of these complex technologies has impaired exploration, innovation and deployment. We started this initiative to address blockchain policy issues through a multi-stakeholder approach.”

The event organizers opted to hold the Blockchain Workshop in London, as the city is known for being open to cryptocurrency initiatives and is home to several bitcoin startups.

The conference will begin with an introduction to digital currency and blockchains, covering Ripple, Ethereum, Eris, and bitcoin. Then talks discuss the the economics behind these emerging platforms with a keynote by Houman Shadab of New York Law School before transitioning to one of the most talked about finance topics of the decade: financial inclusion.

After this, the next day starts with a keynote by IBM database programmer and Ethereum developer, Henning Diedrich, who will show how blockchains could be used to secure and facilitate transactions online. The event will also explore who and what will be regulated under new decentralized schemes for corporations and financial institutions. Towards the end, the workshop will go over existing or potential use cases, such as supply-chain payments, crowdfunding and monetization of art.