Speaker:
Prof.dr.ir. Maarten van Steen (Scientific Director Digital Society Institute / DSI)
Title:
Where blockchains fail
Abstract:
Blockchains have become immensely popular and are high on the list of national and international research and innovation agenda's. This seems to be partly caused by the numerous interesting applications, combined with the promise of full decentralization and high scalability (among others). However, there are some fundamental problems with blockchains, notably when it comes to scalability. In this presentation I will focus on these problems and argue that we need to temper expectations concerning blockchains until some of their fundamental issues have been adequately addressed. As computer scientists, we have a special responsibility as the hype around blockchains at points seems to be truly unfounded.
