Blythe Masters to Keynote American Banker’s Conference on Digital Currencies and the Blockchain

On July 28, 2015, in New York City, American Banker is hosting a conference devoted exclusively to exploring the implications of the digital currencies and blockchain revolution for the banking sector.

The conference will be asking the question – how can digital currencies and blockchain technology improve modern banking systems and how can banks work with governments to prevent regulations from tying the hands of innovators?

Keynote speaker Blythe Masters is a big draw as are bitcoin community leaders like Perianne Boring, Founder and President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Chad Cascarilla, CEO and cofounder of itBit, Lisa Cheng, VanBex founder, Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, and Matt Roszak, CEO of Tally Capital.

The conference will look closely at the issue of government involvement in the digital currency space and debate the question “will coming regulations allow digital currency innovators to safely flourish – or simply squelch them?”

To speak to the issue of regulation, conference heavyweights include former NYDFS head Benjamin Lawsky, and Peter Van Valkenburgh, Director of Research, Coin Center.

Conference organizer Marc Hochstein, Editor in Chief of American Banker, told Bitcoin Magazine:

“Bankers are definitely interested in blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Financial institutions ranging from global banks to community banks, will be attending the conference. Hochstein went on to sayL

There’s an interesting debate going on about “bitcoin vs. blockchain” and there will be a panel debating whether banks are likely to embrace a decentralized system like Bitcoin or will selectively chose some benefits of the blockchain with “permissioned” ledgers or “private” blockchains.”

The conference is being held at Convene, 730 Third Avenue. The space is advertised as “New York’s largest dedicated conference center; over 25,000 square feet of dedicated meeting space offering groups from 20-450 spectacular views, state-of-the-art built-in technology and resource-rich conference rooms.”