In partnership with Bitcoin Association, the Polish Blockchain Association held its inaugural ‘Enterprise blockchain – new opportunities event’ in Poznań, Poland on 13 September 2022.
The conference brought together a range of enterprises, startups and experts who are familiar with blockchain technology and have been building projects in this area. However, there were also several attendees who are new to the technology and were eager to understand its potential.
As a city, Poznań has become one of the biggest hubs for blockchain knowledge and development in the world, with the conference aiming to promote Poznań as a ‘blockchain city’ and encourage blockchain-related investment in the rest of Poland.
Below is a summary of the event and some of the major announcements:
Welcome address
The welcome address was given by Marcin Rzetecki, Managing Director of the Polish Blockchain Association.
Rzetecki has more than 15 years of experience in the domestic and international IT industry, of which six years have been in blockchain. He has an established reputation working with numerous software houses in Poland, advising many blockchain projects and companies on the implementation of blockchain-based solutions in addition to founding his own successful software business.
Rzetecki noted that Poznań has become one of the biggest hubs for blockchain knowledge and development in the world, with the conference aiming to promote Poznań as a “blockchain city” and encourage blockchain-related investment in the rest of Poland.
He was subsequently joined in his welcoming address by Krzysztof Wierzchowski
(Vice President of Securities Services at Franklin Templeton) and Katarzyna Sobocińska
(Deputy Director of the City Investor Assistance Office) who further detailed the investment opportunities for enterprises and the government in Poland’s blockchain sector.
Enterprise blockchain solutions – key trends and market maturity
The next presentation was given by Dr Agata Slater, Blockchain Practice Leader for the CEE region at IBM. Slater detailed how blockchain solutions are being used at the enterprise level by tech giants such as IBM and also gave a broad overview of where she thinks the sector is heading.
IBM and SmartLedger’s Certihash are working together to develop a BSV blockchain-based product that will reduce the costs and time associated with cyberattacks. Most of IBM’s blockchain projects have until now been built on Hyperledger. Working on this project that uses a public blockchain like Bitcoin SV expands IBM’s knowledge.
Slater also touched on what a ‘mature; blockchain market looks like and the role of regulators and lawmakers going forward.
Tracking and tracing with blockchain
The next two presentations focused on how blockchain technology is being used at opposite ends of the transport and logistics industry. Adrian Piwko, Chief Executive of Pora na pola detailed how his company is using the blockchain to ensure fresh food is transported safely from a farmer’s field to a person’s home.
At the other end of the spectrum Jakub Zarembiński Blockchain & Cloud Expert at Hapag Lloyd, detailed how the group is using blockchain technology to better manage shipping data and manifests and ensure that everything is transported safely and on time.
Government and CBDCs
Several discussions also focused on the role of BSV and blockchain in the government sphere, and how they can be used to both improve services and within the wider banking system.
Michał Pierzgalski Expert at the KIR detailed the work his company is doing with blockchain sandboxes and the implementation of a national blockchain network. KIR is the national clearinghouse of Poland and a key part of the Polish banking and payments infrastructure.
This was followed by a presentation on effective communications with clients based on blockchain technology given by Paweł Łukasik, Expert in the Product Development Department, Credit Information Bureau.
Finally, two presentations focused on the role of blockchain in introducing new central bank digital currencies. Valentine Labarthe, Head of Commercial & Strategy at nChain, discussed how digital assets can be used as fuel for new business models and value streams. Labarthe highlighted the scalability and security of BSV and discussed further use cases for tokenisation, NFTs, CBDCs, and digital cash.
Przemysław Gerschmann, Advisor to the Management Board of the Stock Exchange, also discussed the possible introduction of central bank digital currencies and why they are seen as both a threat and an opportunity to the financial system.
This was followed by a large panel discussion on whether decentralised payment systems affect, and have an impact, on the development of traditional banking.
The future of tokenisation
The final set of talks focused on the future of tokenisation with BSV and within the broader blockchain ecosystem. A token is simply a digital record of ownership on Bitcoin SV that is managed by a smart contract.
Specifically, it is a digital ledger entry that records the ownership rights of a certain entity for a given asset and the subsequent changes of ownership over time to the Bitcoin (BSV) ledger. Each company has the freedom to create its own one (just like there are many database types in the world. Bitcoin SV supports a variety of token protocols to meet every demand.
Joe Holles de Peyer, Co-Founder and COO of Gate2Chain detailed how his company is tokenising its shares and spoke on the need for clear frameworks from regulators to ensure mass adoption. He noted that companies would rely on tokens for utility, not speculation, and regulators must catch up quickly or risk seeing a mass exodus into friendly jurisdictions such as Switzerland and the Middle East.
The final discussion of the day focused on tokenisation outside of the financial market. Krystian Dryniak Chief Marketing Officer of Zetly and Michał Scisłowski, CEO of Soundoshi and BanachGroup, detailed some of the opportunities and challenges in the tokenisation space right now and how their respective companies deal with them.
