An overview of how we came from Bitcoin to Ethereum and the Eris Industries platform. The impact of decentralized applications. Possible use cases. Presented by https://twitter.com/aronvanammers at www.innopay.com on 2015-05-19.

1. Eris and Ethereum
Decentralized computing on a blockchain
Aron van Ammers
Blockstars.io

2. A bit about me
● Aron van Ammers
● Active in fintech (more "TECH" than "fin")
● Background: Model Driven Software engineering,
University of Twente

3. A bit about me
● Background: CTO of I&DT, building Curasoft, SaaS
for health care

4. Down the rabbit hole
● 2014: time for a change
● What's happening?
– Bitcoin
– Cryptocurrency
– Smart contracts
– Decentralization
● May 2014: Certinio, independent consultant

5. Down the rabbit hole
● Nov 2014: Blockstars.io
● A full-service agency dedicated to designing,
developing, launching and managing Blockchain
businesses
● Projects
– MoneyCircles.com
– AssetCha.in
– Several other projects in stealth

6. A bit of history
● The road to Bitcoin

7. A bit of history
● The road to Bitcoin

8. Bitcoin: the first blockchain
● Solution to the "byzantine generals problem"
– A minority of bad actors can't game the system
● Digital scarcity
● Trustworthy ledger without the need to trust a
single party

9. Bitcoin: the first blockchain
● How does it work?
– Peer-to-peer technology
– A shared public "database"
– "Wasting" energy as a proof of work
– Easy to check, extremely hard to break
● More or less detailed explanations of the "how"
available on demand

10. So what is a blockchain?
● Wikipedia:
– "...a distributed database that serves as a public
ledger.."

11. So what is a blockchain?
● Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum founder):
– "A blockchain is a magic computer that anyone can upload
programs to and leave the programs to self-execute, where
the current and all previous states of every program are
always publicly visible, and which carries a very strong
cryptoeconomically secured guarantee that programs
running on the chain will continue to execute in exactly the
way that the blockchain protocol specifies."
https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/04/13/visions-part-1-the-value

12. So what is a blockchain?
● Preston Byrne (Eris Industries):
– http://pt.slideshare.net/PrestonJByrne/dgw-birch-erispresen

13. "Bitcoin 2.0"
● After the success of Bitcoin and its limits, a lot of initiatives to build "Bitcoin
2.0":
– Alternative coins or "altcoins"
– Sidechains
– Smart contracts
– Smart assets
– Crypto-equity
– ...
● Our take:
– Distributed, decentralized, verifiable information systems that possibly have an
economic aspect to them.

14. Decentralized applications
● Both Ethereum and Eris are platforms for building
decentralized applications or "DApps"
● Away from the client-server model
● Freedom?

15. Decentralized applications
● Like Bitcoin is "decentralized money" (or money of the people),
DApps allow "decentralized computing" or (apps of the people)
● Decentralized development leads to fundamental questions:
– What is money?
– What is identity?
– What is reputation?
– What is a business?
– What is a government?

16. Decentralized applications: why?
● Trust
● Traceability
● Verifiability
● Preventing concentration of power

17. Ethereum

18. Ethereum
● Building a new blockchain from scratch
● "Computer on a blockchain" (very slow, but very
trustworthy)
● Single, public blockchain like Bitcoin
● Many implementations
● Infinite possibilities
– which may or may not be practical and useful

19. Ethereum: culture
● Crowd funded
● Open source
● No commercial motives
● "hackers and hippies"
● Politically motivated

20. Ethereum: culture

21. Ethereum: business
● But: "big corp" is watching and taking part
● IBM/Samsung ADEPT
– Ethereum fork
– Connected washing
machine that is a
financial actor

22. Ethereum: how does it work?
● The blockchain contains "contracts", which are
compact computer programs
● Every node in the network verifies the execution
● Every user can create a contract
● All transactions cost a small amount of
cryptocurrency

23. Ethereum: how does it work?
● Contract development: compact programs

24. Ethereum: how does it work?
● Contract development: compact programs

25. Ethereum: for the end user
● Separate browser

26. Ethereum for the end user
● Or in every browser?
● Problem: security

27. Ethereum for the end user
● Access by end users is an unsolved problem for all
"crypto 2.0" platforms
– Low barrier to entry
– Usable security

28. Ethereum: state of the platform
● Testnet operational

29. Ethereum: state of the platform
● Early days
● Development environment is stabilizing
● Many applications / businesses are being built
● No projects in production yet

30. Ethereum: state of the platform
● Whisper: secure direct communication
● Swarm: secure file storage

31. Ethereum: tech impression
● Augur: prediction markets
http://www.augur.net/

32. Ethereum: tech impression
● Development node (AlethZero)

33. Eris Industries
● "Fork" (clone) of Ethereum
● Building a platform for
the enterprise
● Strong legal background
● A playful bunch of people

34. Eris Industries vs Ethereum
● Not "one true blockchain", but millions of them
● Blockchains are useful for closed and open purposes
● Applications may or may not have a financial aspect
● Blockchains have permissions (and hence
controllers)

35. Eris Industries
● File storage: builds on IPFS (independent)
● No parallel for Whisper yet

36. Eris Industries: state of the platform
● More stable
● Well-documented toolset
● Commercial support
● But also early days. Ready for development, not
ready for apps in production.

37. Eris Industries: tech demo
● 2gather: decentralized "YouTube"
●

38. Case studies
● What are your challenges?

39. Tracking the blockchain ecosystem
● 200+ blockchain startups
● Financial and non-financial
● Big, small, non-profit, corporate
https://www.blockstars.io/ecosystem

43. Impact for future development
● Software and devices as economic actors
● The question of "What is money" will be further
debated
● As will revenue models, business structures,
government, …
● Much more secure software altogether
● From "client-server" to "participatory architecture"

44. Contact
@aronvanammers
@blockstarsio
Slides will be on:
http://www.slideshare.net/Blockstarsio