Trade associations play a leading role in educating the business community on the opportunities of blockchain. In this podcast we had the pleasure of interviewing Patrick South, Vice President of Development at the Digital Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C. The Chamber of Digital Commerce is the world’s leading trade association representing the digital asset and blockchain industry.

 

What is blockchain?

Blockchain is a combinatorial innovation. Think of it like a Lego bucket in which people are pulling existing Lego pieces and piecing them together in new innovative ways. Blockchain is leveraging existing proven technologies such as linked lists, asymmetric key parenting and hash functions in new and innovative ways.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger is a distributed ledger that records and maintains data in a manner that allows multiple stakeholders to securely share access to the same information in digital aspects.

In today's environment we have all these disparate databases that require constant reconciliation and messaging. A lot of existing technology is simply applying digital overlays to analog processes. What blockchain offers is the true business transformation. Instead of having to reconcile siloed databases, blockchain creates a single source of truth that enables all parties to operate from of that mutualised data store.

 

What is the Digital Chamber of Commerce?

The Digital Chamber of Commerce is a 501(c)(6) trade association whose mission is to promote the acceptance and use of digital assets and blockchain based technologies. Through education, advocacy and working closely with policymakers, regulatory agencies and industry, their goal is to develop an environment that fosters innovation, jobs and investment.

They are made up of over 200 members:

* 60% are startups varying from blockchain platforms to cryptocurrency exchanges to ones operating in the security token space

* 40% are composed of large financial institutions, consultancies, service providers, law firms, accounting and advisory firms

The Chamber has five working groups to promote the acceptance and use of digital assets and blockchain based technologies:

* Token alliance:which is co-chaired by the former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins and former CFTC chairman James Newsome. Last year this working group wrote a white a paper on what constitutes a non-security or utility token entitled – “Introducing: Understanding Digital Tokens: Market Overviews and Proposed Guidelines for Policymakers and Practitioners”

* Smart contracts alliance: which focuses on the existing legal framework and how smart contracts can be used to enforce that. This working group has a white paper entitled: “Legislator’s Toolkit for Blockchain Technology” and “Smart Contracts: Is the Law Ready?”

* Digital asset accounting consortium: as there are no accounting standings in the digital asset space. Developing accounting and reporting standards for digital assets and blockchain-based technologies.

* Blockchain in...