Thailand Seminar on Blockchain, DLT and Cryptocurrencies

Reputaction Thailand Blockchain Seminar Feedback

Dr. Jean-Marc Seigneur, President of Reputaction, has been to Bangkok during the first week of September 2018 to teach blockchain, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and cryptocurrencies to around 70 delegates of the Ministry of Digital Economy of Thailand and International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

So many Asian countries with interesting DLT use-cases

Most of the delegates were from Asian countries, e.g., Thailand, Laos, Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia or India and all came up with very interesting DLT uses-cases. During the first days they were taught the basics of blockchain and DLT including terminology, consensus algorithms, blocks versus directed acyclic graphs (DAG), 51% attacks, tokenomics... Then, they split into teams and had to come up with a convincing use-case of DLT. For example, they presented an Hyperledger-based halal certification system, permissioned between each Asian country administration in charge of halal certification, in order to avoid the same halal product manufacturer to redo similar certification in each country, saving time and increasing transparency, the market being worth several billions USD. Another team proposed an Ethereum-based permissionless system in order to better track the use of public money given to agencies in India for public services such as health or education.

Investments in blockchain and ICOs legal aspects in the region

As in many other parts in the world, initial coin offering (ICO) legal aspects are discussed and considered as a new way of investment, especially when the projects involve blockchain and DLT that need incentive mechanisms. Thailand is quite advanced and open regarding ICOs because it has prepared new laws for the fields and should launch an ICO online portal by the end of 2018 where legitimate projects would be validated and then would be assured to get a bank account in Thailand. Dr. Jean-Marc Seigneur had also the opportunity to meet several other cryptocurrencies and blockchain investors and stakeholders. In the business centre of Bangkok, Dr. Jean-Marc Seigneur met the CEO of Everex, one of the first blockchain-based banking solutions providers based in Thailand, with great office view as shown in the image below. Everex has already successfully run its ICO based on its EVX token, also known for its Ethereum tokens explorer called Ethplorer. It is worth noting that other Asian countries such as the Philippines are quite active and favorable regarding ICO legal aspects. Dr. Jean-Marc Seigneur has already taught at the University of the Philippines Cebu and knows the good competencies of programmers in the Philippines, which could make it an attractive centre for DLT development if the legal aspects are finalized. Reputaction will continue to look at the DLT opportunities there and may even strengthen its DLT development team there if the right opportunity arises.