“Scaling and Securing Blockchains and Digital Assets”: Founder Ted Katagi at Blockchain Central Davos 2022

12 July 2022, Tokyo, Japan – Kenja founder and CEO Ted Katagi was invited to speak at the “Scaling and Securing Blockchains and Digital Assets” panel on May 22 at Blockchain Central Davos 2022 hosted by the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC). Alongside him were “bug bounty” platform Immunefi co-founder and blockchain-based solutions company Soramitsu advisor, Travin Keith, as well as founder and CEO of Swiss fintech company Lykke, Dr. Richard Olsen. Joining them as the moderator was Angie Lau, founder, CEO and Editor in-Chief of digital media platform Forkast.News.

The session was opened with the discussion on “triangle dilemma” (shortened to “trilemma”) which pertains to a phenomenon wherein no more than two of three key components can coexist in equality. In blockchain implementation, these three key components are: decentralization, scalability and security. Concerning this, the panelists argued that “trilemma” was actually a lower-level problem and that the main issue which hinders the implementation of blockchain is rather the human factor.

As they have noted, there is a lot of confusion and misconception surrounding blockchain technology. People don’t understand what benefits it can provide, how it works and so on which causes not only a level of distrust but also unrealistic expectations. Travin Keith went on to point out, “The problem is not that (users) don’t trust (providers)… The problem is that (users) have to trust (providers).”

It is not an uncommon practice today to trade trust in exchange for benefit(s). Indeed, when we go to a restaurant, we trust the chef to cook our meal in exchange for the benefit of having food made for us. But the reason there is pushback when it comes to blockchain implementation is precisely because of the lack of understanding regarding the technology. Ted Katagi explained that this is something Kenja acknowledges very well and the reason behind the introduction of the “Visual Trust Layer”.

Kenja’s “Visual Trust Layer” leverages the intrinsic values of blockchain and CMS technology in order to give provenance and transparency of processes in a visual way. In this way, users can see and experience for themselves the benefits that blockchain implementation provides. Because, as Ted Katagi asserted at the end of the panel, “Without the acceptance of the end customer, we’re not going to get all the other commercial benefits (of implementing blockchain technology).”

Blockchain Central Davos 2022 is GBBC’s fifth annual Blockchain Central event and was held from May 22-26 in Davos, Switzerland alongside the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting Davos 2022. The event brought together leaders in the blockchain, digital asset, technology and government ecosystem to discuss the most pressing developments and challenges in the industry.

The Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) is the leading global industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem. With nearly 400 institutional members across more than 50 jurisdictions, GBBC is dedicated to furthering the adoption of blockchain technology through engaging regulators, business leaders, and global change-makers on how to harness the ground-breaking tool in order to create more secure, equitable, and functional societies.