Long Finance Autumn Conference 2018 – Smart Ledgers (MDLs, aka Blockchains) & Risk

Join us for a glimpse of what the future looks like and guidance on how to get ready for it.

Smart Ledgers are mutual distributed ledgers (MDLs, aka blockchains: multi-organisational databases with a super audit trail, used in cryptocurrencies) combined with embedded programming and sensing. But how do they work and what are the risks?

Cyber-Catastrophe Insurance Linked Securities – Pilot

Hurricane season is now well under way in the Atlantic. Florida, the Carolinas, and the Caribbean have been mercilessly battered. Over the last 30 years, the insurance industry has evolved a sophisticated set of strategies to deal with the cost of rebuilding after natural catastrophes, by offloading some of their catastrophe risk on to the financial markets.

Today, computer systems are as integral to our lives as the buildings we live and work in. We depend on them as never before, for both our health and wealth. And these vital systems are at risk. As networked systems get bigger, they become more susceptible to cyber-catastrophe. It is only a matter of time before a massive failure strikes. And the insurance industry is not ready. No war chest of cash exists.

This talk will explore how Cyber risk can be offloaded to the markets in the same way as, for example, hurricane risk. With the help of Smart Ledgers, insurers and reinsurers can be certain that their clients are covered for anything.

Smart Jurisdiction Index

How have different parts of the world been responding to the growth of distributed ledgers and smart technology? Is this reflected in their regulatory and legal systems? What are the implications for investors?

The Smart Jurisdiction Index (SJI) looks to score differing jurisdictions in terms of their readiness to engage with distributed ledger technology and applications, alongside their general competitiveness. It will be looking at identity, documentation and agreements, regulation, payments and currencies. A guide for both investment and regulatory decisions, the Index will provide a snapshot of developing trends in a space that affects everyone.

Information Rules: Smart Ledger Architectures & Distributed Permissions (Or How Not To Give Keys To Strangers)

One of the big challenges of modern markets is permission. For example, permission to access a computer system, whilst ensuring hackers don’t, or use an asset, whilst preventing thieves from doing so. Permission rules that involve concepts of “may” and “should” are hard to apply to computer systems, as they use ‘bits’ that are either true (1) or false (0). This creates a dangerous minefield for the future Internet and global economy. But Smart Ledgers could provide at least part of the solution. This report explores the interactions among markets, permissions, and computation to light a path towards solving this problem.