Imagine a world with no banks, no credit—and no money.
It’s not here yet, but according to Wences Casares, it’s “inevitable.”
Casares, an entrepreneur and proponent of Bitcoin currency, will join the stellar lineup of cyber security experts for this year’s International Conference on Cyber Security, starting Jan. 5 at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus.
Casares is the founder and CEO of Xapo, a company that created one of the first storage vaults for a new digital currency known as Bitcoin. The unique feature of this a software-based online payment system (besides the fact that it is exclusive to the digital world) is that it is exchanged peer-to-peer, rather than going through a central repository like a bank.
The exchange does not involve any kind of digital “coin” that is passed around, however. Instead, complex mathematical algorithms log the transaction and transfer the ownership of the Bitcoin from one owner (the spender) to the next (the supplier). The movement of ownership from one person to another is the transaction itself.
As of now, the majority of the six million current Bitcoin users are merely storing it, rather than using it to pay for something. Nevertheless, Casares believes that Bitcoin is destined to become a common payment mechanism.
At ICCS, Casares will explain how Bitcoin storage vaults work, why he believes Bitcoin will soon become a unit of account, and when he predicts Bitcoins will hit one billion users (spoiler alert: very soon).
Sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Fordham University, ICCS 2015 is a four-day event featuring more than 60 unique lectures from keynote, distinguished, plenary, and parallel speakers in the disciplines of emerging technologies, operations and enforcement, and real-life experiences. ICCS 2015 presents exceptional opportunities to meet and talk with some of the greatest cybersecurity experts in the world.
Click here to register for ICCS 2015.
