Blockspaces: Synapse Summit 2020

Another Synapse Summit is in the books, capping off 2 days of discovery, networking, and immersion for everyone in attendance. Synapse continues to carry the torch as a platform for Floridians to connect around innovation, business solutions, and emerging technology. BlockSpaces is proud to have participated for its third year strong, dating back to the event’s inauguration in 2018.

The Synapse Summit was an excellent opportunity for up close and personal conversations with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers right here at Amalie Arena in Tampa.

BlockSpaces would like to thank everyone who made it out to the booth for chats, information, and breakout sessions!

If you weren’t able to make it out there,

.be">Check out this quick recap video of BlockSpaces, Synapse 2020.

BlockSpaces got the party started early, at 9:00 AM on the first day, followed by an agenda stacked with great speakers and formative thought leaders in the blockchain industry. Session topics included:

Cryptocurrency & Digital Assets: The Future of Programmable Money & Payments.

This session opened up the discussion about the many different ways we can waive traditional, hyperinflationary, centrally banked paper currency goodbye, and familiarize ourselves with crypto and other digital asset offerings that are quickly coming to market today.

Florida: Setting the Bar in Blockchain.

Much of blockchain growth and implementation has yet to be completely understood, let alone regulated by state governments. Florida is setting the bar in blockchain by committing to rigorous research that will inform decisions on the future of blockchain business in the state for years to come. In May 2019, Senate Bill 1024 was signed into law, creating The Florida Blockchain Task Force within the Florida Department of Financial Services as a way to stay on the cutting-edge technology in the United States.

This session overviewed the findings and assertions of the task force, showing promise that Florida will strive to be a magnet for businesses looking to integrate or develop blockchain solutions and bring them to market.

Blockchain and Business ROI.

Enterprise-level companies are utilizing their abundance of time and resources on internal blockchain pilot programs to test the waters, and stay ahead of the curve on blockchain implementation. But how can mid-market players, or smaller companies act when looking for the potential ROI of blockchain?

It is crucial for business leaders who may not be entirely sold on blockchain; yet, to pay attention when it comes to the proof-of-concept work being completed by innovative developers today. This session discussed some of the misleading facts about blockchain use-cases and highlighted forecasts surrounding the implementation of blockchain in business.

Day Two: Blockchain Breakout Sessions

BlockSpaces prepared a series of topic-based presentations designed to brush up on the blockchain basics as a primer for deep dives into each specific industry’s use-case trends.

These breakout sessions aimed to provide a basic understanding of blockchain’s recent growth while informing the public about how BlockSpaces approaches education and consultation.

Gabe Higgins, a co-founder of BlockSpaces, conducted each session, covering industry-specific topics and addressing questions from the audience, topics included:

Banking

Blockchain is changing everything in fintech, not just for decentralized crypto exchanges, but for centralized banking as well. Multiple nation-states have already implemented a digital currency of some kind, with more showing serious interest. The Chinese government plans to continue leveraging blockchain for financial tracking purposes. In the U.S, the American Association for Insurance Services has utilized blockchain technology for a less-hackable, time-saving regulatory reporting process.

Look for blockchain to affect the way people bank on local levels through crypto-incentives, quicker transactions, and wider access, while also playing a role in the way central authorities transmit currency, regulations, and oversight in banking.

Healthcare

Blockchain has the ability to turn healthcare’s legacy, third party data storage networks upside down. There’s a vast realm of potential in freeing up patients’ sensitive information from gigantic, centralized data silos, while enabling encrypted systems for permissions and access to medical records. As the large players in healthcare begin to fiddle with blockchain pilots for logistics and records storage, cost-benefits and fraud resistance systems are going to emerge in the near future.

Digital Identity

Identity theft is a major security risk that persists today. With the sheer amount of personal data maintained by concentrated, third party databases- single data breaches have widespread effects. Blockchain can help facilitate peer-to-peer networks and put the verification back into the hands of individuals and out of the hands of arbitrators.

Seminole County Tax Collector Office, in Florida, has partnered with BlockSpaces to pursue the management of digital identity for tax collection purposes through blockchain. This is a great example of Florida maintaining its status as a trailblazer in blockchain development and implementation.

Supply Chain

Blockchain gives end-users the ability to accurately monitor data streams in a cost-effective way, which creates value for stakeholders in supply chains. IBM currently offers blockchain supply chain solutions to customers looking for reduced risks, enhanced customer/supplier relations, and long term stability.

Real Estate

The real estate industry is gigantic, with many separate entities coming into play during every transaction. Banks, regulatory bodies, local governments, and nation-states all have a hand, which results in a surfeit of fees, commissions, and time spent ironing everything out. Blockchain can influence the real estate sector by reducing friction in a few ways:

• Tokenization of assets increases real estate liquidity by cutting down the time lag that occurs during the finalization of deals.
• Crowdfunding is an interesting way for property developers to attract groups of investors through crypto-enabled platforms with more transparency and less need for third-party management.
• Decentralization through distributed ledgers ensures authenticity and security for digital transactions that can be done more fluently.

Last Call! The FinTech Revolution: Talents, Rebels and Disruptive Innovation. February 20th at Embarc Collective, Tampa.

Don’t forget to grab your tickets for Thursday’s event at Embarc Collective with keynote speaker Matteo Rizzi, and a strong lineup of sessions on the topic of financial technology.

We’re excited to see you there!

Click Here for tickets now.