Interview with Danny Yang (CEO, Blockseer) - Speaker at Global Blockchain Conference April 2018 Posted on : Mar 21 - 2018

We feature speakers at Global Blockchain Conference - April 2 - 4 2018 - Santaclara - CA to catch up and find out what he or she is working on now and what's coming next. This week we're talking to Danny Yang (CEO, Blockseer) Topic - "Blockchain Analytics For AML (Anti-Money Laundering)"

Interview with Danny Yang

1. Tell us about yourself and your background.

I'm an entrepreneur, developer, App designer and have been focusing on building tools around Bitcoin since 2016. I worked at BitGo building the Royal Mint Gold blockchain in a project coordinated by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This project tokenized the United Kingdom's gold reserves and used the Bitcoin protocol as a foundation. More recently I've been working to help build out and deploy the Lightning Network.

2. What have you been working on recently?

Most recently I've been dedicating all of my time to working on creating tools to work with the Lightning Network to help people connect to it and businesses to integrate it with their existing deployments. Most specifically I've been creating software to coordinate swaps across chains that deliver increased security through dual sided hash locks.

3. Tell me about the right tool you used recently to solve customer problem?

When working on the Royal Mint Gold project, we selected the Bitcoin protocol as the most battle-tested and well understood protocol for creating a distributed token value network. Specifically we used the btcd implementation created by btcsuite as the foundation of our work.

4. Where are we now today in terms of the state of Blockchain, and where do you think we’ll go over the next five years?

Currently we are just beginning to realize the promise of the Blockchain. There is a lack of understanding of the utility of the Blockchain and it will take time for people to figure out the purpose and utility of this tool. Over the next five years I expect that we will make a lot of the existing things that are currently difficult to use like the Lightning Network a lot easier, and we will come up with some leads on future innovations that are unanticipated.

5. You’ve already hired Y number of people approximately. What would be your pitch to folks out there to join your Organization? Why does your organization matter in the world?

I would like to tell people that the work we are doing with Bitcoin and with the Lightning Network is an opportunity that doesn't come along too often. It may sound like hyperbole but this is the chance to remake fundamental building blocks of our global civilization. If successful you will be able to travel to any part of the globe and see your efforts in direct use. What we are doing is creating opportunities for individuals to become empowered with the ability to fully control their own money and transact however they like no matter where they live or who they are.

6. What are some of the best takeaways that the attendees can have from your talk?

a. Lightning is a cross-chain network that can be adapted to a very broad set of tokens and it will grow in utility as more companies and individuals join.

b. The work of Lightning is just getting started and the future potential is huge when it comes to using the network's features as a platform.

c. Lightning inherits the best features of Bitcoin but it is not without issues and it's important to use it carefully and understand where the development is now vs where it is going.

7. What are the top 5 Blockchain Use cases in enterprises?

a. Switch to Bitcoin as a universal currency (stretch goal)

b. Use the Blockchain through the OpenTimestamps protocol to provide timestamp auditing

c. Adapt existing service offerings to be compatible with the Lightning network

d. Switch user identities and authorizations to use asynchronous cryptography

e. Represent ownership of resources through programmable smart contracts

8. Which company do you think is winning the global Blockchain race?

Currently Chaincode Labs is the most far-thinking company dedicated to research and development on the Blockchain.

9. Any closing remarks

Bitcoin and the Lightning Network are inclusive protocols that can help businesses connect globally, execute commerce with anyone on the planet, and have no lock-in and pay no rent to a potentially capricious counter-party. Everyone knows there is a lot of hype around various copycat projects but the Bitcoin and Lightning platforms represent both the most mature and the most active development centers. They don't get as much marketing dollars, but their leadership despite that lack of marketing budget emphasizes that their utility and power speaks for itself.