Pictured, left to right: Vanessa Yurkevich, Danielle Leong, Aleks Mehrle, Ben Siegel (Credit Marcos Dinnerstein)
In emerging markets the ‘best and the brightest’ often feel they need to leave the country for greater opportunities, to further their education or to live a better life. A result is some of the country’s most productive people don’t contribute to that country’s prosperity.
February 28’s event Diaspora Investing: Stopping Brain Drain with Blockchain dealt with the question of whether blockchain tech can strengthen ties between diaspora communities and their country of origin. The discussion, at the offices of Airswap, was lead by Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN Digital Correspondent.
On the panel were:
Danielle Leong, Data Scientist at Raise, a secure blockchain-enabled crowdsale platform for emerging market innovators. Their target market is diaspora members.
Aleks Mehrle, Razom for Ukraine and UGTI Razom works to increase civic engagement in Ukraine by amplifying the voices of Ukrainians around the world. UGTI is an independent organization to promote economic trade and investment in Ukraine
Ben Siegel, Blockchain for Social Impact, part of ConsenSys, is an organization dedicated to transforming the world through the disruptive use of blockchain technology.
Challenges Identified
How will diaspora members identify risks and opportunities to invest in projects in their home countries?
How will distributed ledger tech address the challenges of sending money, investing in projects and interacting with the government?
How can citizens outside of their country vote on local issues?
How can diaspora members transfer knowledge and how-tos on the latest development of blockchain applications and development?
Over the course of the evening, the moderator, Vanessa Yurkevich examined these, and other topics with the panelists. A few responses stood out:
What’s the role of a data scientist in a blockchain company?
Danielle Leong (Credit: Marcos Dinnerstein)
Danielle Leong: The role of a data scientist in creating smart contracts is to help define when conditions are met to trigger the execution of a contract. For example, when a solar panel is online and generating energy.
How do we deliver on the promise of blockchain and not have it co-opted by big companies?
Ben Siegel (Credit: Marcos Dinnerstein)
Ben Siegel: We need to stand up and say that Blockchain has to be open source if you want us to work with you. The people in power must stick to their core values. We’re not going to burn down the world but we will make it a better place.