Geoff Goodell on Cryptocurrencies: Toward a Privacy-Enabling Electronic Value Exchange

On October 17 2018, the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs welcomed Geoffrey Goodell from University College London to speak on the topic of "Cryptocurrencies: Toward a Privacy-Enabling Electronic Value Exchange." Goodell is also a Research Associate at the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, a committee member of the British Standards Institution, and Convenor of the ISO working group on Foundations of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies. His recent work focuses on digital identity, digital payment systems, and regulation.

Goodell spoke about new approaches that could bridge the current gap between extensive surveillance in banking and the lawlessness of cryptocurrencies. He emphasized the complexity of current electronic payment systems and how they can be adapted to better protect the privacy of individuals.

Throughout the seminar Goodell made a compelling case that privacy-enabling electronic value exchange can be implemented and adopted at a large-scale thereby catering both to the need of law enforcement to enforce regulations and the wish of individuals to enjoy privacy.