‘Blockchain India Week’ May 2018

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MUMBAI, 4th May, 2018:  Himalaya Labs Ltd. is hosting India’s first-ever Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies event – the Himalaya Crypto Summit – in Mumbai on May 25th- 26th, 2018 during the Blockchain India Week.

Himalaya Labs is a blockchain venture owned by Ms. Arifa Khan, a crypto pioneer and the India Partner of Ethereum Foundation. She hosted India’s first ever Blockchain Summit in Delhi in Dec 2016 featuring Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin and sponsored by Microsoft, when Indians were alien to the world of blockchain or crypto. After facilitating numerous successful Blockchain Summits across the world, Ms Khan is now bringing the mega event on cryptocurrencies to Mumbai. She has been evangelising blockchain in India actively since 2015 when she hosted seminars for RBI on bitcoin, and also held a blockchain workshop for 25 banks at CAFRAL, an RBI entity.

The first-ever Crypto Summit in India will provide an inside peek on the raging worldwide phenomenon of cryptocurrencies, views of luminaries on technological progress, challenges, dispensations from governments the world over, regulation and what it means for the future of crypto and the common man in India. The summit will bring together the world's foremost experts in the fields of Cryptography and Artificial Intelligence (AI), besides stakeholders such as banks, stock exchanges, payment and fintech firms, other non-financial industries that benefit from blockchain such as education, healthcare, logistics and supply chain, and four leading Indian law firms to debate on India’s readiness to ride on blockchain and crypto revolution. The main summit on 25 May will focus on blockchain applications, and their mass appeal in India, and will benefit industry leaders, CEOs, CTOs and CIOs, the financial services sector, regulatory bodies, policy makers, start-ups, and researchers and will host several keynotes and panels with over 30 speakers. The cryptocurrencies summit on 26 May throws open a unique and exclusive learning opportunity for corporates who want to educate their teams on the technology behind bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies, for the crypto enthusiasts who want to trade in crypto, for the software developers, students and researchers to stay up to date on cryptographic protocols, technical developments from the best in field, scalability and privacy solutions in cryptocurrency platforms, and for Indian ICO aspirants to learn the practicalities of launching an ICO to raise funds. Global crypto investors, CTOs and inventors of crypto protocols, founders of successful ICOs will educate the audiences on nuances of creating and running self-sustaining cryptocurrency platforms, token business models and how these can be beneficially applied and integrated in various industry domains.

The participants will have a chance to get educated on real Blockchain projects disrupting multi-billion dollar industries globally and meet the pioneers and founders behind these revolutionary new businesses. The two-day event will include panel discussions and workshops on Blockchain applications for the world and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) strategies. Himalaya Labs would be presenting their revolutionary next generation stock exchange platform - a crypto NASDAQ that runs entirely on smart contracts, for entrepreneurs around the world to raise capital from global investors in seconds for legally compliant shares. Such is the immense potential of crypto to transform huge industries, replace decades old IT infrastructures and complex eco-systems, and democratise the world-wide capital raising phenomena. India should welcome with open arms such inventions and tools for its thriving startup community and SMEs to raise global funds, giving every deserving entrepreneur a boost in the arm.

“Blockchain is the next new wave in technology and everyone, from governments to the common man, stands a chance to benefit by riding this wave. India can become a global resource provider on blockchain, as we are the biggest producers and exporters of engineering talent and computer scientists which is a prerequisite to technical prowess for making India a global blockchain hub” says Ms. Arifa Khan.

Crypto economy which was valued at around $20 billion at the end of 2016, ballooned close to $800 billion by the end of 2017. In India, Blockchain and Bitcoin adoption has seen a lot of traction since 2016 when Ms Khan invited crypto pioneers like Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin and Consensys to India and highlighted India’s potential as an inflection point for worldwide blockchain adoption. Ms Khan started proactively advising the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister on cryptocurrencies & blockchain at WEF Davos 2017 when crypto first became a global buzzword. There are now over 11 Indian Bitcoin trading platforms that have about 30,000 members actively trading at any given point of time. Bitcoin has picked up well in India with a number of Bitcoin exchanges and wallets spreading across the country, fuelled by celebrity disclosures of lucrative bitcoin investments such as by Mr Amitabh Bacchhan. A lot of Indian players have tested usage of Blockchain in the areas of Trade Finance, Cross-border Payments, Bill Discounting, Supply chain financing, Loyalty and Digital Identity areas. However, the financial industry and the regulators in India are yet to grasp the fundamentals of this technology and the interconnectedness between blockchain and crypto in a useful way. Himalaya Crypto Summit aims to bridge the gap.

Mr. Nick Szabo, a renowned cryptographer, computer scientist, legal scholar  and the pioneer of ‘Smart Contracts’,  who is among the most celebrated speakers in the summit, says: “The imposition of capital controls is a disaster for a modern trade-driven economy, a catastrophe which, however, digital technology and in particular the digital currency bitcoin, has the potential to mitigate.” He adds that “Decentralised marketplaces are the ultimate promise of blockchain, which will have the most dramatic impact on society and economy.”

Other prominent attendees of the event include thought leaders, early influencers, investors in fields of Cryptography & AI such as Muneeb Ali, Leanne Kemp, Eddy Travia, John Puttick, Arun Sharma, Hussein Kanji, Richard Muirhead, Sudin Baraokar, S V R Srinivas, Marc Pilkington, Sandris Murins, Rahul Bhasin, Deependra Chumble and legal experts from Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co, Nishit Desai. 

To know more, log on to the website: http://himalayacrypto.show

About Himalaya Labs Ltd

Himalaya Labs is a blockchain venture creating the world's first decentralised capital markets platform for investors and issuers, where smart contracts do the job of investment banks and intermediaries. A traditional stock exchange is replaced by an algorithm driven marketplace where the token economy participants regulate, curate and monitor the risks and rewards of companies accessing public capital by issuing ISTOs “Initial Security Token Offerings”. The token marketplace plays the role of investment banks, cutting out the 10% IPO fees. Founder & CEO Arifa Khan is an IIT Madras graduate and a Wharton MBA with a background in investment banking and cryptocurrencies.

 For further details, email team@himalayalabs.com or contact:

Arifa Khan

(+44 7920030807)

Shailendra Lotlikar

(+91 7400428474)

Viral Panchal

(+91 7400428487)