CoinDesk's inaugural event – Consensus 2015 – is taking place at the TimesCenter in New York today.
Find out what's happening right now with our live blog below and find out what's coming next with our conference agenda.
14:57
Chung says that Expedia offers no discount on any of its payment methods, whereas Lingham has based his business model on incentivising bitcoin payments.
"You've got to pass savings on to the consumer if you want it to succeed," he says.
14:52
"The [bitcoin] consumer story is definitely not dead – it's just a different story," says Casey.
14:48
Up next is a discussion on the topic of Finding the Critical Path to Mass Adoption. it features Connie Chung of Expedia; Jon Downing, of Visa Europe Collab; and Vinny Lingham of Gyft. The panel will be moderated by Michael J Casey of MIT Media Lab.
14:46
We're about to return from the first break of the day. To view tweets from the conference, search for #Consensus2015 on Twitter.
14:19
In response to an audience question, Pelker says although bitcoin has real potential for decentraliseation there are enough centralised bodies in the space that provide law enforcement with a number of avenues for investigations.
14:12
He also has some key advice for bitcoin companies: any attempt to deceive a bank will get you under the radar of the government, and showing that you are willing to comply will go a long way. “Ask for permission not forgiveness."
14:10
Weinstein says the policing of on ramps is important in connecting blockchain investigations with real people.
14:09
"It's powerful as a public tool, but it's important to remember [the blockchain] is not a magic solution to our asset tracing and follow the money issues," says Pelker.
13:59
Now it's a lightning round of mini case studies. Haun and Gambaryan discuss the case against the DEA and Secret Service agents Carl Force and Shaun Bridges.
13:53
Moderated by Jerry Brito of CoinCenter, the discussion will feature Kathryn Haun, of the US Deptartment of Justice; Tigran Gambaryan of IRS Criminal Investigations; Catherine Pelker of the FBI; and Jason Weinstein, of Steptoe and Johnson.
13:47
Speaking on the marriage of blockchain technology and the Internet of Things, Buterin says that although both are technologies there is not much crossover between them, with individuals on both sides lacking knowledge of the other. Lengthy block times are also an issue for this use case, he adds.
13:41
Ludwin says the question is impossible to ask in a vaccum. "The future will be a financial cloud with many interoperable blockchains which share this common underpinning of entities remaining in control of their assets."
13:37
Will there be one chain to rule them all? Maxwell says some functions may require a permissioned ledger, however Hearn disagrees: "We have one web, one IP protocol," he says.
13:30
Is there a clear killer app emerging? Vitalik says he thinks there won't be just one, but rather "a few thousand apps that provide a moderate amount of value".
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Find out what’s happening right now with our live blog below and find out what’s coming next with our conference agenda .
14:57Chung says that Expedia offers no discount on any of its payment methods, whereas Lingham has based his business model on incentivising bitcoin payments."You’ve got to pass savings on to the consumer if you want it to […]