Contactless payments, improved supply chains, and even e-voting. These are just some of the areas that can be revolutionized by blockchain technology, currently used in cryptocurrency transactions. We will discuss blockchain during the spring Impact event on May 13. While central banks and public institutions have already issued warnings about cryptocurrencies themselves, describing them as highly uncertain speculative bubbles, the transaction ledger technology used in them is met with great interest from both private and public entities. The world's biggest players are interested in utilizing these solutions. The American insurance company Marsh has announced that it is automating its certificate issuance process for clients based on blockchain technology. This will allow users to access up-to-date information about their purchased services anytime and anywhere. There are also rumors of similar plans by Samsung, where a dedicated team is currently working on applying blockchain to settlements within the Samsung Pay application. Governments of many countries are also keenly interested in supporting startups utilizing this technology. How does blockchain work? It is an open, decentralized, and encrypted database that records transactions. Thanks to P2P information transfer, it is accessible on multiple devices simultaneously and does not require a single central institution to coordinate information flow, as in traditional solutions – like current bank transfers. New elements of individual blocks are added continuously with subsequent transfers. Users have access to their transactions but cannot verify the data belonging to other individuals, even though it is also contained within the blocks. Due to its distributed nature and cryptography, the technology allows for relatively secure fund transfers without the risk of a sudden system failure and the absence of intermediaries maintaining IT infrastructure. Each block is "signed" using a mathematical formula that accounts for all changes. With subsequent modifications, the block's signature and the generated hash also change, making it impossible to pay twice with the same funds. The entire chain is then verified by decentralized nodes, which arrange them in a specific order based on their hash. How can blockchain change the world of finance? The blockchain solution has the potential to reshape the entire economy in the future. It is easy to imagine that the current credit card payment system could be completely rebuilt this way. Currently, operators regularly profit from their intermediation and transaction authorization, both from merchants and buyers. With the widespread adoption of blockchain, a seller would no longer be burdened by bank subscription fees, and a user would not have to pay interest on unused balances. Similar changes could occur with international transfers. Instead of time-consuming and expensive transfers, blockchain technology would enable instantaneous information exchange between entities located in different countries, or even on different continents. However, the introduction of these innovations would require an appropriate increase in throughput, so that chain settlements occur instantly and as cheaply as possible. Where else can blockchain be applied? Interestingly, blockchain could also be used in services unrelated to the financial sector. There is nothing preventing it from transmitting information about other assets. Thus, this technology could significantly contribute to building greater transparency and security in supply chains – the final customer could verify where a given product was actually manufactured and whether it was replaced during transit. The World Economic Forum, responsible for organizing the economic summit in Davos, among other things, indicates in its report on blockchain implementation the possibilities of eliminating the grey economy or the presence of counterfeit products in this way. For example, if cars, including used ones, were recorded in a chain system, it would be impossible to tamper with their mileage or service history. Any intervention would be recorded and become readable regardless of the country from which the car was imported. The decentralization of transactions could also bring many changes in energy distribution. Companies are already operating worldwide offering energy sales from independent, small eco-friendly suppliers directly to customers. Customers can, using the blockchain, enter into short-term agreements with each producer, depending on which one currently offers the most favorable terms. Services of this type are offered by startups from the United States (The Brooklyn Microgrid), Australia (Power Ledger), or Estonia (We Power). Blockchain and migration: Another significant area of blockchain's impact could be assisting in maintaining international security during the verification of migrants from other countries. Thanks to blockchain technology, individuals arriving in a new country could have their data accessible from anywhere in the world. The host country, on the other hand, could verify the process of data creation and the scope of changes made to it. This is precisely how the BanQu platform works. A new user gains access to the tool via a mobile phone and creates a profile. Then, each piece of information entered is timestamped and verified by a third party, who must also have been previously vetted. The third party can be, for example, a former employer or a school administrator. All this data is then stored in a distributed database and can be accessed anytime, anywhere. In the same way, a bank's customer's financial capabilities can be assessed, which would significantly reduce the chance of loan fraud. By analyzing the information available in the database, it would be possible to calculate the capabilities of individual borrowers in a uniform and universal manner. Can blockchain help conduct e-elections? Through simultaneous encryption and transparency, blockchain would also create new possibilities for verifying election results during electronic voting. Each cast vote would be placed in a publicly visible distributed database, but without information about the voter. This way, potential election manipulation in non-democratic countries would become significantly more difficult. More about blockchain at Impact, where a moderated discussion will take place: We need to talk about blockchain! Global finance, policy and digital transformation, with participation from:

• Eva Kaili, European Parliament
• Adam Kostyal, Nasdaq
• Helen Kopman, European Commission
• Robert Trętowski, KIR
• moderation: Navroop K. Sahdev, The Digital Economist

What can we expect on the Impact'21 stage in May? From its inception, Impact has organized initiatives that are a phenomenon of the Polish conference market: the traditional format of long panel debates has been replaced by short, dynamic presentations. Impact has also changed its approach to the format of roundtables, which are shorter than usual at Impact, and during which very specific topics are discussed in a small, closed group. The Impact team also focuses on popular speakers from abroad and constantly seeks new technological inspirations.