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Journal of Business law symposium considers the effects of blockchain technology

February 05, 2018

On February 3, the Journal of Business Law held its annual symposium at Penn Law. The symposium, “A Chip Off the Old Block(chain): How Blockchain Technology is Changing Law and Business,” focused on four key issues of blockchain technology: digital currencies, the Delaware Blockchain Initiative, smart contracts, and blockchain regulation.

On February 3, the Journal of Business Law held its annual symposium at Penn Law.

The symposium, “A Chip Off the Old Block(chain): How Blockchain Technology is Changing Law and Business,” focused on four key issues of blockchain technology: digital currencies, the Delaware Blockchain Initiative, smart contracts, and blockchain regulation. The event included discussions of how blockchain technology will enhance and disrupt the legal industry.

The symposium’s keynote speaker was Caitlin Long, former chairman and president of Symbiont, an enterprise blockchain company. She has been active in bitcoin since 2012 and blockchain since 2014. Long previously spent 22 years on Wall Street in senior roles, working for Morgan Stanley (2007–2016), Credit Suisse (1997–2007) and Salomon Brothers (1994–1997). During her Wall Street career, she started and ran three new businesses, was a top-ranked equity research analyst for the life insurance sector, and worked directly for the co-CEOs on a business restructuring in Zurich. MarketsMedia awarded Long its 2016 Women in Finance Award for Excellence in Blockchain, and Institutional Investor named her to its list of the most influential people in pensions during her final three years on Wall Street. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School (JD, 1994), the Kennedy School of Government (MPP, 1994), and the University of Wyoming (BA, 1990).