Sam Williams

It is cliche to say that we live in the age of information, but it is also profoundly true. Information (and access to it) shapes our thoughts and actions as a society, now more than ever. Control and political censorship of that information poses a systemic risk to democratic societies worldwide.

In this talk we will present the Archain project: a system of permanent data storage aiming to democratise the control and accessibility of information. As well as detailing the aims of the system, its technical implementation and potential effects, we will also discuss the use of Erlang as its base.

Archain is a decentralised permanent information storage system, open to all, forever. Built on a novel blockchain-like data structure (a 'blockweave') that shards across many computers, the Archain is a public library and archive inside a cryptocurrency.

As well as taking a peek inside the Archain infrastructure itself, we will explore how Archain-based Erlang apps can be used to build incontrovertible election/voting systems, automated traders, and decentralised social media systems, among many other uses.

OBJECTIVES

This talk will detail strategies and experiences building a decentralised permanent archive and cryptocurrency using Erlang. It will also explore the development of decentralised Erlang applications using the Archain platform.

OUTLINE

Anyone interested in Erlang usage in the wild, decentralisation or blockchain technology!