SXSWORLD

2 2 SXS W O R L D | M A R C H 1 4 , 2 0 1 9 | SXSW.COM Building the Future One Blockchain at a Time By Patrick Nichols Few individuals are as closely linked with the blockchain technology that is enabling digital economies and helping transform the web as tech- nologist and entrepreneur Joseph Lubin, best known as a co-founder of the Ethereum platform and founder and CEO of ConsenSys. The Toronto native got his start at Princeton University, where he studied electrical engineering and computer science. After career moves first to Boston and then New York, Lubin rose to a vice president role in the private wealth manage- ment division at Goldman Sachs. He also served as a director in the New York office of Blacksmith Technologies. While his career trajec- tory continued to rise in the period after the dot-com bubble had burst, his eyes began to open to the eco- nomic inequalities around him, and he decided to make some major changes. "It goes without saying that the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–08 had a depressing impact on many companies, economies, and individ- uals," Lubin wrote on the ConsenSys site in 2015. "For a few years leading up to that I became concerned about gross imbalances that I and many others had noticed had been building up for decades in the global economy." Lubin decided to move to Jamaica in 2012 and started man- aging a friend's music career. In late 2013, the teenaged pro- grammer and Bitcoin Magazine cofounder Vitalik Buterin published a white paper defining a platform called Ethereum — a new blockchain technology that would enable pro- grammable agreements to be built on top of the decentralized infra- structure introduced with Bitcoin, unlocking near limitless possibilities that could extend beyond just cryp- tocurrencies. Lubin found Buterin's ideas provided the inspiration he'd been seeking. "That was my Ethereal moment. I checked back in — all in," he wrote. Lubin joined Buterin as one of the eight cofounders of the Ethereum Project and served as COO of EthSuisse, a foundation to oversee further development of the protocol. In 2015, the first Ethereum block went live, and Lubin launched Consensus Systems LLC, better known as ConsenSys. The Brooklyn-based ConsenSys grew rapidly in its core businesses of enterprise blockchain consulting for major companies and govern- ments as well as the development of Ethereum-based decentralized applications, or DApps. In a session at SXSW last year moderated by Laura Shin, former Forbes senior editor and host of the Unchained podcast, Lubin described ConsenSys accordingly: "We're building about 25 different platforms in various different industries, from music to longitudinal health to supply chain to law, in which we're really seeing the nature of business shifting. It's part of what we're calling the decentral- ized World Wide Web, or Web 3.0," he said. ConsenSys has been described as "one of the blockchain world's most ambitious and well-funded startups" by The Verge. Yet Lubin does not appear satisfied with the status quo. In December, he announced plans to spin off some of the startup teams incubated by ConsenSys Labs. ConsenSys continues to invest in promising startups, and the block- chain industry overall continues to grow at a rapid pace. Deloitte's 2018 Global Blockchain Survey found that 65% of respon- dents said their companies would invest $1 million or more in block- chain technologies this year alone. Lubin also tweeted: "The sky is not falling. From my perspective the future looks very bright." Joseph Lubin will be an Interactive Keynote Speaker Thursday, March 14 at 3:30pm in Salon H at the Hilton Austin (500 E. 4th St.). Visit schedule.sxsw.com or SXSW GO for more details. "The sky is not falling. From my perspective the future looks very bright." Joseph Lubin

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