Zcon2Lite - User Defined Assets (UDAs)

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The idea of allowing users to issue digital assets on the Zcash blockchain (similar in nature to ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum) pre-dates the launch of Zcash. Different names have been used to refer to this concept, including user-defined assets, user-issued tokens, and Zcash shielded assets. In this panel we will discuss the potential use cases, advantages and pitfalls or adding this functionality to the Zcash blockchain.

Panelists:

• Ian Miers is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on solving real world security issues using cryptography. He is one of the cofounders of Zcash, a privacy preserving cryptocurrency based on his work on Zerocash. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Wired, and The Economist. It has also been denounced in at least two op-eds. Twitter @secparam

• Peter Van Valkenburgh is a board member of the Zcash Foundation and Director of Research at Coin Center, the leading non-profit research and advocacy group focused on the public policy issues facing cryptocurrency technologies such as Bitcoin. He is a graduate of NYU Law, as well as a self-taught web developer.He drafts the Center’s public regulatory comments, and helps shape its research agenda. He has testified before Congress, briefed staff and members of the EU parliament, and educated policymakers and regulatory staff around the world on the subject of cryptocurrency regulation and decentralized computing systems. Twitter @valkenburgh

• J.R. Willett invented the concept of the ICO in 2012, and performed the first ICO in 2013. In addition to "Inventor of the ICO", J.R. has also been credited as "Inventor of the Stablecoin", as his landmark 2012 whitepaper introducing the ICO concept also described how to algorithmically stabilize a token to peg to an external asset, like the dollar. Numerous projects have since put his ideas into practice.

• Matt Luongo is a serial entrepreneur who joined the cryptocurrency space in 2014. He's currently the CEO of Thesis, the crypto venture studio that incubated Fold, Keep, tBTC, and Saddle. Matt is based in Atlanta, GA and is a husband and father of two. Twitter @mhluongo

Moderator:

• Jack Gavigan is the Executive Director of the Zcash Foundation. He has been involved with Zcash since early 2016, when he became an advisor to the Electric Coin Company. He subsequently joined the company as COO shortly before the launch of Zcash in October 2016. In 2018 he relinquished the role of COO to focus on regulatory relations. He took up the position of Executive Director at the Zcash Foundation in February 2021. Twitter @JackGavigan

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