Atlas Network Announces Decentralized Technology Summit in Collaboration with Universidad de la Libertad

On August 31st, Atlas Network will host the first Decentralized Technology Policy Co-Creation Summit & Think Tank Shark Tank Competition as part of the Radical Innovation Summit in Mexico City, Mexico. This summit is designed to raise the capacity of organizations advocating for sensible public policy solutions in the decentralized technology space that defend innovation, entrepreneurship, and privacy from misguided government regulation.

The Decentralized Technology Policy Co-Creation Summit & Think Tank Shark Tank Competition is the first annual event to be born from a new partnership between the Mexico-based Centro Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego (CRBSP), Atlas Network, and the Universidad de la Libertad (UL), a new academic institution based in Mexico that will advance free-market principles, business development, and innovation.

During the summit, our partners will learn from each other, hone their projects in collaboration with a brain trust of leading policy experts, investors, and digital product builders, and pitch their projects to a panel of judges in competition for a pool of $30,000 in awards during our first Decentralized Technology Policy Think Tank Shark Tank.

The summit agenda is shown below:

9:00 AM Introduction

10:00 AM Round 1: Getting to the Why & the NEED

11:30 AM Break

11:45 AM Round 2: Outcomes Exploration

1:00 PM Lunch

2:00 PM Round 3: Solution Mining

4:00 PM Pitch Finalization & Rehearsals

5:00 PM Think Tank Shark Tank Pitch Competition

7:00 PM Reception & Think Tank Shark Tank Winner Announcement

Project Participants

Joseph McKinney (Startup Societies Network, International) - Blockchain Constitution Best Practices Report

“DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and other blockchain organizations are intended to be alternative forms of governance, providing a better model to be emulated. However, many such organizations are mired with infighting, disputes, and regulatory trouble. Currently, they are hardly the paragons of good governance. We want to create a report detailing best practices for creating blockchain organization constitutions, based on our theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience.”

John Berlau (Competitive Enterprise Institute, International) - How the U.S. SEC's War on Crypto Blunts Beneficial Blockchains from Ukraine to Uganda

“My project idea developed after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declared at least 3 native tokens of blockchain operating internationally to be illegal, unregistered securities.

That set in motion my project to get solid data on the international impact of the SEC’s regulatory edicts. Observers I am now talking to say that while the SEC’s action may not directly affect international usage of these blockchains, it may discourage development of them due to depressed prices and reduced liquidity for the native token. This in turn could harm a host of beneficial projects involving blockchain and cryptocurrency.”

Samuel Hammond (Foundation for American Innovation, United States) - Policy Solutions for the Decentralized Web

“Our goal is to educate policymakers and other tech policy thought leaders about the importance and promise of decentralizing technologies to quell reactionary fears, ward off ill-conceived legislative proposals, and promote positive policy solutions to real problems faced by innovators.”

Felix Hosse (EGO Institute, Germany) - Crypto Currencies - Multipliers for Freedom

“Our goal is to educate young journalists about the potential of blockchain technology for freedom and make them advocates for it.”

Grant McCarthy (Bitcoin Policy Institute, United States) - Bitcoin and the Lightning Network

“Our project is to produce an economic research report on innovations in cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin, and then give lawmakers and their staff hands-on experience with the technology so they can better legislate this young and volatile industry.”