HCM CITY — The 2018 Vietnam Blockchain Week will be held in HCM City in March to promote the potential of blockchain and 4.0 technologies.

Organised by Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL), the event also aims to highlight Việt Nam’s position as a global hub of 4.0 technologies and advocate support from Vietnamese regulators to create a facilitating and nurturing environment for blockchain and 4.0 technologies.

The event expects to attract 1,500 participants to demonstrate how blockchain is transforming the global economy and how Việt Nam is poised to become the next global blockchain and 4.0 technologies hub.

By inviting only top tier speakers, thought leaders, business leaders and regulators from Việt Nam and the world in various realms of blockchain and other 4.0 technologies such as AI, VR/AR, and the Internet of Things, the organisers hope to use the event to help the Vietnamese tech community position itself in the global market.

It will be held on March 7 and 8 at Riverside Palace in District 4.

The blockchain concept is one of the most transformative and game-changing ideas since the Internet.

It is a public transaction ledger built in a network structure based on cryptographic principles which removes the need for intermediaries while generating massive transactional applications to establish trust, accountability and transparency at lower costs, with fewer legal constraints and with less system friction.

Blockchain technology goes well beyond cryptocurrencies, fintech, public voting, data sharing networks, and decentralised marketplaces and interacts with other cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and Big Data.

Blockchain is in fact heralded as the backbone of 4.0 technologies. Currently tech juggernauts such as IBM, Microsoft and Google and international banks are engaged in a blockchain research and development race on a global scale.

Thanks to its geopolitical stability and one of the world’s highest growth rates, Việt Nam has gained a global reputation in the ICT industry though still only as an outsourcing hub, according to IBL.

The inherent novelty, tremendous potential and range of possibilities of blockchain and other 4.0 technologies will undoubtedly enable Việt Nam to thrive, especially its ICT industry, it said. — VNS