Blockchains and the Web

Many projects and companies are looking at ways to use the Bitcoin blockchain or other public or private distributed ledgers, to record an immutable timestamped public record that can be independently verified by any stakeholder.

What does this mean for Web technologies, beyond payments? What emerging capabilities could blockchains enable for the Web, such as distributed identity management? Conversely, should features be added to the Web Platform and to browsers to enable blockchain use cases, such as a JavaScript blockchain API to write to blockchain nodes? With the proliferation of different approaches and technology stacks (like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Hyperledger), is there a need for interchange formats, protocols, or APIs to share transaction data across services and stacks or between public and private networks? What will help Web developers to take advantage of blockchains?

When we talk about blockchains as “part of the Web”, we face some specific questions: How does this fit into the same origin security model of the Web? What are the privacy implications, especially when talking about identity management? What part of the Web stack would be involved: client-side, server-side, protocols, interchange formats? What is the relationship to payments, including W3C's Web Payments work?

These are questions this workshop aims to answer, and we are seeking blockchain and Web experts to gather together to discuss what needs to happen to integrate blockchains into the Web. This is an exploratory workshop; our goal is to start the conversation in the context of features for the Web, and to review critical questions for incubation. We do not foresee immediate standardization work.

Want to learn more? Attend our weekly webinar!

Leading up to the event, Media Lab's Dazza Greenwood is hosting a weekly video webinar with notable attendees, every Thursday at 3:00 PM EDT. You can also view past webinars, if you missed one. You can find more details on the dedicated page for the webinar.

Want to attend? Have something insightful to share?

We currently have a limit of only 70 attendees at the workshop. We want to fill the room with deep knowledge about blockchain and the Web, with positive and productive energy, and with imaginative minds that can apply lessons learned about blockchain to the Web stack. We won't just be listening to presentations, but will be actively participating in topic breakouts and working discussions.

If you want to participate, please fill out the expression of interest form or submit a position statement.

Please note, expressions of interest and position statements are not presentation proposals. This is a workshop, not a conference, and any presentations will be short, with topics suggested by expressions of interest and decided by the chairs and program committee. Our goal is to actively discuss topics, not to watch presentations.

Attendees are encouraged to read all accepted expressions of interest prior to the workshop, to facilitate informed discussion.

Attendance is free for all invited participants, and open to the public, whether or not W3C members.

Unfortunately, the workshop budget does not allow us to provide travel or lodging expenses to attendees.

Workshop topics

Possible topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• Core technical components of blockchains and their overlap with the Web, such as:
  • Blockchain APIs, such as JavaScript or REST APIs
  • Blockchain primitives such as transaction initiation, key signing, and wallet management
  • Ledger interchange formats and protocols
  • Smart contracts and conditional execution contexts
• Application areas, such as:
  • Identity systems, including privacy, security, and confidentiality factors
  • Rights expression and licensing
  • Decentralized processing, computing, and storage infrastructure
• Other considerations, such as:
  • Optimal use cases for blockchains
  • Surveys of existing blockchain software systems
  • Testing mechanisms to increase interoperability, robustness, stability, and confidence in blockchain systems

Out of Scope

• Payments: this topic is already thriving, and risks dominating the workshop, so we prefer discussions of payment only when they are yoked with other topics (e.g. browser-based wallets for handling both payments and identity)
• Non-Web aspects: to keep the workshop focused and productive, we are only examining topics that directly intersect both blockchains and the Web, and especially client-side features that might be added to browsers or formats for interchange
• Academic or research topics: the best standards emerge after extensive application development, testing, and real-world deployment; standards typically arise out of a need for interoperability between comparable systems; and implementations do not tend to adopt “speculative” standards that were produced as a result of academic or pure research without having also competed in the marketplace. This workshop will focus on pragamatic tried-and-true topics.

Position statements

A position statement is not required to attend (you can fill out the expression of interest form instead), but it does help set the topic discussions and to establish a particular point of view. If you wish, you can send us a position statement at <team-blockchain-submission@w3.org>, by 9 June 2016. Our program committee will review the expressions of interest, and select the most relevant topics and perspectives.

A good position statement should be a few paragraphs (between 500 and 1000 words) and should include:

• Your background in blockchain or Web technologies
• What topic you would like to lead discussion on, including concrete ideas on how this topic relates directly to the Web or browser-facing features
• Links to related supporting resources
• Any other topics you think the workshop should cover in order to be effective
• A focus on technical issues, not process or platform preference. We plan to talk about the what, not the how.

Position statements must be in English, and HTML or plain-text format; images should be included inline in HTML using base64-encoded data URIs. You may include multiple topics, but we ask that each person submit only a single coherent position statement. All suitable submitted expressions of interest will be published and linked to from this workshop page.

Who Should Attend

Attendance is open to all, and our aim is to get a diversity of attendees from a variety of industries and communities, including:

• Representatives from the Bitcoin community, and related communities such as Hyperledger and Ethereum
• Browser developers interested in adding support for blockchain APIs, identity systems, and other functionality
• Digital currency projects
• Security and privacy researchers
• Financial institutions
• Developers of blockchain systems who want to improve interoperability

Standardization Counter-arguments

There are a lot of voices and conflicting opinions in the blockchain communities. Are you skeptical that standardization should be discussed at all? We also welcome expressions of interest on issues that pose challenges to standardization, helpful to frame workshop topics and serve as a reality check. Please label these submissions “Standards Con” to distinguish them.

Event Archive Policy: Video and Transcripts

For posterity and for those unable to attend this workshop, we may be recording video and/or audio of the event, and will provide live notes (minuted in IRC) of the presentations and group discussion. Participants will be asked to sign a media waiver.

Goals

The goal of the workshop is exploratory. One of the primary outcomes is to bring different voices and perspectives together.

While we hope to identify opportunities and possible timelines for standardization, we do not anticipate that W3C will form a Working Group as a direct result of this workshop. Instead, if we do identify areas that need Web standardization, our aim would be to incubate and refine these ideas, to make sure that the right steps are taken at the right time for the key stakeholders involved.

What is W3C?

W3C is a voluntary standards consortium that convenes companies and communites to help structure productive discussions around existing and emerging technologies, and offers a Royalty-Free patent framework for Web Recommendations. We focus primarily on client-side (browser) technologies, and also have a mature history of vocabulary (or “ontology”) development. W3C develops work based on the priorities of our members and our community.

Logistics

W3C's Blockchain Workshop is located on the 6th floor of the MIT Media Lab. The host is the Human Dynamics Lab at MIT Media Lab. Organizations interested in becoming sponsors are encouraged to contact the organizers.

Venue

Wednesday–Thursday, 29–30 June 2016

8:00–17:00

Social Media and Remote Participation

Tweets and other social messages are encouraged to use the hashtag #blockchainweb. Please be respectful and accurate when quoting others.

We may have a live video stream… details will follow.

Program

Program Committee

Chairs

• Doug Schepers, W3C
• Daniel Buchner, Blockchain Identity Program Manager, Microsoft
• Neha Narula, Director of Digital Currency Initiative (DCI), MIT
• Dazza Greenwood, MIT Media Lab, law.MIT.edu

Committee

• Christopher Allen, Blockstream
• Juan Benet, IPFS
• Bryan Bishop, LedgerX
• Mic Bowman, Intel
• Daniel Buchner, Blockchain Identity Program Manager, Microsoft
• Rick Dudley, Eris Industries
• Cory Fields, DCI
• Shigeru Fujimura, NTT
• Nitin Gaur, IBM Blockchain Labs
• Dazza Greenwood, MIT Media Lab, law.MIT.edu
• Harry Halpin, W3C
• Martin Koeppelmann, ConsenSys
• Mountie Lee, PayGate
• Shin’ichiro Matsuo, BSafe.network and CELLOS consortium
• Trent McConaghy, BigchainDB
• Neha Narula, Director of Digital Currency Initiative (DCI), MIT
• Marta Piekarska, Blockstream
• Bailey Reutzel, independent financial journalist
• Carla L. Reyes, Perkins Coie
• Ryan Shea, Blockstack
• Jutta Steiner, EthCore
• Chris Tse, Monegraph
• Dominic Williams, String, Dfinity
• Gavin Wood, EthCore
• Vlad Zamfir, Ethereum

Participants, Position Statements, and Expressions of Interest

You can read all the current expressions of interest (alternate view).

You can also read the Program Committee review ratings for each Position Statement and Expression of Interest.

Registered attendees at the workshop are indicated with a blue triangle.

• Patrick Adler (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago)
• Gurvinder Ahluwalia (IBM): position statement
• Tariq Bashir Ahmad (UMASS Amherst): position statement
• Christopher Allen (Blockstream): “Smarter Signatures: Options to Ensure Fiduciary Protection on the Web”, expression of interest
• Chelsea Barabas (MIT)
• Juan Benet (Protocol Labs, IPFS Project): position statement
• Tamara Bennett (American Express): expression of interest
• Tarique Bhuiyan (Hashkloud): position statement, expression of interest
• Alan Bird (W3C/MIT)
• Bryan Bishop (LedgerX)
• David Brudnicki (Apple)
• Ethan Buchman (Tendermint): position statement, expression of interest
• Daniel Buchner (Microsoft): “Brave new world”
• Juri Bulovic (Fidelity Investments): expression of interest
• Michael Casey (MIT Media Lab)
• Eric E. Cohen: expression of interest
• Geoff Cohen (Stroz Friedberg): expression of interest
• Joshua Daniel (BT): “Blockchain based Service Composition and Integration”
• Theo Dimitrakos (BT): “Blockchain for IoT”
• Haiyang DING (Huawei): expression of interest
• Tomasz Drwięga (Ethcore)
• Thaddeus Dryja (Lightning Labs)
• Darrell Duane (Xcelerate Solutions): expression of interest
• Géry Ducatel (BT): “Blockchain based Identity Management”
• Rick Dudley (Eris Industries): position statement, expression of interest
• Dan Elitzer (IDEO coLAB)
• David Ezell (NACS): position statement
• Bruce Fenton (Chainstone)
• Gladis Filchtiner (Mobile Technology Team): position statement
• Shigeru Fujimura (NTT): joint position statement
• Yuki Fukuda (Rakuten)
• Nitin Gaur (IBM Blockchain Labs): position statement
• Jon Geater (Thales e-Security): joint position statement, expression of interest
• Tyson Goings (Discover Financial Services): expression of interest
• Laszlo Gombos (Samsung)
• Gilles Gravier (Wipro): expression of interest
• Dazza Greenwood (MIT Media Lab, CIVICS.com)
• Adrian Gropper (HealthURL): position statement
• Amy Guy (University of Edinburgh School of Informatics, EDINA)
• Harry Halpin (W3C/MIT): expression of interest
• Thomas Hardjono (MIT): “On Privacy-Preserving Identity within Future Blockchain Systems”, “CommonAccord: Towards a Foundation for Smart Contracts in Future Blockchains”
• Jonathan Harvey-Buschel (MIT): expression of interest
• Samer Hassan (Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University; Universidad Complutense de Madrid): position statement
• Sandro Hawke (W3C/MIT)
• Kazuyoshi Hayase (Rakuten): position statement
• Jim Hazard (CommonAccord): “CommonAccord: Towards a Foundation for Smart Contracts in Future Blockchains”
• Benedikt Herudek: “Decentralized Intelligent Organizations for Blockchain Interchange Formats”
• Frederick Hirsch (consultant): expression of interest
• Adrian Hope-Bailie (Ripple): expression of interest
• Lauri Ilola (Nokia): expression of interest
• Jeff Jaffe (W3C/MIT)
• Harry Kalodner (Princeton): position statement
• Shammari Khan (Labyrinthus LLC): expression of interest
• Won-Beom Kim 김원범 (Blocko): “Blockchain Key Management”, expression of interest
• Shilpi Kumar (Filament): expression of interest
• Jae Kwon (Tendermint): expression of interest
• Mahesh Kulkarni (Samsung)
• Martin Kurze (T-Labs, Deutsche Telekom): “Blockchain Technology and the Web in Symbiosis with the Telco Industry”, expression of interest
• Johnson Lee (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco)
• Mountie Lee (PayGate): position statement, expression of interest
• Youngwhan Lee (Konkuk University): expression of interest
• Arnaud Le Hors (IBM): expression of interest
• Victoria Lemieux (University of British Columbia): joint position statement, expression of interest
• Kerri Lemoie (BadgeChain): “The Opportunity Space for Open Badges + Blockchain”
• Sita Magnuson (Dpict )
• Vinay Mantha (Accenture): expression of interest
• Shin’ichiro Matsuo (BSafe.network and CELLOS consortium): position statement
• Trent McConaghy (BigchainDB): “Attribution, Licensing and Archival of the Cultural Commons”
• Greg Misiorek (bis)
• Jonathan Mohan (BitcoinNYC): position statement
• Hélène Muddiman: expression of interest
• Jodie Miu
• Anthony Nadalin (Microsoft): position statement
• Arvind Narayanan (Princeton)
• Sanjeev Vittal Narsipur (Accenture): expression of interest
• Neha Narula (MIT Digital Currency Initiative)
• Denis Nazarov (Mediachain Labs): position statement, expression of interest
• Justin Newton (Netki): expression of interest
• Mikko Ohtamaa (Wattcoin): expression of interest
• Viatcheslav Ostapenko (Samsung Research America)
• Sandy Pentland (MIT): “On Privacy-Preserving Identity within Future Blockchain Systems”
• Marta Piekarska (Blockstream): joint position statement, expression of interest
• Seana Pitt (American Express): expression of interest
• Joseph Poon (Lightning): expression of interest
• Stephanie Potter (State Street Bank): expression of interest
• Debashis Pramanik (Accenture)
• Eileen Quenin (Walt Disney): “HTML Blockchain Event Types”, expression of interest
• Bailey Reutzel (independent financial journalist)
• Yorke Rhodes (Microsoft)
• Kiara Robles (Blockstream): “Hierarchical Deterministic Keys”
• Kenji Saito (Keio University, BlockchainHub): position statement
• Peter Salvitti (Boston College): expression of interest
• Doug Schepers (W3C)
• Philipp Schmidt (MIT Media Lab)
• Wendy Seltzer (W3C/MIT)
• David Samyde (Verifone): expression of interest
• Boaz Sender (Bocoup): expression of interest
• Ryan Shea (Blockstack Labs): “Smarter Signatures: Options to Ensure Fiduciary Protection on the Web”, position statement
• Christopher Sharp (Apple)
• Scarlett Sieber (BBVA)
• Greg Slepak (okTurtles Foundation): “Accessing Blockchains Securely”
• Julian Smith (Blockfreight): expression of interest
• Manu Sporny (Digital Bazaar): “A Web-based Ledger Data Model and Format”, expression of interest
• Jutta Steiner (Ethcore): position statement
• Bart Suichies (Philips): expression of interest
• Dr. Stefan Teis (Deutsche Börse AG, Group Business & Product Development): “Hyperledger Project”
• Allan Third (The Open University): joint position statement, expression of interest
• Peter Todd (Independent Consultant): “Smarter Signatures: Options to Ensure Fiduciary Protection on the Web”
• Alin Tomescu (MIT): expression of interest
• Wei-Tek Tsai (Beihang University): position statement
• Chris Tse (Monegraph): position statement
• Alex Van de Sande (Ethereum Foundation): expression of interest
• Gina Vargas (MIT Media Lab)
• Ravi Variar (Accenture): expression of interest
• David Vorick (Nebulous): position statement
• Angela Walch (St. Mary’s University School of Law): position statement
• Mike Warner (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco): expression of interest
• Alex Waters: expression of interest
• Hiroki Watanabe (NTT)
• Samuel Weiler (W3C/MIT)
• Dominic Wörner (ETH Zurich): “Better a device on a chain than one on strings”
• Alan Wunsche (Leading Knowledge Ltd.): expression of interest
• Vlad Zamfir (Ethereum)
• Joint Position: Christopher Allen, Peter Todd, and Ryan Shea: “Smarter Signatures: Options to Ensure Fiduciary Protection on the Web”
• Joint Position: Shigeru Fujimura, Hiroki Watanabe, Atsushi Nakadaira (NTT Corporation): position statement
• Joint Position: Jon Geater, Marta Piekarska: position statement
• Joint Position: Jim Hazard (CommonAccord), Thomas Hardjono (MIT Connection Science & Engineering): “CommonAccord: Towards a Foundation for Smart Contracts in Future Blockchains”
• Joint Position: Won-Beom Kim 김원범, dallai, bankie (Blocko): “Blockchain Key Management”
• Joint Position: Dr. Victoria Lemieux, Dr. Hrvoje Stancic, FINA, Teched Consulting Services Ltd., Enigio Time AB, Dr. Natasha Khramtsovsky (InterPARES Trust TRUSTER research group): position statement
• Joint Position: Thomas Hardjono, Prof. Sandy Pentland (MIT Connection Science & Engineering): “On Privacy-Preserving Identity within Future Blockchain Systems”
• Joint Position: Manu Sporny and David Longley (Digital Bazaar): “A Web-based Ledger Data Model and Format”
• Joint Position: Allan Third, John Domingue, Michelle Bachler, Kevin Quick (Knowledge Media Institute, Open University): position statement
• Joint Position: Dr. Gavin Wood, Ethcore authors (Ethcore): position statement

Schedule

The workshop will focus around several topics identified by the expressions of interest. Each topic will be introduced by one or more related lightning talks, and will be explored more in-depth by discussion breakouts, conlcuded with joint summaries of the breakouts. The goal of the discussion is not be to resolve the technical issues of the topic, but to determine its relevance and priority to standardization.

This schedule may change based on discussions with the program commitee.

Day 1: 29 June

Day 2: 30 June

Speakers

Arvind Narayanan is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Princeton. He leads a research team investigating the security, anonymity, and stability of cryptocurrencies as well as novel applications of blockchains. He co-created an online course and textbook on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies. He also leads the Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability project to uncover how companies collect and use personal information. He other research interests include decentralization, information privacy and security, and technology policy.

Host

MIT Media Lab

Sponsors

Becoming a Sponsor

For details on the available sponsorship opportunities for this workshop, see our Sponsorship Packages.