Anyone who has ever started a company knows just how tedious that process that can be. Whether it’s establishing a shareholder’s agreement, defining the company’s constitutional structure, raising funds, or transferring shares, corporate governance procedures remain largely paper-based, requiring validation from multiple stakeholders, and their lawyers. Blockchain technologies, and specifically smart contracts, provide the rails upon which these processes can be digitized and streamlined, reducing operational costs, eliminating errors and automating menial tasks. Manu Thanabalan, CTO of Otonomos, joins us to discuss how his company is leveraging smart contracts to accelerate incorporation and automate corporate governance. Otonomos provides the tools and services which allow for anyone to start a company in any of the jurisdictions they support. Using their platform, founders are able to define board members and issue shares, while captables are kept up-to-date in real-time. Day-to-day governance mechanisms and standard procedures such as voting and share transfers are automated through a smart contact, which complies with local jurisdictional regulation. Topics covered in this episode: Mano’s background as a quantitative trader and how he transitioned into blockchain The fundamental problem Otonomos is addressing How we may be able to unlock a tremendous amount of value by liberating shares currently locked in private companies Leveraging smart contracts to automate standardized corporate legal procedures The types of constitutional rules which can be digitized and automated with smart contracts The ability to simplify accounting and auditing with Otonomos The Otonomos technology stack The current state of Otonomos and their product roadmap Episode links: Otonomos Website This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/180

For decades, science and academia have leveraged distributed computing to solve massive computational problems. Distributed grid computing schemes allow donors to volunteer their desktop computer’s idle resources toward scientific projects in physics, biology, and chemistry, where large amounts of parallel computing resources are necessary. Relying on software like BONIC, these networks provide features such as built-in fault tolerance and result verification. And with the proliferation of mobile and IoT, the potential for massively distributed grid networks has never been greater. Gilles Fedak, a researcher at the French computer science research body Inria, joins us to discuss a new project which aims to build a high-performance distributed cloud infrastructure marketplace. Relying on mature grid computing technologies, iExec utilizes Ethreum to organize a peer-to-peer marketplace of computing resources, allowing anyone to rent their idle resources to grid networks. If it succeeds to execute on its vision, this game-changing project could revolutionize distributed computing through cost reduction and the commoditization of resources. Topics covered in this episode: Gilles’ background as a distributed computing researcher Distributed computing and it’s applications in science and industry The problems we see in distributed computing networks The iExec project and its vision for a distributed computing resource marketplace How iExec works as an Ethereum smart contract The different components and participants of iExec The iExec token and upcoming crowds ale The project’s business model and roadmap Episode links: iEx.ec Website Gilles Fedak Home Page at ENS Lyon iEx.ec White Paper iEx.ec Crowdsale This episode is hosted by Meher Roy and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/178