Prof. Wenbing Zhao

Cleveland State University, USA

Title：

Blockchain: Fundamentals and Its Economic Functions

Abstract：

In this talk, I will first provide a brief introduction of the blockchain technology, highlighting its design principles, nuts and bolts, and the most fundamental innovations of the technology. Then, I will discuss the economic functions of the blockchain technology. The most important impact of the blockchain technology on economics is the creation of a token paradigm where decentralized consensus and smart contracts play essential roles. More specific topics of this talk include the token’s monetary features, blockchain’s governance functions, the efficiency and the security of the blockchain systems, and the central bank digital currencies. Finally, I caution on the adoption of permission-based blockchains and the central bank digital currencies and explain why such proposals are fundamentally against the decentralization and trustlessness design principles of the blockchain technology.

Biography：
Dr. Zhao is a Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Cleveland State University. He got his BS and MS degrees from the Physics Department in Peking University. He earned his Ph.D. at University of California, Santa Barbara in 2002. He has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and the author of the research monograph titled “From Traditional Fault Tolerance to Blockchain.” Dr. Zhao’s research spans from dependable distributed systems, human centered smart systems, and engineering education. His research has been funded by the US NSF, US Department of Transportation, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Ohio Development Services Agency, and Woodruff Foundation. He has delivered more than 10 keynotes, tutorials, public talks and demonstrations in various conferences, industry and academic venues. Dr. Zhao is an associate editor for IEEE Access, MDPI Computers, and PeerJ Computer Science, and a member of the editorial board of several international journals, including Applied System Innovation, Internal Journal of Parallel, Emergent and Distributed Systems, and International Journal of Distributed Systems and Technologies. He is currently an IEEE Senior Member and serves on the executive committee of the IEEE Cleveland Section.