In this talk, Ben will introduce some fundamentals of cryptocurrency, before diving deep into Java bytecode and classloading, to discuss a new way to make the JVM environment suitable for running ‘smart contracts’. These contracts have applications to distributed cryptographic ledgers, blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Ben will then introduce a real example based on R3’s Corda ledger (part of the Hyperledger project) and discuss some future directions and practical applications.

Developers who are interested in learning more about the JVM’s bytecode and classloading subsystems should attend. No previous knowledge or experience of distributed ledgers, cryptocurrency or blockchains is required.

Ben Evans is an author, speaker, entrepreneur, consultant and educator. His career highlights to date include: Co-founding jClarity, a performance tooling startup, Chief Architect for Listed Derivatives at Deutsche Bank, performance testing the Google IPO, building award-winning websites for Hollywood in the 90s, developing some of the UK’s very first true e-commerce websites & building $Bn low-latency trading systems

Ben represents the community as a voting member on Java’s governing body – the JCP Executive Committee. He is a Java Champion & 3-time winner of JavaOne Rock Star Speaker award. Ben authored 4 books – including the new “Optimizing Java”. He writes regularly for major industry publications & speaks at conferences worldwide