{"id":24362,"date":"2017-01-27T18:57:24","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T18:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci027cfe6300272697"},"modified":"2017-01-27T18:57:24","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T18:57:24","slug":"shapeshift-security-chief-michael-perklin-2017-will-be-year-blockchains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/business\/shapeshift-security-chief-michael-perklin-2017-will-be-year-blockchains","title":{"rendered":"ShapeShift Security Chief Michael Perklin: “2017 Will Be the Year of Blockchains”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Digital currency trading company ShapeShift understands the increasing importance of offering secure services safe from the hacks that have plagued the space in the last year, and has turned to Canadian security expert Michael Perklin to step in as the new Chief Information Security Officer.<\/p>\n

Perklin first collaborated with ShapeShift<\/a> (based in Switzerland) when he was hired to conduct an investigation of the company\u2019s April 2016 security breach and to help get ShapeShift back on its feet. At the time, he found he agreed with the company\u2019s approach to business. <\/p>\n

\u201cShapeShift\u2019s non-custodial model takes full advantage of a blockchain\u2019s capabilities to allow disparate parties to transact with each other with little-to-no knowledge,\u201d Perklin told Bitcoin Magazine. \u201cTheir lack of collecting user information further highlights the power that blockchains bring to the world. We don\u2019t need to know who each other are to be able to swap one digital asset for another, and ShapeShift\u2019s innovation in this space was a large reason behind my move.<\/p>\n

\u201cShapeShift\u2019s power is in its simplicity \u2014 send a token, receive another. No accounts, no passports, no utility bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been an absolute honor and privilege to work with Michael,\u201d Erik Voorhees, CEO of ShapeShift, told Bitcoin Magazine, \u201cand having him on board with us full-time now is a dream come true for a blockchain startup.\u201d <\/p>\n

An expert in cyber investigations, digital forensic examinations and security breach post-mortems, Perklin founded Canada\u2019s first blockchain security consulting firm, Bitcoinsultants, and is the co-author of the first CryptoCurrency Security Standard<\/a>. Perklin will continue in his role as president of C4<\/a>, a nonprofit standards organization dedicated to developing and maintaining standards and personnel certification to help companies more effectively use blockchain technology. <\/p>\n

\u201cMichael Perklin has pioneered the standardization of security-related best practices in the industry. He\u2019s a talented individual of immense character, and happens to be one of the world\u2019s foremost blockchain security experts,\u201d said Voorhees.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a ShapeShift integration partner, I think it\u2019s great to see someone of Michael\u2019s capabilities join their team,\u201d Anthony Di Iorio, CEO of Decentral and Jaxx Blockchain Interface, concurred. \u201cI’ve known Michael for a number of years and he\u2019s always been at the forefront of blockchain forensics and security. Directing his skills and experience full-time to ShapeShift is a huge win for their company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c2017 Is the Year of Blockchains\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a long-time Bitcoin advocate, Perklin has testified about blockchains at the Canadian Senate\u2019s Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce and has been qualified as an expert witness in the courts of Canada and other nations around the globe. <\/p>\n

\u201cBlockchains definitely are a game-changing technology, just like databases changed things back in the \u201960s. I do think 2017 is the year of blockchains simply because of all of the work people are doing around the world to integrate this new computer science concept with existing business processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like how companies traded their filing cabinets for computers and envelopes for fax machines. When new technologies change our environment, we integrate them into our daily lives and adjust. There\u2019s no doubt in my mind that blockchains will change society more quickly and more drastically than the internet did in the \u201990s and 2000s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike those who doubt that bitcoin can survive as a digital currency, Perklin sees a natural progression toward widespread use and acceptance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBitcoin and blockchain technologies are quite different from everything that existed before them, so it\u2019s no surprise that some media outlets misunderstand it and jump to conclusions. Bitcoin has been called untraceable (false), anonymous (false) and has been declared dead by misinformed people more times than I can count.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy comparison, the internet was seen as something that was only useful for computer geeks. However, once people understand a new technology, they begin to use it in their everyday lives. I think Bitcoin and blockchains will be no different.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Ethereum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perklin is also enthusiastic about the future of Ethereum, despite some recent doom and gloom predictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEther is an interesting token with a different use case than bitcoin. It\u2019s such a new technology that there are bound to be growing pains \u2014 it\u2019s the first of its kind, just like Bitcoin was the first of its kind, too,\u201d says Perklin. \u201cMany people forget that Bitcoin went through many \u2018hard forks\u2019 in its first two years, just as Ethereum is doing now. As each bug is fixed, the system becomes more resilient to problems. I have a bright view for Ethereum\u2019s future. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are now so many digital assets \u2014 each with their own unique differences \u2014 that people around the world will undoubtedly need to swap amongst them regularly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before joining ShapeShift, Perklin was Head of Security and Investigative Services with LedgerLabs<\/a>, a Canadian blockchain services firm that offers advice on strategy, development, security and training to companies working with or hoping to work with blockchain technology.<\/p>\n

The LedgerLabs team is comprised of experts in Ethereum, permissioned blockchains, smart contracts and blockchain forensics, including Vitalik Buterin, Peter Todd, Jeff Coleman, Hai Nguyen, Richard Moore and Vlad Zamfir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Digital currency trading company ShapeShift understands the increasing importance of offering secure services safe from the hacks that have plagued the space in the last year, and has turned to Canadian security expert Michael Perklin to step in as the new Chief Information Security Officer. Perklin first collaborated with ShapeShift (based in Switzerland) when he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2916,"featured_media":24363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3109,3437,3241],"class_list":{"0":"post-24362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-erik-voorhees","9":"tag-perklin","10":"tag-shapeshift"},"author_data":{"id":2916,"name":"Jessie Willms","nicename":"jessie-willms","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34e39b2d2b80d0f1b4eaf183ca23eff71d1e903536d749658f27936a80197dee?s=96&d=robohash&r=g"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shapeshift-security-chief-michael-perklin-2017-will-be-the-year-of-blockchains.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2916"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}