Behind the scenes to a career in Blockchain Nina Kanti is a blockchain developer with Deloitte and as such is one of only a small number of women working in this space in Ireland. Blockchain is a decentralised distributed ledger which enables you to transfer virtually everything of value peer-to-peer THERE are two Bs that highlight heavily in Nina Kanti’s life, that’s blockchain and boxing. Kanti is a blockchain developer with Deloitte and as such is one of only a small number of women working in this space in Ireland. Often times she’s the only woman in the room but she says this has never stopped her or held her back, in fact she uses it as a driving force to push her forward. “They’re both male dominated but when you try either, there’s a lot of impact you can make. You shouldn’t be scared to be the only girl in the room. You can knock it out of the park and feel good about yourself in both career and sport,” she says. Like bitcoin Blockchain has been around for quite a while, many will have heard of Bitcoin, but even so, often people don’t understand its importance, relevance or uses. Kanti explains it succinctly: “It is a decentralised distributed ledger 38 Education
which enables you to transfer virtually everything of value peer-to-peer. Simply put, it’s a growing list of records that are linked using cryptography, with every participant on the blockchain network having this ledger or record of transactions.” She gives a simple example. “Say you have a classroom of 30 people, all with their notebooks out. I say ‘I’m drinking tea from a blue cup’ and everyone writes that down. Two days later I say to the group, ‘remember when I had tea from a red cup’. I will be corrected by the group - they will say ‘you had tea from your blue cup’. We are trusting everyone in the group. "I can then transfer this tea to another student and everyone in the classroom makes a record of that transaction in their notepad - it enables trust without trusting one party and it allows us to transfer this cup of tea “peer-to-peer”. But why is it important that we know and learn about it? Because blockchain has the potential to dis-
“Often times she’s the only woman in the room but she says this has never stopped her or held her back, in fact she uses it as a driving force to push her forward”
rupt a number of industries and helps enable a positive user experience, Kanti says. “With blockchain we take back the ownership and have full authority of our data, blocking big tech companies from monetising our data on our behalf. World of mistrust "In a world where there is a lot of mistrust, for example, blockchain has helped us to ensure our diamonds aren’t from unethically sourced countries, or the produce and clothing we buy are sustainable and ensuring certificates are valid and haven’t been tampered with, which is something I worked on for DNV GL. "Like the internet disrupted society, blockchain has the potential to do the same. It ensures trust and transparency in a world where we no longer trust banks to hold our assets or ensure the meat we eat is from grass-fed cows or 'as advertised' in shops,” she says.
