Ever since Silicon Valley’s elite became interested in cryptocurrency, they have grappled with the question of how, in their quest to build these decentralized, blockchain-based systems that have the power to democratize society, they should manage their own privilege and influence.

When Roya Mahboob, 30, a serial entrepreneur from Afghanistan, began her startup, Women’s Annex, a platform for women to upload blogs and videos and be paid for views, the company found that paying the women didn’t empower them financially. While by law Afghan women could have bank accounts, their families didn’t want them to. “For one woman, her husband always hit her and took all the money from her,” said Mahboob, who then learned about Bitcoin and decided to begin paying the women with it.

Many blockchain and crypto asset-focused conferences have an obvious financial focus. But the most idealistic and socially conscious of them, the Blockchain Summit hosted by the Bitcoin mining and blockchain services company Bitfury Group and venture capitalist Bill Tai, commenced Tuesday on Sir Richard Branson's private island, Necker, with a different bent. Before even arriving on the island, some attendees on the same flight dived right into discussions of how to use crypto tokens to create social good such as reducing air pollution.

Hosted by blockchain services company Bitfury and its board member, venture capitalist Bill Tai, with special support from Credit China Fintech, this year’s summit on Necker Island features attendees from around the globe such as former Estonian president Toomas Ilves, renowned Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, Afghan tech CEO Roya Mahboob and Greek European Parliament member Eva Kaili.

Not only is Necker Island a wonderful place to relax and unwind, it’s also a great setting for free thinking and innovation. It has an incredible power to prompt people to think differently and dream big. Knowing this, every year we welcome a number of groups to the Island for gatherings that encourage inspiring collaborations. One of my favourite annual get-togethers is the Blockchain Summit. The technology behind the Blockchain has great potential to change the world in an incredibly positive way. It may be a niche subject that many people haven’t heard of, but it’s something that all business leaders should become interested in and educated about. It’s an extraordinarily pervasive technology that touches a lot of mankind.

What is arguably the most exclusive blockchain industry conference, the Blockchain Summit, sponsored by the BitFury Group and MaiTai Global, kicks off its second annual event this Saturday on long-time innovator, futurist and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island in the Caribbean. This year, the notable attendees of the Blockchain Summit include Marietje Schaake, a member of the European Parliament whom the Wall Street Journal called “Europe’s Most Wired Politician;” Jim Newsome, the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the New York Mercantile Exchange; and Beth Moses, aerospace engineer for Virgin Galactic.

The group, which the summit web site described as comprising “the greatest minds in digital innovation,” explored multiple projects that would use the blockchain – the core ledger technology underlying bitcoin – to change the lives of billions of people.

Block Chain Summit, the exclusive bitcoin event held on Richard Branson's private island, has revealed a surprising advocate of blockchain technology.
According to tweets from Necker Island, actress Lucy Liu – better known for her work in Hollywood blockbusters and Sherlock Holmes reboot Elementary – joined participants for a Skype discussion on how the blockchain could play a role in identity management.

We recently hosted the Blockchain Summit, a four-day gathering of digital innovators that was organised by the team behind the MaiTai gatherings. It was fascinating debating new developments in the industry and mapping out what the future holds. The meetings didn’t just discuss topics like Bitcoin though. The likes of Hernando de Soto shared their thoughts on the future of the world, while we also played hard – as this incredible video of kitesurfing off the Great House roof shows. As I shared recently, a high-tech product was even conceived, developed and launched – all on the island.

But this May, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson is set to hold the conference on Necker Island, his 74-acre private island in the British Virgin Islands, to discuss the future of Bitcoin, Blockchain and digital currency. (Blockchain is the software infrastructure that supports Bitcoin transactions — not to be confused with Blockchain.info, which is a digital wallet service.)

Branson is sharing hosting duties with Valery Vavilov, the CEO of Bitfury, a company that develops servers for “Blockchain transaction processing,” Pro kiteboarder Suzi Mai and VC Bill Tai, the co-founders of MaiTai Global and George Kikvadze, the managing director of the Georgian Co-Investment Fund.

In May, British billionaire Richard Branson invited a select posse of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and technology advisers to his Caribbean residence for an exclusive pow wow on an issue occupying some of the top markets minds in the world. The topic for discussion on the picturesque Necker Island was the "blockchain."