Canadian Lawyer

24 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m S teve Gow's path into the art world is not a conventional one and neither is the new way he is providing artists to sell their work. A former private equity, corporate finance and securities law- yer, Gow spent three years as an associate with Bennett Jones LLP in Calgary, often working with startups, before launching into the world of blockchain. Earlier this year, he became the co-founder, vice presi- dent and chief legal officer of Adappcity Inc., a software company that special- izes in developing decentralized blockchain applications with social impact. "The intent for me was always to be a lawyer, but it shifted over time," Steve Gow has brought his love of art and technology together in his new venture By Jennifer Brown BRINGING BLOCKCHAIN TO THE ART WORLD C R O S S E X A M I N E D Art aficionado Steve Gow is helping emerging artists use blockchain to sell their work. says Gow, who is also a veteran of the Cana- dian Forces, having served in Afghanistan in 2007-2008 as a tank driver and armoured recovery vehicle driver. Last year, Gow co-founded Adappcity with Brent Cheal and then in July launched Upp- stArt.io, an online art marketplace that uses blockchain technology to track provenance and pay resale royalties to emerging artists — some- thing the Canadian and U.S. governments refuse to do. On UppstArt, artwork can be purchased directly from the artist and re-sold at any time for a small commission, a portion of which is given to the artist. Gow first heard about blockchain in 2016 when he was still practising corporate law, but like most people, he didn't initially understand the technology. "I tried to read about it, but I just completely didn't understand it," he says. But he was among the first wave of corporate lawyers in Canada to cut his teeth in the crypto- currency world — advising on initial coin offer- ings. He then began reading about how block- chain can disintermediate many third-party transactions. "You can connect a buyer and seller directly by using technology and not requiring a mid- dleman to broker that transaction," says Gow. "That's really what got my mind going around where can we remove people that are in between the buyer and the seller. There are so many examples — banks, obviously, and art is another big one — galleries and artists who want to sell their art to a collector and the gallery is in the middle trying to connect the two and charging a large commission for that service." Gow says he has always had a passion for art. He has purchased art online and volunteers for a not-for-profit gallery in Calgary. "I was wondering how we can use this to help emerging artists. Then we put two and two together and launched the venture," he says. Blockchain Works was the first company he jumped into as general counsel after about four years of private practice at Bennett Jones. The two founders had a falling out and Gow decided to carry on with his co-founder and launch Adappcity. The company's goal is to identify and develop blockchain solutions based on its proprietary blockchain "UppsmArt Contracts." The "dapp" in Adappcity refers to decentralized applications. "Basically, you have this asset — art — and the provenance information about it can be tracked on the blockchain," he says. That is important because of the problems

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