Consensus 2019 Recap
Members of our team traveled to New York City the other week to attend Consensus 2019. Consensus is the largest blockchain event that is held every year by Coindesk. Compared to last year, things felt different, in a good way. The show itself along with the companies attending were all a bit more polished and really in the thick of things with their projects. It’s an exciting time to be in this space, and a great event like Consensus is an excellent reminder of that. This surge of interest and public representation is just the beginning of crypto and blockchain.
Mass Adoption Is Evident
Blockchain and cryptocurrency are here to stay. If there was ever any question in the longevity of cryptocurrency and blockchain, Consensus 2019 answered all questions. A large number of industries attended the show, including healthcare, banking, artificial intelligence, engineering, and many more. Once considered foreign technology, has now been transformed into a technological solution that leverages systems across varying complexities. The sheer number of use cases will surprise and excite everyone in this space.
Big Names
This new and excited crowd did not only consist of small to medium sized companies. There were a number of large scale enterprises in attendance this year with full exhibitor booths and representatives on the ground ready to learn more about your project. Deloitte, one of the "Big Four" accounting firms, had a large presence there as they discussed how blockchain continues to disrupt industries and foster new ecosystems with a plethora of different use cases. Deloitte's 2019 Global Blockchain Survey takes a look at how the world views blockchain and helps in making sure all questions are answered.
Microsoft was also a big name at this year's show. Microsoft's booth and presence was one that was in full acceptance of crypto, blockchain, and aiming for attention to create an even better Open Source. Microsoft's excitement in blockchain and crypto is one that is exciting and evident with the company's recent release of its Azure Blockchain Service, a fully managed blockchain service.
Government and Legal Industries
We noticed an increase of representatives from companies/entities within the government and legal space. There’s no question about the government’s fear, excitement, and at times, uncertainty about crypto and blockchain. Government bodies around the globe attended the event this year to learn more about this exciting technology and to better understand the concept of a distributed ledger. A talk that stood out to us was “Picking Winners? The Relationship Between Government and Technologies” moderated by Chairman, Senior Advisor of CoinDesk Michael Casey and panelists including:
- Perianne Boring (Founder & President, Chamber of Digital Commerce)
- Tom Emmer (Congressman, MN-06)
- David Forman (Deputy General Counsel, Fidelity Investments)
You can watch the talk online. Look under main stage near the bottom of the sidebar next to the video.
Companies and Projects
An exciting part of Consensus every year is getting the opportunity to explore all of the different companies and projects. With company attendance appearing to double last year's, there was no shortage of exciting projects and insightful representatives on the show floor. We look forward to watching each project progress as the year goes on.
Some of our favorites are below.
MineBest will take your breath away. Establishing itself as “the world’s first legalized mining farm with reduced taxation,” its website lays the groundwork for one of the most impressive mining farms anyone on our team has witnessed. Architectural illustrations give viewers an idea of what to expect, which still have trouble communicating the accurate scale of what the team at MineBest hopes to accomplish. With their eye’s set on global reach, MineBest has the team and infrastructure in place to change the industry and putting serious mining power in the hands of every individual. We look forward to keeping up with MineBest as they continue construction and looking for investments.
Finally surviving the remnants of the recent bear market, Bitcoin is poised to reach record-breaking numbers again in 2019. However, things are different this time around. Bitcoin has become a household name compared to years past. This new found popularity and commonplace have opened the door for exciting business ventures. Coinsource is one of the first to capitalize on this with the World’s Largest Bitcoin ATM Network. Coinsource has started to solve the problem of how to acquire Bitcoin and plans to eliminate the remaining barriers of entry that surrounds the topic. Coinsource’s reach is growing every day with over 200 machines nationwide and rapidly closing in on a presence in all 50 states.
We met with Five Block Sponsor and owners of arguably the coolest booth at the show Bloq. We spoke with members of the Bloq team about all of the company’s exciting projects. For those unaware, Bloq is a company dedicated to everything blockchain, including enterprise services, managed services, tokenization, and more. The company has made a name for itself behind its four robust product offerings:
It’s exciting to see a relatively young company make strides in our industry and continue to grow and serve many different sectors including retail, media & entertainment, financial services, and insurance to name a few.
You can learn more about Bloq and all of its products via the company’s fact sheet.
Thank you for taking the time to read our recap of Consensus 2019. If you missed a talk or couldn’t attend, you can find all of the event’s videos online.