Consensus 2018: What You've Missed So Far From The Biggest Bitcoin Event
Consensus 2018 in New York is well underway but far from done! Here's a run down of everything you've missed so far from the biggest yearly event in Bitcoin.
A ticket for CoinDesk's Consensus 2018 conference will set you back roughly $2,000 per ticket and with 8,500 attendees the event will be bringing in $17 million in ticket sales alone this year.
Last-minute admission is an eye-watering $3,000 per person (about 0.3 Bitcoin for those that no longer think in dollars).
Consensus, a three-day conference which features talks and exhibitions on everything cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and the underlying blockchain, is this year the biggest yet -- and the first since Bitcoin's price explosion last year that saw Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies skyrocket in price.
The Bitcoin price has already rallied since the biggest hitters from the world of cryptocurrency descended on New York over the weekend, adding some 4% from a three-week low on Monday.
Consensus 2018: Who's there...
Pretty much everyone who's anyone in the cryptocurrency space, from startups, to investors, and the established financial sector, is in New York for Consensus this week.
Organiser CoinDesk has had to apologise for the long waits, with one CNBC reporter reportedly having to wait over an hour to pick up their entrance badge.
Jacob Donnelly, director of marketing at CoinDesk, said: "Whilst we apologise for any delays, Consensus 2018 has received overwhelming interest and is the largest blockchain-focused event ever held in the United States. We are working to reduce the wait time."
It's not just Consensus which is bringing the crowds of course, with this week the first Blockchain Week New York. A full week of some 20 blockchain related events, some of which carry similar ticket prices, are scheduled around Consensus.
Meanwhile, the lambos were out in force to welcome attendees to the New York Hilton Midtown as the newly minted Bitcoin wealthy flashed the digital cash.
Consensus 2018: ... And who's not there
Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum, is one high profile cryptocurreny personality eschewing the fourth annual Consensus event this year.
Buterin slammed the high ticket prices ahead of the event, saying: "I refuse to personally contribute to that level of rent-seeking."
He also criticised organiser CoinDesk's reporting policies and use of off the record quotes, saying via Twitter: "[CoinDesk's] reporting policies are designed to trap you with gotchas. Did you know that if you send them a reply, and you explicitly say that some part is off the record, that's explicitly on the record unless you go through a request/approve dance first?"
Consensus 2018: FedEx CEO calls blockchain the next "big disruption"
Fred Smith, chairman and chief executive of the U.S. logistic giant FedEx, yesterday said: "Blockchain has the potential to completely revolutionize what's across the border."
Logistics is thought to be one of the industries that blockchain tech could be most effective in, with increased efficiency and transparency improving the system from warehousing, to delivery, to payment.
Smith has previously signalled his interest in blockchain, with FedEx joining the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) earlier this year.
According to Smith, countries' different standards, regulations and terminologies cause a "massive amount of friction" in cross-border logistics and blockchain's "chain of custody" might be able to help.
Consensus 2018: Bullard isn't so bullish on Bitcoin
St. Louis Federal reserve president James Bullard yesterday warned that instability in exchange rates is the biggest obstacle to widespread cryptocurrency adoption.
That volatility has seen the Bitcoin price climb to almost $20,000 per coin late last year before more than halving just a couple of months later.
Bullard told the Consensus audience:
You've got this kind of special problem of who's going to issue the currency and what are those promises about future issuance and can you really maintain the credibility of those promises. If you can't, the value of your currency is going to zero the same way the Venezuelan bolivar has.
Bullard also played down the possibility the U.S. Fed will introduce its own digital currency.
Consensus 2018: Joe Lubin and Jimmy Song made a bet about the future of blockchain tech
Jimmy Song, a partner at Blockchain Capital, and Joe Lubin, the founder of the Ethereum startup studio Consensys (not to be confused with this event), took part in a fiery on stage debate yesterday which ended in a bet over the future of blockchain tech.
Song, sceptical about the potential benefits of many of the blockchain applications paraded at Consensus, said they all sound to him like "magical blockchain dust".
Song said: "I don't really see much of this stuff gaining much traction. Bitcoin is the real innovation here."
Lubin went to bat for blockchain, challenging Song: "I'll bet you any amount of bitcoin that you're wrong."
The details of the bet -- which the pair shook on -- are still to be worked out, it seems, but Song should probably note that Lubin is worth between $1 billion and $5 billion, according to Forbes.
Consensus 2018: Former JPMorgan Chase bankers are starting over
Amber Baldet and Patrick Mylund Nielsen, two former JPMorgan Chase bankers, announced their latest venture: Clovyr, billed as a "pragmatic connection between enterprise and public chains".
Lubin and Song's bet was made as a direct result of Baldet's Clovyr demo, which must have been awkward.
Baldet, the former head of blockchain projects at the US bank, told Fortune Clovyr will act as something of an app store for decentralised apps and services.
Clovyr is currently raising funds from investors.