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 | What. A. Week. New York City became ground zero for the global blockchain movement as part of the week-long Blockchain Week NYC.
Read more in THE TAKEAWAY below. | | |
 TOP TRENDS ON COINDESK | | |
Let's dive into the major threads and storylines that arose during Consensus 2019 and Blockchain Week NYC...First, there was Microsoft.
The tech giant has long been known to be working in the area that bridges blockchain tech and decentralized identity, but on Monday, Microsoft turned heads when it became known that the firm had built such an application on top of the bitcoin blockchain itself.
Why is this such a big deal? For starters, the move can be seen as a kind of endorsement for public networks like bitcoin, compared to private networks that other enterprises seem to be positionign their blockchain fortunes on. And while this week's announcement doesn't mean that Microsoft will be betting the house on bitcoin, it's undoubtedly a sign that established networks like it (think ethereum) could see more interest from some of the world's biggest and most successful tech firms.
And speaking of big companies, Facebook's ongoing crypto efforts crept back into the front pages with news that two of Coinbase's former compliance experts are now working for the social media titan.
While only one of the two are confirmed to be connected to the so-called Libra initiative, the move indicates that Facebook is stocking its blockchain team with crypto-industry veterans ahead of any formal launch (or even unveiling of information, the majority of which has come about through press reports). Whether they wind up being posted at Facebook's new Libra-tied offices in Switzerland remains to be seen.
In between announcements about electrical firms using ethereum, embattled crypto exchabge Bitfinex saying it has completed an investor sale of its LEO token and an on-air bet between Jimmy Song and Joe Lubin , a presidential contender took the stage (and we don't mean Ron Paul, who visited the CoinDesk LIVE studio this week).
Andrew Yang, one of a crowded group vying for the Democratic Party's presidential spot for the 2020 election, positioned himself as a friend of the crypto space.
And as might be expected, those attending Consensus 2019 on Wednesday who happen to consider themselves part of the #YangGang made their way to the Grand Ballroom for what became a sometimes boisterous talk with Coin Center's Neeraj Agrawal.
He told attendees (and CoinDesk afterwards) that regulators owe the industry more clarity on how their oversight role, and promised that if he prevails in both the Democratic primary as well as the 2020 general election against current president Donald Trump, he would provide that kind of clarity.
"If I'm in the White House, oh boy, are we going to have some fun," he remarked.
Visit CoinDesk.com to read the rest of our Consensus 2019 coverage. |
 | The blockchain story in 2019 is beginning a new chapter, one in which the questions executives are asking are tougher, more granular, more grounded, and more pragmatic. Is blockchain ready for prime time? 1,400 executives say yes. Learn the answers in Deloitte's 2019 Global Blockchain Survey. | | | |
 QUOTE OF THE WEEK | |  | Don't eat, sleep and breathe [crypto] too much. Every once in a while go on a hike.”
– Andrew Yang, 2020 presidential candidate, when addressing the crowd at Consensus 2019 in New York on Wednesday. | | |
The Takeaway |  | | |
Crypto veterans say Blockchain Week 2019, a series of events in New York that includes CoinDesk’s own flagship conference, Consensus, seemed to represent a turning point for the space as a whole.
The first hints of change came at the ConsenSys-organized Ethereal Summit last week, when the Brooklyn-based conglomerate and the Ethereum Foundation announced donations worth $700,000 to a community fund called the MolochDAO, headed by SpankChain CEO Ameen Soleimani. Soleimani told CoinDesk that he hopes 2019 will be a year of collaboration across the industry in order to build up core infrastructure.
In a nod to market gyrations of the past (think 2018), Soleimani described the movement is “less rich but still kicking.”
Other industry leaders expressed this sentiment as well. On Wednesday, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss tweeted “so much progress” has been made since the last time bitcoin prices broke $8,000 two years ago, as it did again this week.
Although the widespread consensus (pun intended) was that Blockchain Week 2019 was more corporate and less flashy than past conference seasons, rivalry is still a core factor of open source projects. And this is hardly limited to the ethereum community.
For example, there’s still fierce rivalry between the privacy coin communities zcash and monero, as underscored by a scathingly personal critique of zcash by blockchain consultant Peter Todd during the Magical Crypto Conference, which was co-organized by monero advocate Ricardo Spagni.
But there was cause for hopeful outlooks as well. Blockstream CEO Adam Back told CoinDesk a positive side effect of the market downturn in 2018 was a “return to value and better capital allocation,” along with a healthy dose of “coopetition,” a mix of cooperation and competition.
Bitcoin developer Pierre Rochard hosted several lightning network workshops at Consensus and around the city, where the audience included ethereum fans. Rochard told CoinDesk examples like developer William O’Beirne, who made a lightning-wallet browser plugin comparable to ConsenSys’ MetaMask, show “cross-pollination” can drive growth.
Rochard agreed that growth is emerging from a delicate balance between cooperation and competition, such as between Lightning Labs and Blockstream, which both have divergent implementations of the lighting scaling solution.
And Stephen Palley, a partner at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Anderson Kill, told CoinDesk that while conference content this year showed signs of “maturation,” industry politics still present a significant hurdle.
Yet when asked if the bear market flushed out some of the ego wars that have slowed key infrastructure development so far, Palley playfully rolled his eyes. |
 BEYOND COINDESK... | | |
BLOOMBERG: As Bloomberg's Vildana Hajric noted, the mood was a bit more subdued during Blockchain Week NYC compared to the circus that was 2018. Indeed, Hajric's headline noted that there were fewer lines of Lamborghini parked along the Avenue of the Americas.
Reporting from ConsenSys' Ethereal conference at the stop of the week, Hajric remarked on the "markedly different" mood that had taken place. As Blockchain Week participants noted to CoinDesk over the course of the proceedings, the atmosphere was a more sober one: think building versus speculation.
FORBES: Forbes' Naeem Aslam highlighted in his event report that some of the Consensus conversation circulated around the question of how, when and why institutional investors will interact with the space and its various projects. And amidst it all, the price of bitcoin witnessed a surge, cracking above $8,000 numerous times (including a run to $8,300.) |
 WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO | | |
CoinDesk Meetups will host London Bitcoin Devs on Feb 6. Come and hear Eric Voskuil and James Chiang talk about their work on libbitcoin.
The leader in cryptocurrency news and events, CoinDesk has been following the world's first cryptocurrency closely since its earliest days, and this week, we launched our largest-ever offering – 40 pieces of original content – to mark the historic moment.
An unprecedented project that combines video, audio and text, Bitcoin At 10: Untold Stories is filled with history and reflections from scores of early adopters, evangelists and insiders, allowing you to relive the crypto revolution with a front-row seat.
Bitcoin at 10: Untold Stories includes...
VIDEO: A tipsy history with the man who coined the term 'HODL,' the bitcoin buzzword that's become a rallying cry throughout the crypto industry.
MEAN TWEETS: Bitcoin's biggest celebrities reading the pointed words of those who love to hate them on Twitter.
AUDIO: An interview with the man who has watched bitcoin die more than 300 times... and lived to tell the tale.
SPECIAL REPORTS: Deep dives into the stories that led to the creation of bitcoin's core technological innovations and the sometimes mysterious figures behind them.
LISTS: What are the best bitcoin memes? The best entries in its sprawling community lexicon? We'll be counting down the best of the decade.
But this is just the beginning. In the weeks and months ahead, we'll be publishing even more articles, videos and audio segments that put a spotlight on bitcoin, the world-changing software project that started it all.
FOLLOW OUR FEATURE: #BitcoinAt10 and view the series here.
We also recently launched a new Twitter feed, @CoinDeskMovers, documenting significant hires, departures and executive searches in the blockchain and crypto space. If you just got a new job in the industry, if you're hiring or you want to share a tip on a major personnel move, send the account a direct message or email marc@coindesk.com.
Thanks for reading! |
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The Consensus 2019 Debrief