Bitcoin, Ethereum, &Tokens ……Oh My!
The blog post “10 Things You Need To Know From The Crypto Currency Conference Cal” the call can be found here.
The blog post “10 Things You Need To Know From The Crypto Currency Conference Cal” the call can be found here.
The replay of the call is below (it starts a few minutes in to the call)
The slides for the call can be found on SlideShare by clicking here
In the blog post The Bitcoin Bubble and the Future of Currency, Felix Salmon writes that “…it’s only a matter of time before the bubble bursts”. After all “A few days ago, the value of all the bitcoins in the world blew past $1 billion for the first time ever”. That post was written on April 3rd, 2013.
A little more than four years later the value of Bitcoin is over $40 billion and the aggregate market cap of the top 10 coins is hovering around $100 billion:
Source: CoinMarketCap.com 06/20/17
In addition to all the excitement about Bitcoin and Ethereum, we’re also witnessing the explosion of Tokens and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). These tools are potentially disrupting VCs and other business models. Brave, which is building a new browser to enable blockchain based digital ads that properly values user attention, raised $30 million through an ICO for their Basic Attention Token on May 31st, in less than 30 seconds. Bancor, a platform built on Ethereum that enables anyone to launch tokens, raised 396,720 ETH in two hours on June 12th, worth $150 million. Bancor is participating on the call.
The point here is obvious, crypto currencies are having a moment, in terms of valuation creation, media attention, and most importantly, innovation. But the pace of all this change is challenging to keep up with and put in to perspective. While the question of the moment, once again, is “are we in a bubble”, the far more important questions are what all this means for the future of crypto currencies, blockchains, tokens, ICOs, smart contracts, and all the other technologies being enabled by these platforms. What industries are most ripe for disruption? Who are the early winners and losers? What’s up with the regulators? Is the rest of 2017 going to continue to see this pace of change and innovation? What’s the most important thing happening that no one is talking about?
In partnership with Geektime, we’ve assembled a panel of experts who will each talk about the current state of affairs from their perspective to help put this moment in to greater context. The hour long call will leave 15 minutes at the end of for questions.
Click here to register for the call at GoToWebinar
Speaker Bios:
Eyal Hertzog - Product Architect at Bancor, a platform built on Ethereum that enables anyone to launch and trade tokens. Eyal has been a venture-backed technology entrepreneur for over 20 years, most notably as the Founder of MetaCafe, Israel’s fastest growing video sharing site reaching over 50m uniques at its peak. Previously, Eyal founded Contact Networks, one of the first social networks in 1999. Eyal has been an outspoken thought leader on cryptocurrency in Israel and is a talented piano and bass musician.
Meltem Demirors - Director at Digital Currency Group, the world’s leading bitcoin and blockchain investment firm, with investments in over 100 companies across 27 countries, and 4 subsidiaries including Genesis Trading, Grayscale, CoinDesk, and DCG Connect — an enterprise focused blockchain insights firm. At DCG, Meltem leads the development team and DCG Connect and serves as the “connective tissue” between DCG’s subsidiaries, portfolio companies, investors, and corporate partners and is focused on creating new models for partnership and growth. Meltem holds a B.A. from Rice University and and an M.B.A. from M.I.T.
Olaf Carlson-Wee - Founder and CEO of Polychain Capital, which manages the world’s premier blockchain asset hedge fund, investingt in protocols, not companies. Olaf previously worked as Head of Risk & PRoduct Manager at Coinbase, which operates GDAX, a leading digital currency exchange. Olaf graduated from Vassar College.
Kathleen Breitman - CEO of Tezos, a blockchain-based smart contract platform with an on-chain governance mechanism to coordinate and push upgrades to its network. Prior to Tezos, Kathleen was a senior strategy associate for R3, a blockchain consortium of more than 70 financial firms. Kathleen has also worked at Accenture, Bridgewater Associates, and the Wall Street Journal. She holds a degree from Cornell University.
Click here to register for the call at GoToWebinar
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