The first several months of the year have been pretty packed with undeserved pomp and circumstance. In general the “cryptocurrency world” has lost whatever remaining marbles it had and gone backwards to repeating the same tropes from 2014. Many of the same sub-par ideas are being proposed (like colored coins) yet there were several fundamental reasons these types of ideas didn’t get off the drawing board four years ago and will not for the same reasons again.
The noise around “blockchain” hype has gotten so bad that just about anything that can be said, has been said and as a result, new projects find themselves having to make even bigger promises that they will be unable to keep. Expectation management is nigh impossible and it is a global craze (I visited Asia three times already and saw this exuberance first hand)
Along the way, I found some interesting, quiet groups: in addition to a couple stealth projects, I joined Blockseer as an advisor and Elm as a consultant.
Below are some of the activities I was involved and participated in.
Interviews
- South Korea clampdown on bitcoin gathers pace from Financial Times on January 9, 2017
- Wall Street rethinks blockchain projects as euphoria meets reality from Reuters on March 27, 2018
- Episode 41 interview with 11:FS Blockchain Insider on April 12, 2018
- A Tangled Web: Will Coinbase Ventures Lead to Conflicts of Interest? from Coindesk on April 14, 2018
- Onus on Blockchain or Regulators? from Diar on April 16, 2018
- Inside Cambridge Analytica’s Virtual Currency Plans from The New York Times on April 17, 2018
- FUD, inglorious FUD from Financial Times on April 24, 2018
Cited and acknowledged
- Acknowledged: Blockchain Technology in Finance from IEEE on September 22, 2017
- Cited: $180 billion Bitcoin rival’s meteoric rise from New Zealand Herald on January 5, 2018 (note: the paper they cite actually doesn’t say that about Ripple)
- Cited: There is no consensus in the cryptocurrency community when it comes to journalistic standards from The Next Web on April 27, 2018
- Cited: IOTA Supporters: Tweeting a News Link Is “Spreading FUD” from Bitcoin.com on May 1, 2018
Panels and presentations and op-eds
- Op-ed: “Why Bitcoin Needs Fiat (And This Won’t Change in 2018)” for CoinDesk on January 3, 2017 (note: the original title was “Miners will still be dependent on the traditional financial system for rationing resources”)
- Panel: “Cryptocurrencies: A Turbulent World” at UBS Greater China Conference 2018 on January 8, 2017 in Shanghai
- Presentation: “Molting overview” at Fenwick & West in Mountain View on January 22, 2018
- Presentation: “Regulatory risks around ICOs” at Coinheads meetup in Los Altos on February 8, 2018
- Panel: “An In-depth look at Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrencies” in Scottsdale at NMS Winter Forum 2018 on February 13, 2018
- Op-ed: “Non-compliance is the “innovation.” Herd the cattle back into the barn.” Published in conjunction with Orange Silicon Valley ICO regulatory event in San Francisco on February 21, 2018 (archives)
- Presentation: “Blockchain 101” at FinTech School training workshop in San Francisco on February 22, 2018
- Panel: “Cryptocurrency Investing” at Fintech Silicon Valley meetup in Palo Alto on February 22, 2018.
- Presentation: “The Foundations of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency” at the AI, Blockchain, Crypto meetup in Pasadena on March 1, 2018
- Panel: “Consortiums, Token Offerings and the Prospects for Blockchain Commercialization” at Bank Innovation 2018 annual event in San Francisco on March 8, 2018
- Panel: “Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology” at CEGANA meetup in Santa Clara on March 15, 2018
- Conference call: “UBS Expert Call on Blockchain Adoption” with Alex Kramm and the investment bank’s equity analysts on March 22, 2018
- Presentation: “Overview of GDPR and its impact on blockchains” at China-America Blockchain Summit Conference in Beijing on April 1, 2018 (write-up)
- Panel: “State of Blockchain” at Deconomy event in Seoul on April 3, 2018
- Presentation: “Opportunities and Challenges for financial services in the cloud” at Deconomy event in Seoul on April 4, 2018
- Panel: “Regulating Cryptocurrencies” at Deconomy event in Seoul on April 4, 2018
- Presentation: “A 10-minute history of cryptocurrencies” at the Blockfin (LendIt) event in San Francisco on April 9, 2018
- Presentation: “Are there “Guardrails” for launching ICOs?” at the Draper University Executive Blockchain Program in San Mateo on April 11, 2018
- Presentation: “Enterprise DLT: A Brief Overview” at at the Draper University Executive Blockchain Program in San Mateo on April 12, 2018
- Panel: “Blockchain Trends – 2018 & Beyond” at the 3rd annual Blockchain Conference: Silicon Valley 2018 in San Mateo on April 17, 2018
- Presentation: “Overview of blockchain-related consortia” at Coinheads meetup in Saratoga on April 20, 2018
- Presentation and panel: “Blockchain 2040” at UC Berkeley Blockchain Course Guest Panel Series in Berkeley on April 23, 2018