London Blockchain Conference 2024: What did you think of it?

The London Blockchain Conference 2024 is all wrapped up! These of us who attended at the moment are both taking a relaxation, recovering from colds and jetlag, or again at work. All of it occurred so quick that recollections are nonetheless a blur, however listed here are just a few of the issues that stood out for me.

Close to the top of the three-day convention, they threw CoinGeek’s presenters in entrance of a digital camera, one after the other, and requested us to speak about our private highlights. My reply was one thing like, “that we’re all nonetheless right here.” This prompted just a few ‘awws’ from these watching, however it’s true. With all 2024’s give attention to side-dramas, courtroom instances and geopolitical rumblings (a few of which concern BSV and a few don’t), it was good to see the London convention bulldozing all that apart and making a smoother path in the direction of our actual vacation spot.

What’s the actual vacation spot? It’s a digital future we will truly belief. It doesn’t matter what else folks wish to chatter about, we nonetheless want our “common ledger of reality” with a built-in funds layer if we don’t need that future to grow to be a dystopia. Blockchain, particularly the BSV blockchain working on the unique Bitcoin protocol, continues to be one of the best (and solely working) resolution to this belief downside, even when the broader world nonetheless wants convincing that: (a) the issue is actual; and (b) we have already got the reply.

The London Blockchain Convention 2024 was in some ways much like the LDNBlockchain23… and but fully totally different. The 2 occasions occurred in several Londons. For starters, 2023 was in the midst of Westminster, surrounded by extraordinarily British establishments that scream solidity and custom, like Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Whitehall, and Westminster Abbey. The LDNBlockchain24 went east to the extra fashionable Docklands precinct and London ExCel, one of many largest buildings I’ve ever been in and stuffed with brilliant lights, LED screens, and businesspeople speaking about optimizing their exercises. You possibly can’t see Massive Ben (sure, I do know that’s the title of the bell inside) or the Tower Bridge from there, however you get clear views of the glassy Canary Wharf skyline and the formidable (for its time) Millennium Dome.

There’s in all probability a metaphor in all that. Blockchain, like London, encapsulates solidity/custom and glitzy futurism in equal quantities. Chances are you’ll desire one or the opposite, however you should acknowledge each. You’ll additionally want to know which elements of those worlds work and ought to be retained as foundations, be open-minded about new concepts, and determine what’s gimmicky and disposable.

The precise content material

I spent the vast majority of my London Blockchain Convention time on the CoinGeek video set. This set has gotten progressively fancier over time, going from non-existent to a desk to a few lounge chairs to 2024’s room-sized and brightly coloured stage that attracted guests wanting their photograph taken. As somebody who does most of his video work within the spare room sporting tracksuit pants, it seemed a bit intimidating at first, however after just a few hours, it felt like residence.

This 12 months’s addition of a “Highlight Stage” proper in the midst of the showroom flooring was a banger. Although small, it attracted many of the consideration, due to its capacity to draw passing site visitors and the tiered-access convention passes that excluded many from the principle levels. Though the London Blockchain Convention itself was energetic and sometimes crowded, this stage gave it a continuing power enhance.

Attending a convention for work means you miss many of the on-stage content material (until you’re a part of it or doing analysis) because you spend most of your time strolling across the flooring and chasing down potential interviewees for the present. That stated, I did catch just a few that stood out. I particularly loved Professor Scott Galloway and Somi Arian, as a lot for his or her presenting model as their precise shows. Their talks had been each firmly future-oriented with some out-of-the-box predictions, and that’s one thing I all the time get pleasure from as a result of, frankly, each the current and current-trend projections in Western society suck.

Does anybody actually go to conferences like these for the present content material? It’s an element, I assume. However for most individuals, the content material is an excuse to assemble, work together, talk about and community, and never all the time on matters straight associated to the occasion.

Likewise, a convention’s facet occasions will be extra productive than the principle present. On that observe, I’d wish to nominate BSV DevCon as my favourite a part of the London Blockchain Convention 2024. Though it wasn’t a part of the #LDNBlockchain24, it concerned lots of the similar folks and occurred in the identical constructing.

Because the title suggests, BSV DevCon was nonetheless all about BSV. It wasn’t glitzy. It was a bunch of people that beloved to roll up their sleeves and get down within the equipment of blockchain to make it do issues nobody else has considered but after which hearken to different like-minded minds share their tales.

At DevCon, we heard Ty Everett discuss utilizing the Bitcoin community as a CPU for normal computation, David Case and Luke Rohenaz current the most recent on 1Sat Ordinals and tokens, and Mihael Sinkec on how sCrypt helps new builders into the BSV world. There have been shows from WhatsOnChain, GorillaPool, TAAL, and Gate2Chain on how a world of information will be usable in meatspace. Holding all of it collectively was the all-paisley Colorado cowboy Brett Banfe, who ought to be press-ganged into completely internet hosting the occasion.

Sure, sure, however what about…

Oh, and PS on the principle convention: what concerning the elephant within the room? Or slightly, the elephant who wasn’t within the room? Sure, it was a favourite subject amongst long-time attendees on the London Blockchain Convention, World Blockchain Convention, CoinGeek Conference, and Satoshi’s Imaginative and prescient occasions from years previous. I additionally met loads of individuals who’d by no means heard of BSV earlier than and knew nothing of Satoshi apart from the title.

I gained’t say whether or not that’s a great or unhealthy factor as a result of it’s neither—just like the distinction between Westminster London and Docklands London, it simply is. You possibly can select to beat your head in opposition to partitions arguing over your private preferences, or you may simply settle for that actuality isn’t all the time as simple or easy as you would like it to be. Blockchain’s most important job, in spite of everything, is to take what seems chaotic and ineffable (Big Data) and switch it right into a future that isn’t.

Watch: Day One Abstract on the London Blockchain Convention 2024

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Day Two Highlights on the London Blockchain Convention 2024

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Day Three Highlights on the London Blockchain Convention 2024

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