Consensus 2018 is the world's largest blockchain conference, which brought in over 8,500 attendees, 250 speakers and 200 booths of players from all over the blockchain-sphere. This presentation is an attempt to distill some of the key insights from the conference, covering blockchain and crypto trends, industry, people, panels and additional observations. You can read a blog post elaborating on the same topic on Medium: https://medium.com/@Ozery/9-key-insights-from-the-worlds-largest-blockchain-conference-692d117c364c And find me on Twitter: @ozery

1. May 23rd, 2018
Michigan Ethereum Meetup
By Shamir Ozery
& Dave Mehi
Key Insights From
sivenso.com
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2. Before we begin:
This is NOT investment advice!
This is an interpretation of what we observed
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3. sivenso.com
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4. Coindesk’s Consensus 2018:
● Largest blockchain conference
● 200+ booths
● 250+ speakers
● ~9,000+ attendees
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5. Who was there (examples)

6. Who wasn’t there (examples)

7. Consensus 2018 was a
business conference
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8. Enterprise Adoption
and Partnerships
Fred Smith
CEO of Fedex
“Blockchain is the next ‘big
disruption’ ”
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9. Blockchain Marketplace and Service
Model
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10. Other Blockchain/Crypto Projects
● Gemini exchange announced support for zCash.
● zCash founder was on a popular panel
● ICON
● VeChain
● Fusion
● Wanchain
● Nebulous
● Streamr
● Canadian blockchain consortium
● Australian blockchain consortium
● Future of Mining discussion
○ SONM - leverage extra computing resources
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11. Market Segments
(a marketing interpretation)

12. A Market is defined as
● A set of actual or potential customers...
● For a given set of products or services...
● Who have a common need or want and...
● Who reference each other when making
buying decisions
-Crossing the Chasm
Geoffrey Moore sivenso.com
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13. Builders
1. Developers
2. Companies/Projects
3. Communities (DAO)
Photo by Aaron Huber on Unsplash

14. Experts
1. Blockchain (Development,
Cryptography, Mathematics)
2. Industry (i.e Fintech, Supply
Chain, Healthcare…)
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

15. Investors
● Private
● Accredited
● Institutional
● ...
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

16. Customers
● Enterprise (B2B)
● Individuals (B2C)
Photo by Rob Bye on Unsplash

17. Connectors
● Service providers
● Consultants
● Sales, Marketing, HR...
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

18. Regulators
Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash

19. Investors
Builders
ConnectorsExperts
Customers
Market Segments
Regulators
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20. Investors
Builders
Regulators
Connectors
Customers
Experts
At Consensus
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21. (Subjective & Anecdotal)
Lessons Learned -
Lets get started...
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22. Blockchain is a feature,
NOT a benefit
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23. "Blockchain is not this magical thing
where you sprinkle blockchain dust
over a problem”
- Jimmy Song (Bitcoin Maximalist)
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24. Blockchain is a solution
looking for a problem
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25. Blockchain is a solution
looking for a problem
Kinda...
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26. Conclusion:
Blockchain is currently a solution
to a problem (money/fiat)
searching for additional problems
it can solve
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27. Source: https://medium.com/@sbmeunier/when-do-you-need-blockchain-decision-models-a5c40e7c9ba1

28. Source: https://medium.com/@sbmeunier/when-do-you-need-blockchain-decision-models-a5c40e7c9ba1

30. Still issues with competitive
value and/or utility...
● Scalability
● Efficiency
● Adoption
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31. About
Cryptocurrencies...
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32. “The internet deserves a native
currency. It will have a native
currency. I don't know if it will be
bitcoin or not. I hope it is."
- Jack Dorsey (Founder/CEO of Twitter & Square)
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33. Cryptocurrencies are
(arguably) the most evolved
blockchain feature/application
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34. The unbanked need
cryptocurrencies
more than you
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35. “How many unbanked people
have we banked?”
- Vitalik Buterin on Twitter
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36. Public ICOs are
so 2017...
Many of the new token offerings
are pivoting to private sales
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37. Institutional
Investors want in
Hypothesis - may be in for a bull run
● Cryptocurrencies with widespread adoption
● Utility tokens with a mature ecosystem
● Security tokens that reflect tangible value
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38. We are here

40. Regulations
Regulations
Regulations...
● Regulators (US: IRS, SEC, CFTC…) are scrambling
● Market is waiting
● Globally: Coopetition = looking to attract the talent
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41. “You cannot understand where innovation
is going to go, but you can be the place
where people can feel free to innovate
without it being stifled”
- E. David Burt (Bermuda Finance Minister)
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42. Blockchain is truly
A GLOBAL
PHENOMENA
The US is not necessarily the place to be
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43. Blockchain is a protocol
Source: http://www.usv.com/blog/fat-protocols

44. We’re in the midst of a
blockchain/protocol race
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46. Blockchains are
fragmented
And so they should be →
There’s no single “one size fits all”
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48. Interoperability
Buzzword of the week
While competing platforms scramble for market
share by offering a unique value proposition,
there’s a clear need for blockchains that talk
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49. “There’s a huge gap between “can we deploy a
network” and “what do we do with this network
and how does the application work there...
Today, [blockchain] software development tools
are completely desperate and don’t work
together…”
- Amber Baldet (Founder of Clovyr)
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50. 1
Blockchain
Protocols
Ethereum
,H
yperledger,
Cardano,Lisk,EOS...
2
Connected
Blockchains
W
anChain,ARK,ICON
...
3
DaapsB2B
&
B2C
Applications
4
Consum
ers
W
idespread
utility
&
adoption
Evolving landscape
Why What How
Value
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51. Final Conclusions
● Plenty of momentum (it’s here to stay)
● Keep building (solve real problems)
● Invest in meaningful projects (vision matters)
● HODL tight (it’s going to be a long ride)
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52. Thanks!
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