As blockchain moves away from the ICO fervor, projects are starting to bring their ideas to fruition. Industry leaders, blockchain experts and investors gathered at Blockchain Seattle 2018 to discuss and discover the next stage of development for decentralized solutions.
Blockchain Seattle Showcases Projects and Ideas Ready for Market
During the two-day event, which took place Sept. 10-11, several hundred innovators, investors and enthusiasts crowded the halls of the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue, Wash., to collaborate on the future of the burgeoning blockchain industry.
Blockchain Seattle 2018 hosted 45 speakers from a vast expanse of industry backgrounds to share ideas and advice on how to navigate a shifting landscape for distributed ledger technology (DLT).
Several key speakers included:
- Matthew Roszak, Co-Founder of Bloq and Founding Partner at Tally Capital
- Joe Roets, Founder and CEO of Dragonchain
- Peter Vessenes, Chairman and Co-Founder at New Alchemy
- Mark Mueller-Eberstein, CEO and Founder at Adgetec Corporation
- Jennifer O’Rourke, Co-Founder and President at Attest Inc.
- Dr. Joseph Williams, State of Washington ICT Economic Development Director
- Kate Mitselmakher, CEO and Founder of Bloccelerate VC
- Chris Jones, Co-Founder of Blockchain Seattle and President of Dragonscale
Panels ranging from “ICOs and the Current State of Regulation” to “IoT and Blockchain” showcased ideas that were theory only a few years ago–indicating an acceleration in project development that’s seemingly still on the rise.
In an interview with CryptoSlate, Tyler Boscolo, Chief Operation Officer at LifeID, said:
“We’ve really seen a lot of companies buckle down and get serious about delivering on phenomenal technology. There’s a lot of companies that are starting to see their projects come to fruition. RChain just launched their testnet, which is massive for us because we’re building our platform on RChain, so we’re really excited about where things are going and how much is coming out in the market right now.”
For those building their own blockchain businesses, the “Post Token Sale Operational Scaling” panel featuring Arry Yu, COO at Storm, shed light on the inner-workings of a budding blockchain startup propelled into the mainstream.
Joe Roets, CEO of Dragonchain, meanwhile, debuted a new social media product during the “Reimagine Community” panel that aims to solve the inefficiencies and bad actors plaguing popular social media giants today.
During the “Blockchain for Decentralized and Sustainable Journalism” panel, Toby Fox, Technologist-in-Residence at Civil, explained how immutable DLT enables global freedom of speech and information on the decentralized Civil Foundation platform.
In addition to the many informative panels, several companies based in Seattle and abroad set up booths to display their decentralized solutions for multiple industries–including finance, freelancer marketplaces, social media and marketing. During the event, it quickly became evident that blockchain has moved past its early stages and into the hands of true innovators.
When asked where he thought the blockchain industry was heading in the near future, Ed Hallda, VP of Strategic Development at Alphaledger Technologies, replied:
“In 2019 you’re going to actually see these use-cases that we’re talking about. … You’re going to see version 1.0 version 2.0 put to the test. You’ll actually see users put their hands on the screen and have a tactile experience and things are going to rapidly accelerate. In 10 years, I don’t think you’re going to be able to recognize financial institutions anymore.”
Blockchain Seattle 2018 also directed attention to where it is most deserved: the applications of decentralized technologies. In the onset of 2019, Seattle’s premier blockchain community event fostered a discussion around innovation and collective growth that was reminiscent of the early stages of the internet.
Blockchain draws similar excitement around new, disruptive technology that carries the potential to change the world. Sharing his outlook on the industry, Jon Nolz, EVP of Business Development at Storm, said:
“I think of it like in the late ’90s of the internet. It took a while for the leaders to bubble up out of the top, almost a decade. I think that’ll happen a lot of faster with blockchain. I also think they’ll be a lot of discovery in the next year, people figuring out their identity and where they need to go next.”
As a variety of emerging projects begin to find their way to market and impact the world over, it’s evident that Blockchain Seattle 2018 ushered in the next stage of development for decentralized solutions.
If you’re interested in other cryptocurrency and blockchain news happening in the Pacific Northwest, please check out our Seattle blockchain news section of CryptoSlate.
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