Conference

Optimism reigned at Paris Blockchain Week

Careful optimism was the theme at this year’s Paris Blockchain Week. Builders will build and the crypto community will keep going.

Expectations for Paris Blockchain Week were relatively low considering the downbeat market conditions. However, Paris can always surprise you. Indeed, conference halls at the event were not nearly as empty or depressing as Consensus after the big crypto meltdown of 2018. People were present, and conversations were fruitful. (And yes, the croissants were, as always, delicious.)

In 2022, the conference was held symbolically in Palais Brongniart, a building known for hosting the historical Paris Stock Exchange until 1987. This time, organizers managed to outsoar themselves and held the event right under Louvre in the elegant “Carrousel du Louvre” conference halls.

Evening side events took place all around central Paris, overlapping and pushing some attendees to have three or even four dinners each night. Star speakers did not make any overly positive market predictions, but the conference vibe was definitely optimistic.

Is Paris the next best bet for crypto?

With regulators tightening their grip on crypto companies in the United States, Europe might be the next bet for crypto. While Paris is already home to prominent companies in the space — such as Ledger and The Sandbox — rumors are spreading that some big players will move their offices here or become more active in Paris.

Binance held its blockchain event in Paris last year. Circle just announced that it is seeking regulatory approvals in France and wants to establish a headquarters in Paris. Who knows? Coinbase could be next. Obviously, regulation will be a major factor in the future success of any European stablecoin or crypto service.

Need for crypto consortium

Another subject that flowed through many keynotes and discussions was the lack of industry collaboration. While it’s obvious to everyone now that crypto’s narrative is falling short, the question is: How can major industry players unite to stabilize the industry long-term and ensure its growth?

Related: EU MiCA crypto regulation is a ‘balancing act’: Paris Blockchain Week 2023

Some experts called for the industry to self-regulate as malicious players hurt everyone in the sector. Others stressed out a much-needed dialogue with regulators. If rules come from dusty offices without consultation with crypto industry players, the threat remains that those laws will become too complex, expensive or impossible to implement. Most experts agree and advocate for an industry-wide consortium. While initial industry collaborations to build discussions with the regulators have already started in the U.S. this year (with questionable results), much more effort is required.

Interoperability challenge

Experts across multiple panels raised interoperability concerns. Privately operated and centralized bridges have shown a vulnerability to hackers, and the lack of connectivity between networks hurts user experiences significantly and slows adoption.

Mobile carriers faced the same issues in their early days, but different smartphones and networks nonetheless manage to communicate flawlessly with each other today. Crypto users should similarly be able to switch in a safe and simple manner between applications and blockchains. From a technical standpoint, cross-application calls remain challenging even within a single blockchain, not to mention the same operation between two applications on different networks.

Existing solutions to traditional bridging (wrapping assets) are so-called “message passing” protocols that don’t move assets but enable calls between blockchains instead. Others are blockchain operating systems that use “state proofs” and reference them on other chains.

Related: PBW 2023 explores the current state of the blockchain space

If this technical debate feels a bit overwhelming, the key takeaway is that many bright minds are seeking core technical solutions for interoperability. However, nailing it down in a decentralized way might take them a few more years.

This year’s Paris Blockchain Week presented curated content, carefully balanced between commercial talks, panels on deep tech and narrow topics, and entertaining keynotes — imagine Tim Draper singing a Bitcoin song on stage. (Yes, that happened.) Careful optimism prevailed; builders build and keep going!

Sophia Schteiner is the founder of Schteiner PR, which focuses on luxury brands in art, French craftsmanship, design and interiors. She previously worked for an international communications agency with a focus on blockchain startups. She holds a degree in journalism and began her career as an art critic covering the film industry and urban architecture.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

‘No shortage of passion in the Parisian people’ for PBW amid protests — Animoca Brands CEO

As it hosts Paris Blockchain Week, France’s capital city has seen protests following the government pushing through a bill raising the national retirement age from 62 to 64.

Robby Yung, CEO of metaverse ecosystem developer Animoca Brands, seemed to suggest that, despite the recent attempts to debank crypto and protests on the streets of Paris, confidence in the space was undeterred.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on March 22 at Paris Blockchain Week, Yung said the local government had provided a “warm embrace” for crypto and blockchain enthusiasts amid many overflowing trash bins, protests and burned-out vehicles. France’s capital city has seen massive protests since the government pushed through a bill without a vote in the legislature that would raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64 years old.

“I see no shortage of passion in the Parisian people,” said Yung in reference to both Web3 and the protests.

The Animoca Brands CEO added that there were similarities between the 2008 financial crisis and the recent failures of crypto-friendly institutions, including Silicon Valley Bank and Signature:

“All of that stuff happening out there is why we’re here to begin with […] The reason that we decided that decentralization was a better way to do things was precisely because of our concern as to what might happen in the financial sector, which continues to be borne out.”

Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung speaking to Cointelegraph’s Joe Hall at Paris Blockchain Week.

Some of the speakers at the Paris event have highlighted some regulators’ attempts to debank the services of crypto firms and address the 2022 market crash. In addition, brands with name recognition, including Gucci, were represented at the conference in what Yung called a positive sign for adoption.

“As the Web3 community, we need to embrace everybody, and to have these big multinational corporations, these major household name brands involved, is a fantastic seal of approval that we’re on to something here,” said the Animoca Brands CEO. “Brands themselves have power: They resonate with consumers, whether it’s gaming brands or handbag and luxury watch brands.”

Related: Paris Blockchain Week 2023: First day of the Summit kicks off

Paris Blockchain Week will be running from March 20 to 24 and feature a variety of speakers from the Web3 and crypto and blockchain space. Cointelegraph team members and staff will be reporting live on the ground to bring readers the latest developments at the event.

Magazine: Best and worst countries for crypto taxes — Plus crypto tax tips

Web2 giants coming into Web3 could benefit ecosystem — PBW founder

Paris Blockchain Week founder Michael Amar believes large Web2 companies entering the Web3 space bring resources capable of increasing mass adoption.

Paris Blockchain Week (PBW), an annual gathering of professionals within the blockchain industry, has kicked off its fourth edition, with industry leaders and entrepreneurs from across the world gathering to discuss the latest trends and developments impacting the digital asset space.

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Michael Amar, the founder and chairman of Paris Blockchain Week, shared that the original vision for the conference was to put Europe on the map, as it was previously “nowhere on the map for blockchain.”

Cointelegraph’s Joe Hall with Michael Amar.

Founded in 2019, PBW was created with the vision of bringing together professionals within the industry to advance blockchain awareness and adoption. According to Amar, the aim of the conference was to progress the industry as a whole, addressing topics like regulation and deep technology.

Fast forward to 2023, the topics have expanded to include Web3, nonfungible tokens, the metaverse, and decentralized autonomous organizations. Amar said that the growth of Web3 is beneficial for the blockchain industry, as it can promote wider adoption of digital assets, potentially opening the door to other industries. He told Cointelegraph: 

“Now that we’re opening up to brands, we’re talking IP, we’re talking innovation, we’re talking marketing. It opens up to luxury brands, to fashion brands, to art, to real estate, to so many industries. So, I think this Web3 movement is very good because it creates mass adoption for crypto and blockchain at the end of the day.”

Speaking on how the participation of tech giants impacts the ecosystem, Amar shared: 

“The Web2 players and tech giants are coming, so we’re very happy to have Google or Amazon or SAP part of the event. And actually, they’re bringing their resources and their projects to the space to make Web3 happen for the masses.” 

Amar addressed concerns about whether the entrance of Web2 companies, as well as retail and consumer brands, undermines Web3’s mission of decentralization. He believes that while the centralized power of these companies is a concern, their resources, tools, platforms and investments can be used to drive change and bring about more governance within Web3 systems. Although these companies may never be fully decentralized, Amar suggested that having something meaningful to decentralize is a step in the right direction.

Related: Paris Blockchain Week 2023: Latest updates by Cointelegraph

Paris Blockchain Week hosts over 10,000 attendees and sold out last year. Alongside the main event, it has a dedicated day for investors, a competition for startups, a hackathon and additional side events. The 2022 summit drew approximately 3,000 attendees and included talks with top personalities in the field, including Binance’s Changpeng Zhao and Tether’s Paolo Ardoino.

Meet the person who offered comfy beds for ‘scrappy’ hackers during ETHDenver

Jessy, the name behind Jessy’s Hacker House, helped organize four rental houses in Denver for “genuine scrappy” individuals looking for networking opportunities and more.

Thousands of developers, hackers, and crypto and blockchain enthusiasts descended upon Denver, Colorado in the United States for the ETHDenver conference from Feb. 24 to March 5.

With accommodation a limited resource in the Colorado capital city, many opted to seek refuge from the crowds and tight quarters at “hacker houses” — where sleep is optional and networking is the goal. 

Jessy, the name behind one such house — Jessy’s Hacker House — organized four “hacker houses” that hosted 50 participants from the ETHDenver conference and BUIDLWeek — a series of workshops and events as well as a BUIDLathon allowing teams to compete for prizes and investments.

Meeting with Cointelegraph at one of their houses on Feb. 28, Jessy and co-organizer Waylon Jepsen kept busy setting up posters and checking up on the guests’ comfort.

According to the hacker-house host, she had been working at a venture capital firm in 2022 during the last ETHDenver conference when a number of people based abroad posted on social media they were looking for a place to stay in the Colorado capital city. Like many in attendance at the 2022 event, Jessy and her house guests tested positive for COVID-19 but were still able to network and develop projects.

“The motivation previously was like ‘hey, these are cool people — let’s just host them and get to know them,’” said Jessy. “For the longest time, it was a vehicle for me to find my own co-founder and discover what ideas I wanted to join.”

Jessy at one of the hacker houses at ETHDenver 2023

“The magic happens when you carry the most relevant people […] We carry a diverse group of people. We have people who are very crypto native, we have people who are from academia who are doing cryptography and specific research […] You have people who are like 19, 18-year-olds — who are freshmen — who are just starting their career.”

The four “hacker houses” scattered around the Denver Metropolitan Area were home to more than 50 people as well as a few visitors during the week of the conference. Roughly 300 technical-minded individuals applied for a place to sleep and networking opportunities at the houses, which were funded by sponsors in the blockchain space and overseen by Jessy and Waylon.

A hacker house guest working away

Though Jessy said that there were some financial incentives to participating in the hacker houses — e.g., connecting with VCs and potential co-founders — guests could also personally benefit from the experience. 

“You’re here to make long-term friends,” said Jessy. “I think the one model that we really have is play long-term games with long-term people. Part of the interview process is that we select people who we think fit the vibe, are genuine — genuine scrappy in the space.”

View of the Rocky Mountains from the roof of the hacker house

Related: Fake Ethereum Denver website linked to notorious phishing wallet

ETHDenver concluded on March 5, but other large conferences related to crypto and wallet in the immediate future include Paris Blockchain Week and Consensus in Austin, Texas. Though ETHDenver had not released official numbers on attendance at the time of publication, more than 30,000 people reportedly registered for the conference.

Technical discussions take center stage at Advancing Bitcoin conference in London

Here’s a look back on the highly technical conference in London, where ordinals, silent payments and the Lightning Network were studied and discussed.

Bitcoin bear market builders convened in London for the Bitcoin-only conference Advancing Bitcoin, which ran from March 2–3.

Common Bitcoin (BTC) conference vernacular like “macro,” “shitcoin” and “debt spiral” was absent from the debate, replaced by computer science terms like “OP_return,” “nonce” and “ordinals” dominating the discussion. The two-day developer conference was technical and thoughtful — a space to get one’s hands dirty writing code.

Fedi’s Leon Johnson organized and kicked off the conference. Source: Michaelayophotography79 

Leon Johnson, a conference organizer and the head of operations at Bitcoin company Fedi, told Cointelegraph that the conference is entering its fourth year and the profile of attendees has slowly evolved:

“In 2019, we had a lot of what I would call hobbyists, enthusiasts, tinkerers. And those same people have now kind of progressed to work for Bitcoin companies.”

True to its name, the conference has advanced Bitcoin hobbyists to Bitcoin companies. Gaming company Zebedee, for example, spun up from interactions at Advancing Bitcoin, Johnson explained.

Alex Leishman, CEO of River — a U.S.-based Bitcoin accumulation and Lightning Network company — told Cointelegraph that the event is a high-quality arena for builders:

“It’s nice to be in workshops and presentations that really dig into the weeds and the inner workings of the innovations happening in the space — whether it’s ordinals, Lightning Network, protocol upgrades — and what those then mean for user experience and for improving the actual products we’re all trying to build.”

True to form, developers and computer scientists pitter-pattered on their keyboards throughout the conference. Attendees as young as 10 constructed hardware wallets from scratch, spun up code, and interrogated the blockchain and Bitcoin mempool. An entire day was dedicated solely to workshops.

Cointelegraph’s Joe Hall was conference compère. Source: Michaelayophotography79

Echoing comments made by other developers and computer scientists, Johnson highlighted that progress is good, but the layer-2 Lightning Network is still in its infancy, and Bitcoin is just a teenager at almost 15 years of existence. So, what does Bitcoin need to mature?

“Bitcoin needs people. We need more than speculators. We need people that care about applications.”

Eric Sirion, co-founder of Fedi and maintainer of the Fedimint protocol, joined in: “Don’t gamble — it’s a bear market, and bear markets are for building.” It’s time to “get out there and inspire people,” he suggested.

Related: UK is ‘likely’ to need digital currency, says BoE and Treasury: Report

Uncle Rockstar (not his real name), the brains behind some of Bitcoin company Strike’s inner workings concluded the first day of talks. Rather than delve deeper into technical specifications, as other talks did, Rockstar chose to chide, reassure and motivate developers, particularly those working on free, open-source software.

Uncle Rockstar (who chooses to hide his features) gives a talk. Source: Alex Waltz

Bear markets can burn out the best of us, he explained during his talk. “It’s OK to take a break and pick up a fiat job before returning to building.” Leishman agreed:

“I think Bitcoin is going to become the money of the world and is going to completely change everything. We can speed that up if we’re smart about how we approach it.”

With Bitcoin’s price continuing to wallow in the low $20,000s, the bear market continues to grind on. Advancing Bitcoin recently announced its intention to travel to Málaga, Spain with the concept in autumn. The Spain edition will focus on businesses and institutions and have less of a developer focus.

High sentiment in FTX’s shadow: event recap for Texas Blockchain Summit

Though the mood among many who showed up in Austin was bullish, most commented on the collapse of FTX and the drop in the price of Bitcoin.

Apparently, not everything is bigger in Texas. At least not in the days following a major crypto exchange declaring bankruptcy.

The collapse of FTX and the ripples former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried made in the crypto space were on many people’s lips at the Texas Blockchain Summit held from Nov. 17-18 in the state capital of Austin. Unlike at the Texas Blockchain Council’s inaugural conference in October 2021 held over just one day, there were many open seats at the 2022 event, which featured speakers on energy, crypto mining, regulation, and innovations in the space.

“Two years ago, this audience was packed,” said Chad Harris, chief commercial officer of crypto miner Riot Blockchain, at the summit — perhaps mistaking the year of the last event. “Today, this is an audience full of passionate people that believe that they can actually facilitate what they tell the public […] Every single time one of us fails in a disastrous way, it affects every one of us in this room.”

Photo by author

United States lawmakers and regulators including Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Commodity Futures Trading Commission commissioner Summer Mersinger were in attendance, as were household names in the crypto space like podcast host Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. The October 2021 summit had three U.S. senators speak, including pro-crypto lawmaker Cynthia Lummis.

“Texas is a free state, and it’s attracted a lot of businesses […] I think we’re seeing the results of that,” Chamber of Digital Commerce founder Perianne Boring said to Cointelegraph at the summit.

Kelsey Pristach, a senior policy adviser to Lummis, attended the 2022 summit to speak on a digital assets policy panel. However, some speakers scheduled to appear on panels on Nov. 17 were not in attendance for reasons unknown. Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, announced as a confirmed speaker for the summit in May, did not appear on the final agenda. 

Although there were telltale signs of native Texans in the audience — a few cowboy hats and cheering whoop’s at bullish remarks — many attendees were dressed modestly in jackets, blazers, and slacks. Few sported attire like Bankman-Fried’s and other stereotypical “crypto bro” shorts and hoodies.

“This industry needs to change, and it needs to change rapidly,” said Harris. “I think what’s going on today is a clearer sign and message that this industry… it’s time for us to mature.”

He commented on the crypto market at one of its peaks:

“Bitcoin was sixty plus thousand dollars, and everyone was driving lambos and flying planes and hanging on their yachts. And let me tell you something: it’s a much different world […] that type of bad behavior creates a bad environment for the people that are doing it right.”

Cointelegraph’s Rachel Wolfson moderating a panel on ‘Bitcoin for Good’ at the Texas Blockchain Summit. Photo by author.

“It was interesting to hear insights from speakers about how the FTX fallout will shape the industry moving forward,” said Cointelegraph’s Rachel Wolfson. “While the event wasn’t as heavily attended as last year, there were a number of high level speakers that had valuable insights to share regarding the FTX fallout and how Texas will continue to advance the industry forward with strong support for Bitcoin mining and blockchain innovation.”

While Bitcoin (BTC), energy, and mining were largely the theme on Nov. 17, the last day focused on regulation and policy, with many speakers suggesting the fall of FTX could trigger a disproportionate response from lawmakers. Yang referred to a potential “appetite for regulation” among policymakers in the United States, while CFTC commissioner Mersinger suggested that the government may be “past the education stage” in crypto education and was moving towards action.

Related: Event recap Austin’s SXSW 2022: NFTs everywhere

Many in the crypto space said that they see Texas as a regulatory-friendly environment for mining firms as well as blockchain-based projects, as Governor Greg Abbott has publicly said he was a “crypto law proposal supporter.” The Texas Blockchain Council reported roughly 1,000 people attended the 2021 summit, while a report from the Texas Tribune suggested there were “hundreds of investors, legislators, professionals and enthusiasts” at the 2022 event.

High sentiment in FTX’s shadow: Event recap for Texas Blockchain Summit

Though the mood among many who showed up in Austin was bullish, most commented on the collapse of FTX and the drop in the price of Bitcoin.

Apparently, not everything is bigger in Texas. At least not in the days following a major crypto exchange declaring bankruptcy.

The collapse of FTX and the ripples former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried made in the crypto space were on many people’s lips at the Texas Blockchain Summit, held from Nov. 17-18 in the state capital of Austin. Unlike the Texas Blockchain Council’s inaugural conference in October 2021, held over just one day, there were many open seats at the 2022 event, which featured speakers on energy, crypto mining, regulation and innovations in the space.

“Two years ago, this audience was packed,” said Chad Harris, chief commercial officer of crypto miner Riot Blockchain, at the summit — perhaps mistaking the year of the last event. “Today, this is an audience full of passionate people that believe that they can actually facilitate what they tell the public […] Every single time one of us fails in a disastrous way, it affects every one of us in this room.”

Photo by author

United States lawmakers and regulators including Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Commissioner Summer Mersinger were in attendance, as were household names in the crypto space like podcast host Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. The October 2021 summit had three U.S. senators speak, including pro-crypto lawmaker Cynthia Lummis.

“Texas is a free state, and it’s attracted a lot of businesses […] I think we’re seeing the results of that,” Chamber of Digital Commerce founder Perianne Boring said to Cointelegraph at the summit.

Kelsey Pristach, a senior policy adviser to Lummis, attended the 2022 summit to speak on a digital assets policy panel. However, some speakers scheduled to appear on panels on Nov. 17 were not in attendance for reasons unknown. Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer announced as a confirmed speaker for the summit in May, but did not appear on the final agenda. 

Although there were telltale signs of native Texans in the audience — a few cowboy hats and cheering whoops at bullish remarks — many attendees were dressed modestly in jackets, blazers and slacks. Few sported attire like Bankman-Fried’s and other stereotypical “crypto bro” shorts and hoodies.

“This industry needs to change, and it needs to change rapidly,” said Harris. “I think what’s going on today is a clearer sign and message that this industry… it’s time for us to mature.”

He commented on the crypto market at one of its peaks:

“Bitcoin was sixty plus thousand dollars, and everyone was driving lambos and flying planes and hanging on their yachts. And let me tell you something: it’s a much different world […] that type of bad behavior creates a bad environment for the people that are doing it right.”

Cointelegraph’s Rachel Wolfson moderating a panel on ‘Bitcoin for Good’ at the Texas Blockchain Summit. Photo by author.

“It was interesting to hear insights from speakers about how the FTX fallout will shape the industry moving forward,” said Cointelegraph’s Rachel Wolfson. “While the event wasn’t as heavily attended as last year, there were a number of high level speakers that had valuable insights to share regarding the FTX fallout and how Texas will continue to advance the industry forward with strong support for Bitcoin mining and blockchain innovation.”

While Bitcoin (BTC), energy, and mining were largely the theme on Nov. 17, the last day focused on regulation and policy, with many speakers suggesting the fall of FTX could trigger a disproportionate response from lawmakers. Yang referred to a potential “appetite for regulation” among policymakers in the United States, while CFTC commissioner Mersinger suggested that the government may be “past the education stage” in crypto education and was moving toward action.

Related: Event recap Austin’s SXSW 2022: NFTs everywhere

Many in the crypto space said that they see Texas as a regulatory-friendly environment for mining firms as well as blockchain-based projects, as Governor Greg Abbott has publicly said he was a “crypto law proposal supporter.” The Texas Blockchain Council reported roughly 1,000 people attended the 2021 summit, while a report from the Texas Tribune suggested there were “hundreds of investors, legislators, professionals and enthusiasts” at the 2022 event.

Solana unveils Google partnership, smartphones, Web3 store at Breakpoint

Solana Breakpoint, a four-day conference scheduled from Nov. 4 to Nov. 7, attracted 13,000 people in just one of the four venues it’s being held simultaneously.

During the ecosystem’s annual gathering at Breakpoint 2022 in Lisbon, Solana made a series of launch announcements as it prepares to go mainstream. Cointelegraph’s ground team — present during the conference — shared insights into Solana’s roadmap, which includes the launching of smartphones, decentralized application (DApp) stores and a partnership with Google Cloud, among others.

Solana Breakpoint, a four-day conference scheduled from Nov. 4 to Nov. 7, attracted 13,000 people in just one of the four venues it’s being held simultaneously.

QR Code giveaways and GeoNFTs for Solana Store

Fortunately for Cointelegraph’s ground team, the venue featured Solana co-founder Raj Gokal and Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko.

Soon after, Vibhu Norby, the CEO and founder of Solana Spaces, took the stage to deliver an interactive presentation while asking attendees to scan QR codes to participate in a giveaway.

Norby further unveiled the Solana Store in Miami, showcasing a walkaround video of people checking out the store, as shown above. In addition, the CEO revealed that:

“Now anyone, anywhere can build their own Solana Store.”

While explaining the process of building a Solana store, Norby announced the launch of GeoNFTs — a nonfungible token (NFT) implementation — that allows users to geo-tag an area in their city. He further explained:

“If you have a GeoNFT, you can redeem it 1-for-1 with the exclusive rights to open a Solana store in that region.”

With GeoNFTs, Solana aims to empower solo entrepreneurs that wish to get into business.

Solana smartphones available for pre-order in early 2023

“It’s made for the people,” said the Solana mobile team while announcing the launch of its upcoming smartphones. Cointelegraph found that the preorders for Solana mobile phones will commence in 2023. However, the company hs yet to declare an official date for its availability.

A differentiating feature of the Solana phone lies in its ability to securely store the private keys of crypto wallets. The Solana smartphone will be powered by a Qualcomm chipset sporting an Arm-based SoC, allowing for higher productivity.

Cointelegraph’s ground team managed to bring in a sneak peak of the soon-to-be-launched Solana smartphone.

Solana dApp store: A promise of crypto-friendly policies

Gearing up for the Web3 disruption, Solana announced the launch of the Solana App Store. During the conference, a Solana spokesperson highlighted the need for a good user experience in Web3.

Supporting the cause, Solana’s DApp store promises to do away with charges, revenues and fees. Moreover, the company confirmed with the interested participants that submissions would open January 2023.

Google Cloud is soon to become a Solana node validator

While the above announcements mark a series of milestones for Solana, the ecosystem’s partnership with Google Cloud evidently stole the limelight.

Based on the information collected by Cointelegraph’s ground team, Google Cloud is building a block-producing Solana validator to participate in and validate the network.

Google Cloud’s Blockchain Node Engine, which was first announced on Oct. 27, will feature on the Solana chain from 2023. The integration will allow users to launch a dedicated Solana node in the Cloud.

Additionally, Google Cloud will index Solana data and bring it to BigQuery — a fully-managed, serverless data warehouse — by next year, making it easier for the Solana developers to access historical data.

Related: Solana-based protocol seeking to decentralize ride-sharing raises $9M

On Oct. 11, Solana (SOL) users were attacked by hackers via a fake Solana wallet security update.

Hackers were found airdropping NFTs to users masquerading as a new Phantom wallet security update. However, the fraudulent update was a malware designed to steal crypto assets.

Users falling for the fake Phantom update hack saw malware being downloaded from GitHub, which attempts to steal browser information, history, cookies, passwords, SSH keys and other user information.

Web Summit Lisbon, Nov. 4: Latest updates from Cointelegraph’s ground team

It’s the final day of Web Summit 2022, and the Cointelegraph team on the ground is all set to bring you some of the best insights, personal interviews and more.

Welcome back to day three of the Web Summit, one of the world’s leading tech conferences with over 71,000 attendees on the third day. Stationed in Lisbon, Portugal, Cointelegraph’s ground team is ready to bring the most exclusive insights on Web3, crypto and blockchain from the event.

The first two days of the summit saw some of the leading Web3 founders share their views on the future of finance, metaverse and gaming. WAX CEO William Quigley told Cointelegraph that traditional firms likely won’t be leading the charge in the next generation of Web3 games. Sandbox co-founder said that the future of the metaverse is in a state of evolution, with both brands and users as important catalysts of growth.

Yuga Labs CEO said that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) could bring a new form of digital ownership to the masses in Web3. Meanwhile, the Chainalysis CEO shared his views on the increasing crypto hacks and how to mitigate them. Read more such exclusive insights from day two of our live coverage.

The Cointelegraph team is back on the ground to bring you some of the latest and exclusive insights from the event.

Disclaimer: Don’t forget to check this article regularly to be notified about the most recent announcements from the event. All timestamps are in the UTC time zone, and updates are in reverse order (the latest update is placed at the top).

17:00- Looks like that’s a wrap for Web Summit. See y’all next year!

14:00- Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief, Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr, hosts round table discussion on how to pitch startups and projects for coverage to top-tier journalists.

13:00- Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief, Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr, sat down with Richard Werner, professor of banking and finance at the University of Oxford, to discuss the vulnerabilities of central banking and whether a decentralized financial system is a possibility. Werner laid out issues with the centralized systems and the high possibility of their failure rates and explained:

“A decentralized financial system is a possibility, but only if we create many local community banks. If we have many community banks, that’s a decentralized financial system that will cater to the needs of local businesses.”

12:00: Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief, Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr, sat down with Seven Seven Six founding partner Katelin Holloway and Doodles CEO Julian Holguin to discuss what’s next for the NFT space. Talking about the mainstream adoption of Web3 and the importance of visuals, Holguin said that visuals would help consumers overcome technical barriers, thus the focus should be onboarding users through whatever medium attracts them be it visual or audio.

Cointelegraph EIC Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr along with Seven Seven Six founding partner Katelin Holloway and Doodles CEO Julian Holguin, photo by Jose Val Bal

“NBA top shot is probably the biggest on-boarder of new consumers to the NFT space, thanks to the power of visuals, so yeah I do think in the short term, visuals play a key role in on-boarding,” said Holguin  

11:30 am: Prominent crypto investor Tim Draper was next on stage to discuss the market conditions and the funding aspects of it and said that bear markets don’t worry him, rather it’s the bull market that makes him more nervous. His advice to startups and projects: Raise as much money during the bull market as you can and don’t spend it. He added that companies should focus on using funds wisely during the bear market to stay ahead.

Venture capitalist and crypto investor Tim Draper

11:00 am: The next on stage is sir Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, along with the co-founder of his Web3 firm Inrupt, John Bruce, discussing the societal and economic impact of Web3. Lee said that the focus should be on efficiency rather than branding like Web3.

World wide web inventor Tim Lee 

10:30 am: The first-panel discussion on the main stage revolved around the future of crypto with the likes of Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, actor Ben McKenzie and journalist at Slate and Web3 creator Molly White. 

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, actor and journalist Ben McKenzie discussing Bitcoin

McKenzie started the discussion by bashing crypto and calling El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption a failure since he didn’t see many people using it. Hoskinson was quick to counter the “bizarre” notion and said that cryptocurrencies are reimagining the financial system. On the question about El Salvador, Hoskinson was quick to remind him that Bitcoin (BTC) is a digital commodity and El Salvador is using it as a bi-monetary system the same way the United States doesn’t use gold directly for transactions.

9:30 am: Unlike yesterday’s gloomy and rainy weather, today, Lisbon is as sunny as it gets. The Cointelegraph team is ready for the action on day three, but first, breakfast and some coffee!


Next Bitcoin bull run to be half story, half utility: Mike Novogratz at Token2049

The next Bitcoin rally will require fast and scalable systems, which the community is yet to build, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz.

The next Bitcoin (BTC) bull run will have to be much different from historical cryptocurrency rallies in terms of story and utility, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz believes.

Compared to previous bull runs, the next Bitcoin rally will have to be more focused on utility and less on the story, Novogratz predicted at a panel at the Token2049 crypto event on Wednesday.

One of the biggest historical rallies, the Bitcoin bull run of 2017, was mostly about the story, the CEO said, referring to the cryptocurrency’s run from about $1,000 to $20,000 within one year.

According to Novogratz, the 2017 bull run was mostly about the story of people not trusting the government and wanting more privacy and decentralization. “It was a Gen Z millennial revolution. And it was global. That’s a powerful story,” the CEO noted.

Another big rally, with Bitcoin hitting all-time highs above $69,000 in November 2021, was “really generated” by the COVID-19 pandemic, Novogratz said. He suggested that the price action in 2020 and 2021 was “probably 80% of the story and 20% of utility,” referring to the growing utility use case of digitalization amid the pandemic.

Mike Novogratz and Bloomberg’s Haslinda Amin at Token2049. Source: Cointelegraph

“It’s theory and all the other level ones started really accelerating the work to build a shared blockchain that we could build companies on top of,” Novogratz stated.

In contrast to the mentioned cryptocurrency bull runs, the next Bitcoin rally will have to be “50% story, 50% utility,” Novogratz predicted, stating:

“I see it’s people building applications, people building systems that are fast and scalable and that are user friendly. We don’t have them yet. That’s why we’re where we are. But in the next few years, they’re coming.”

During the panel, Novogratz also revved up the audience with his bullish prediction of the “inevitability” that crypto will succeed.

“The word inevitable keeps coming up. There’s a sense of inevitability that we’re in the right space, inevitable that Bitcoin will have its day,” Novogratz stated. He also expressed confidence that Web3 and nonfungible tokens will be a big part of the gaming space in the future.

Related: Bitcoin analyst who called 2018 bottom warns ‘bad winter’ may see $10K BTC

Additionally, the CEO noted that despite the ongoing cryptocurrency winter, Bitcoin has still performed better than a basket of various fiat currencies this year. “If you look at Bitcoin versus a basket of currencies, it’s done about 20% better than versus the dollar,” Novogratz noted.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Novogratz has made some successful predictions about Bitcoin. Back in 2020, Novogratz predicted that Bitcoin would end the year above $20,000, which turned out to be an understatement, with Bitcoin nearing the $30,000 price mark by the end of 2020.

Additional reporting by Andrew Fenton.