The inaugural Block Seoul 2018 kicked off in South Korea last September 16, delivering discussions mostly centering on Korea’s crypto industry as well as blockchain technology and its footprints in certain industries, couple with a few dialogues about cryptocurrencies.
The event attracted attendees from blockchain-focused companies, investors and a lot of peers from media coming from all over the world. Sponsored by blockchain-optimized dating app Luna, the event was poised as a summit to connect investors and innovators into creating impactful projects within the blockchain space and discuss how the technology can disrupt and accelerate traditional industries.
The four-day summit opened with a party welcoming delegates with beats and music by DJ Dguru, one of South Korea’s most influential DJs. This night also served as an avenue for networking and establish businesses among attendees. All of these—networking and parties—continued all throughout the days of the summit.
The opening night was followed by a three-day conference at the picturesque Some Sevit Island Complex where keynote speeches and panel discussions from influencers were heard and seen.
The conference days may have been slower than expected compared to other Seoul-based blockchain events, gathering only less than a hundred people on the floor but it did capture some insightful thoughts, anecdotes, learning and tips from the thought leaders themselves.
Leading the array of speakers were Wikipedia co-founder James Wales, former New York Governor David Paterson, former United States Director of Intelligence James Clapper, and BTCC co-founder Bobby Lee.
The event’s highlight was the high-caliber panel discussion of representatives from the government and technology enterprises moderated by Lee. In spite of the session topic focusing on the future of cybersecurity, Lee was able to stir the discussion not just around blockchain alone but also cryptocurrencies.
The one key takeaway among all the sessions and presentations at the Block Seoul 2018 is that segments of the public—from government to media, tech and blockchain communities—have a vital role in understanding the emerging technologies in a pace where all will be able to keep up with the enduring changes, and actually do something to support and improve them.
For tech and blockchain communities, understanding what the technology means for the people in their daily lives; for the media, delving deeper into these new tools and not only its surface to be able to construct the right messages the general public has to know; and for the government, enabling support on these new inventions, and efficiently creating regulations which will ensure protection and safety of public while taking into account the potentials for growth and benefits of these technologies to the nation and its people.
Watch the Block Seoul 2018 panels here: Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Block Seoul 2018: More blockchain-centered discussions, less crypto talks appeared first on Coingeek.
It was only in 2017 when the people around the globe began to really take notice of cryptocurrency and its underlying technology, blockchain, after BTC’s price hit an all-time high of close to $20,000. That same year, we’ve seen prominent figures in the space like Roger Ver being interviewed left and right by the mainstream media about the hard fork in August 2017, resulting in the emergence of Bitcoin Cash.
Today, we have yet to hear more about the developments and growth within the blockchain and cryptocurrencies in the traditional media unless it’s about the volatility of the crypto prices. On the third day of Block Seoul conference, a panel of media and PR practitioners discussed the role of mass media and marketing to spread the message about the blockchain industry.
Bitnewstoday’s Alina Belkovskaya stated that traditional media seem to not have criteria on how to estimate what is important in the space. “They (mass media) just really don’t understand what they are talking about when they are talking about blockchain, cryptocurrencies and so on,” she said. Belkovskaya observed that they don’t know what influences the market. Lauren Bisell of Immutable Industries added, “I think the way that blockchain has been portrayed in the media is it’s kind of renegade, it’s kind of like a little bit on the fringe.”
“I think it’s really important for us to address what the pitfalls have been in PR and marketing for our industry, why adoption is not happening faster,” said moderator Brittany Kaiser of Bueno Capital. She said that education should be part of the industry’s communication strategy.
“Education is very important for this industry. An education in the form of a mission,” said Henry Liu, former Facebook performance marketer and now with Yeoman Capital. Liu added, “I think for all the other people that are not in this room that want to understand what we’re doing we need to tell them about why we’re doing this.”
Decentrix Media co-founder Marc Scrapa explained the role of mass media in this education process. “Utilizing mass media is something that’s inherently important to spread the message of what we’re doing,” he shared. Day One Ventures’ Masha Drokova suggested for the industry to tell more truthful stories. She added, “I think we need to do much better work simplifying everything we tell about blockchain so mass audience will understand the benefits for them.”
For Belkovskaya, it’s not about the simplicity of the message being sent by the movers of the industry. She claims that the industry marketers and PR executives send the same suggestions, tell the media the similar thing—that they will all change the world. “It’s about being different. Nothing is new. Nothing is news-worthy. Why should I write about you?” she asked.
What’s clear, however, is that blockchain is no longer a niche industry. According to Kaiser, “We should be working with the traditional industries that we are trying to disrupt. We’re not going to replace traditional industries were going to provide them with the technological solution to improve what they’re already doing. So I think that’s so important to really delve deeper into.”
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Block Seoul Day 3: How marketing, media slow down crypto mass adoption appeared first on Coingeek.
It was only in 2017 when the people around the globe began to really take notice of cryptocurrency and its underlying technology, blockchain, after BTC’s price hit an all-time high of close to $20,000. That same year, we’ve seen prominent figures in the space like Roger Ver being interviewed left and right by the mainstream media about the hard fork in August 2017, resulting in the emergence of Bitcoin Cash.
Today, we have yet to hear more about the developments and growth within the blockchain and cryptocurrencies in the traditional media unless it’s about the volatility of the crypto prices. On the third day of Block Seoul conference, a panel of media and PR practitioners discussed the role of mass media and marketing to spread the message about the blockchain industry.
Bitnewstoday’s Alina Belkovskaya stated that traditional media seem to not have criteria on how to estimate what is important in the space. “They (mass media) just really don’t understand what they are talking about when they are talking about blockchain, cryptocurrencies and so on,” she said. Belkovskaya observed that they don’t know what influences the market. Lauren Bisell of Immutable Industries added, “I think the way that blockchain has been portrayed in the media is it’s kind of renegade, it’s kind of like a little bit on the fringe.”
“I think it’s really important for us to address what the pitfalls have been in PR and marketing for our industry, why adoption is not happening faster,” said moderator Brittany Kaiser of Bueno Capital. She said that education should be part of the industry’s communication strategy.
“Education is very important for this industry. An education in the form of a mission,” said Henry Liu, former Facebook performance marketer and now with Yeoman Capital. Liu added, “I think for all the other people that are not in this room that want to understand what we’re doing we need to tell them about why we’re doing this.”
Decentrix Media co-founder Marc Scrapa explained the role of mass media in this education process. “Utilizing mass media is something that’s inherently important to spread the message of what we’re doing,” he shared. Day One Ventures’ Masha Drokova suggested for the industry to tell more truthful stories. She added, “I think we need to do much better work simplifying everything we tell about blockchain so mass audience will understand the benefits for them.”
For Belkovskaya, it’s not about the simplicity of the message being sent by the movers of the industry. She claims that the industry marketers and PR executives send the same suggestions, tell the media the similar thing—that they will all change the world. “It’s about being different. Nothing is new. Nothing is news-worthy. Why should I write about you?” she asked.
What’s clear, however, is that blockchain is no longer a niche industry. According to Kaiser, “We should be working with the traditional industries that we are trying to disrupt. We’re not going to replace traditional industries were going to provide them with the technological solution to improve what they’re already doing. So I think that’s so important to really delve deeper into.”
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
The post Block Seoul Day 3: How marketing, media slow down crypto mass adoption appeared first on Coingeek.
