Insights & Learnings from C3 Crypto Conference

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Regulations & Use Cases, Berlin Locals

Having a Crypto and Blockchain conference in Berlin means that there needs to be a focus not only on the European space but also on what is happening currently in Germany. The first panel discussion of day one, C3 Crypto Conference featured: Vikram Nagrani, Mykola Demchuk, Benjamin Kirschbaum, Nick Wittek and Bj?rn Arzt. The priority of their debate was dedicated entirely to International Regulation with a focus on Germany. This is a critical topic for not only many of the panelists and speakers, but also audience members working in crypto. The majority of these speakers and panelists have undoubtedly had negative experiences where legislation and regulation have struggled to keep up, thus stifling innovation efforts.

A natural progression from regulation is the actual physical and digital infrastructure that needs to be in place. Patrick Flender, CEO of C-Novation gave an individual talk on Infrastructure, specifically hitting key points and questions within the space concerning the much-hyped ‘crypto ATM’, POS and other obstacles. In conclusion, without an infrastructure in place to make crypto payments easy for the general public, adoption on a grand scale is not likely to commence.

Regine Haschka-Halmer, Janna Zielinski, Dr. Viktor Winschel, and Sebastian Becker together spoke about their experiences with SMEs and Corporates on the blockchain, specifically IOTA Foundation. IOTA Foundation has a high level of know-how integrating digital ledger technology and connecting everything into their IOTA Ecosystem. There is an enormous possibility to garner cost savings for larger enterprises through blockchain technology; however, achieving adoption in traditional spaces is difficult when it comes to both trust and conforming to regulation standards.

Where Corporates and SMEs have the potential to see cost-saving benefits through blockchain is via payments. Scalable Blockchain payments for B2B and B2C sectors were discussed in depth by Meinhard Benn, Founder and CEO of SatoshiPay. Benn chatted with audience members on the low latency of blockchain networks and what it means to actually scale blockchain networks to make payments viable.

The second panel set out to discuss specific use cases from ‘Berlin Locals’ like Aeternity & Aternity Ventures. Luka Su?i?, Director of Partnerships and Investments, and Emin Mahrt, CPO of Aeternity & Aeternity Ventures, were joined by Meinhard Benn and Laurent-Frédéric Lohmann. The team explained Aeternity as the blockchain infrastructure of the future. Aeternity & Aeternity Venture also facilitates promising projects in the field.

Whenever DLT use cases are debated, it is often that a conversation on data follows suit. Data can be viewed as the fuel which will drive the economy into the future. Bruce Pon, the Founder of Ocean Protocol, believes that “by 2030, we will have a data economy worth 20-30 trillion.” This is especially important for deciding who has access to it and who can monetize it. Many projects have focused on "decentralized orchestration” that “removes the power of the platform, and puts power into the hands of the owner."

Key Takeaways: Currently regulation is slowing technology down, but this can be changed through corporate and SME adoption. While a top-down or bottom-up strategy both at times seem plausible, the way to reach the top-down is through regulation.

Social Impact of Creativity & Blockchain

C3 Crypto Conference views the crypto space from the future. It is particularly important to focus on more than just money -even in crypto. This track was available free of charge to anyone who wanted to attend.

To kick off this inclusive track, Nuria Gimeno, Editor in Chief of CryptoTicker.io, chatted with Masha McConaghy, Rufus Lane and Peter Harris about the connections between Art, Music and Blockchain.

A Panel Discussion with Masha McConaghy, Doron Rozenberg, Adina Popescu and Silvan Jongerius, followed to navigate Social Impact and how it can use technology.

Key Takeaways: Tech can be used to affect massive change if placed into the hands of the correct innovators.

Technology, Media & the Ecosystem

Media has impacted the Ecosystem in very specific ways, from niche communities obsessed with Telegram, as well as issues with Facebook ads and mainstream adoption. Marcel Vogel, Content Manager at CryptoTicker.io, gave an in-depth look at the history of money during his individual talk on the Rise of Crypto Currencies & Understanding How Money Works.

Media and marketing practices played an interesting role during the crypto bubble. Marketing strategies during the bubble were often flimsy, if not scammy. Post-bubble, it is interesting to discover how to move forward from both the media and the marketing sides. In a way, companies need to learn how to regain lost trust from the entire community. Mar Camps Sallent, Online Marketing Consultant, Marcel Vogel, of Cryptoticker.io, and Jan Philip Hofste, of TV-TWO, openly debated the importance of honesty and authenticity moving forward.

Growth throughout the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem has lead to a small, if not strident, revolution in the world of finance. Holger Klein postulates that the emergence of hybrid PoW/PoS consensus mechanism, blockrewards and onchain/offchain governance are the areas into which those interested in self-funded, open-source projects should be looking.

Distributed Ledgers ready to take numerous industries and sectors by storm. Throughout the course of C3 Crypto Conference, everything from global supply chains to traditional banking systems has been examined. As important as it is to talk about disruption within current systems, Anna Lekanova, Arne Flick, Jeff Gallas and Riccardo Lamanna looked towards the future of DLT as the Driver of Innovation.

Nikita Fuchs included a bit of flair into his individual talk. He walked on stage with a large winter coat to symbolize the ‘Crypto Winter;’ however, his talk focused on what he believes to be the holy grail of blockchain mass adoption, which is the near endless transaction scalability.

One of the most exciting applications of blockchain technology is the possibility of setting up a truly decentralized, autonomous organization. Despite initial progress, the community's trust of DAOs was shattered when a major project (aptly called 'The DAO') suffered a by-now infamous hack. Holger Klein, Decred Contributor, and Jan Heinrich Meyer, DEO & Founder of Dash Embassy, were joined by Riccardo Lamanna to discuss.

Key Takeaways: Currently, it is the time to rebuild trust and the only way to achieve this is through real results and authenticity. The industry is tarnished, but instead of viewing this as a negative, the community can rebuild itself properly.

Crypto Exchange, Trading & Taxing

The banking sector has been hesitant to engage in the space publicly; under wraps, however, this is not so much the case. Uldis Teraudkalns, CEO of Globitex, confirmed banks’ suspicion, as well as weighed in on how banks can benefit, including which ones are researching.

Crypto trading is often under major speculation. Miko Matsumura, Co-Founder of Evercoin, and Dennis Austinat, Head of Germany, Austria and Switzerland for eToro, were joined by Giuseppe Guiliani, Riccardo Lamanna and Dennis Weidner.

Werner Hoffmann, Founder of Heytax, brought up an often grey area in the crypto space: taxing. Specifically, Hoffmann believes that with a crypto-based tax collection system, many of the issues faced by the current system could be eliminated for both taxpayers and tax collectors alike.

Following Hoffman’s individual talk, he was joined by Tax Lawyer Dr. David H?tzel as well as Laurent-Frédéric Lohmann to further discuss taxation. The subject within the crypto space is two-fold. The first being taxing solutions with crypto and blockchain technology, and the second being how to file your crypto assets for individual or corporate taxation purposes.  

Day one was closed with a panel about ICOs. ICOs, as well as their death, seem to be a relic from the over-hyped crypto past. Can they still be viewed as viable ways of raising capital outside of the drama, scams and hype? David Lolaev, CEO of ICO Brothers, was joined by Radoslav Dragov, Business Developer for Amrosus, to discuss the answers to this question.

Key Takeaways: Coming out from exchanges and trading hype, there needs to be a discussion on the infrastructure – and less on fun subjects, like taxing.

Large Scale Adoption & Integration

"Corporates will only listen to you if you are cost-cutting. It is the basis of all the FinTech innovation at the moment." Dr. Mervyn Maistry, CEO & Founder of Konfidio talks about Enterprise Adoption. He brought up very interesting points on how to actually talk to corporates about the use of this tech. In the way in which corporates are organized, cutting costs on a quarterly basis and how to report back to stakeholders can become the most important line items. Maistry pulls from his experience, having worked with companies like Deutsche Bank, Vodafone, Unicef and others.

Next in a panel discussion on Enterprise and Corporate Adoption, Felipe Stark, CTO & Co-Founder of gust.network, as well as Dr. Ulli Spankowski, Managing Director at Boerse Stuttgart DigitalVentures. A major theme from this debate focused on issues that arise in terms of understanding technology. Many from the corporate sector do not truly understand the difference between crypto and blockchain."A cryptocurrency cannot survive without a blockchain; a blockchain can survive particularly well without a cryptocurrency." - Dr. Mervyn G. Maistry CEO & Founder of Konfidio

A strategy discussed throughout the panelists was to use language that corporates could better understand. For instance, avoid using the word crypto or explaining the use of blockchain technology without it.

Sven Laepple, CEO of Astratum, shared his thoughts on the Ecosystem in 2019. He holds the view that supply chains will become the driver for SME adoption. Laepple finds that SMEs can not harness the cost-saving possibilities through the use of blockchain technology unless the supply chains that power local commerce utilize distributed ledgers, leading to a lower cost of doing business.

From the different niche industries discussed over the two days of C3 Crypto Conference, an interesting adoption point was looking at Real Estate and the opportunities for adaptation. The global real estate market is full of untapped potential for investment. As confirmed by speakers Sven Laepple, Jedelsky Chloé, and Patrick Martin, the irregular legal landscape in numerous jurisdictions around the world hinders participation and limits global commerce. Nonetheless, the speakers agreed that blockchain technology could revolutionize property law and in the process democratize investment in this market segment.

"If you do an ICO, the way back to Venture Capital is blocked." - Timo Dreger

Moving away from niche sectors and back to general inquiries within the space, Timo Dreger led an insightful individual talk that pertained to raising funding and the choice to go with crypto or traditional avenues. Dreger wanted to first remind the audience that the reason that the increased awareness and adoption of cryptocurrencies in 2017 and 2018 was due to their ability to help startups self-finance in a way that was not achievable before. Dreger holds an unpopular belief that ICOs are still a very viable way of garnering financial support for a startup. However, he does not view this without caution when it comes to moving back to venture capital.

"We are not in an ice age, that’s bullshit. A whole bunch of people took profit, and some people forgot to." - Rossco Paddison

One of the most lively panel discussions of the conference – even garnering commentary from the crowd – took place before lunch with Rossco Paddison, CEO of flipsr, Patrick Flender, CEO of C-Novation, and Dennis Austinat, of eToro. A debate took place about whether a bottom-up or top-down strategy is what will be the best driver. When looking at C3 Crypto Conference, attendees and exhibitors had the opportunity to pay in crypto; but should industry leaders stop there?

To close the mass adoption track, Tavonia Evans spoke about growing up in Brooklyn, NY. How her positive relationship with small businesses in her community impacted her views on achieving mass adoption.

Key Takeaways: For mass adoption to occur, the people at the forefront of the industry need to take it upon themselves to push for adoption. In our own ecosystems, we should include crypto payments.

Financing Your Blockchain Business

DH Kim, CEO of Finhaven presents an individual talk on lifelines of utility and security tokens. Utility tokens are two types of digital assets which serve their own unique purpose.

After utility tokens were examined by DH Kim, Marcel Kuhs, CEO & Co-Founder of AZHOS, and Maximilian Kops, an STO Expert, they were joined by Sven Laepple and Dennis Weider for a Panel dedicated to STOs.

Proof of Existence with the Euro on Blockchain was presented by Marcel Kuhs.

“The market is always trying to move on, and regulation follows. This entrepreneurial spirit gives regulators something else to think about.”

-Dr. Ulli Spankowsk

Fintech was central to many of the discussions throughout both days. To chat further about where FinTech included a panel with key blockchain community members, such as Dr. Ulli Spankowski, Dennis Van Der Vecht, Rafael Schultz, Massimo Buonomo, and Timo Dreger.

Key Takeaways: Crypto is a viable way to finance a business. The future holds many different formats in which crypto can used.

Potential of Digital Assets

Florian Doehnert, CEO of F5 Crypto Capital, took to the stage to strategize investment vehicles in the crypto space. Continuing with a central theme throughout the conference, a lack of trust in the crypto space, Doehnert postulates that vehicles, such as the Crypto Index Certificate could instill trust in mass markets.

Paul Claudius, Co-Founder of BlockState was joined by Miko Matsumura, Sven Laepple and Florian Doehnert.

To continue with an understanding of Digital Assets, the rise of more reputable token offerings in the forms of STOs has brought cryptocurrencies into discussions of investors from individual angel investors to large family offices. Patrik Martin, Kevin Dougherty, Timo Dreger and Florian Huber joined the debate on how these investing methods from business angels to venture capital and what they can do in times of blockchain and crypto. The origin of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology is in a way rooted in gold. Florian Grummes took to the stage to examine the history of decentralized financial systems and how cryptocurrencies are at the forefront of creating a truly decentralized, equitable financial system.

Key Takeaways: There is massive potential in digital assets. However the way it will look in the future is still up for debate.

Insights & Learnings

Miko Matsumura has a major reputation in the crypto space not only as the Co-Founder of Evercoin Exchange as well as his ubiquity speaking and traveling but also his clever insights into the space with delightful ways of explaining complex human systems on a micro and macro level. During C3 Crypto Conference, he related garnering investment and pitch systems to spiders.

To close a conference centered around what is new and now in the crypto world, it seemed almost fitting that Yassin Hankir, an infamous figure from what can be considered the old crypto, closed the conference with his insights and learnings between 2017 to 2019.

Key Takeaways: The saying goes that even bad press is good press. Just ask Savedroid how well that has worked out for them in the past year – loss of trust, closed bank accounts, and so much more.

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