Blockchain Summit, Crypto Valley — Blockchain is growing up!
Last week, MobileBridge Momentum was one of the sponsors of the Blockchain Summit Crypto Valley in Zug. Only a few miles from our office in Cham, in the Theater Casino, nestled on the shore of Lake Zug, the ‘crème de la crème’ of all things blockchain gathered to discuss the future of blockchain in the Crypto Valley. And, as one of the leading global locations to support all things blockchain, it didn’t disappoint! In a young industry, blockchain and crypto conferences, conferences can be hit and miss, but the organising teams from Inacta and Lakeside Partners delivered a top quality event. Zug showed its global leadership position by discussing the maturing role blockchain plays resolving some real business issues across the world. Topics ranged from the application of blockchain in various industries such as Insurance, Banking and Real Estate, to forward looking panels about the future of blockchain technology and mining. Most importantly, in my opinion, was the attention that was paid to how best to support blockchain fulfilling its global promise; how do we position blockchain, how do we support blockchain start-ups and what is the governance model around this? And of course, it was interesting to hear the role Crypto Valley itself was planning to play in this.
The day was opened by the Swiss Minister for Economic Affairs, Education and Research, Mr. Johann Schneider-Ammann. In his speech (https://www.wbf.admin.ch/wbf/en/home/dokumentation/nsb-news_list.msg-id-70571.html), Mr. Schneider not only acknowledged the importance of innovation around blockchain, he encouraged everyone to embrace this change in a responsible way and showed his governments support to not only develop Zug into Crypto Valley, but Switzerland into a blockchain nation.
Later in the day, it was a privilege to be on stage to talk about the importance of the blockchain eco-system, with a particular focus on how to make blockchain businesses successful in today’s environment. I really enjoyed kicking-off the session with a brief presentation on behalf of Hammer Team, Ariel Luedi’s incubator and main investor in MobileBridge.
I shared with the audience my own and Hammer Team’s belief that blockchain businesses are simply that; businesses. Too many blockchain initiatives still start from the idea that the fact they are using blockchain is enough to be successful. Although we have had had a brief period where the use of blockchain in itself was enough to raise money through an ICO, this is certainly no longer the case; simply launching a coin or not building a clear business case for a blockchain based initiative is not enough. Just like ordinary start-ups, a clear problem needs to be solved and mass adoption will be key to success. Therefore, it is more likely that ‘infrastructure alike’ plays are going to be the ones interesting token buyers and investors, rather than one-off, niche applications. Momentum is a great example of that; providing a global infrastructure for loyalty platforms to resolve a clear consumer and company issue; the inefficiency of marketing and loyalty.
The panel discussion that followed, echo-ed my position. Zenel Batagelj, from Cofound.it, Katka Letzing, from Kickstart Accelerator, and Rex Li, from Exchange of Exchanges, under the professional guidance of Andreas Iten from F10, discussed the fact that blockchain businesses need to look more to mainstream businesses for their positioning. Business plans need to be well structured, financial plans need to be in place and blockchain, well, maybe it is not that important after all; it is a tool, a technology that helps resolve a real-life business problem.
The panel further elaborated on the ‘eco system’ that should surround blockchain businesses in order to maximise their opportunity, and it was here again that the connection with ‘real-life’ was highlighted. The need for skills, resources and support for often forgotten topics, such as legal and tax, were discussed. However, above all, it was the need for integration with and support from existing businesses; potential test-beds for blockchain initiatives. Both start-ups and existing companies would really benefit to take blockchain development to a higher level; matching real-life issues with great, blockchain based, technology solutions.
I have been to many blockchain and crypto conferences over the last months and sometimes, they are simply too focused on technology and the purist concepts of decentralisation. Although important in cases, the Blockchain Summit Crypto Valley in Zug, reassured me that at the heart of this phenomenal technology opportunity, the focus on real life has not been lost. Only when we focus on the applications of blockchain technology to real-life problems in a real-life context, will we be able to realise the promise of blockchain.
