Beyond Blocks: “To Think Outside the Block”
Beyond Blocks is a community that engages like-minded individuals through both online and offline platforms. The company, based in Singapore, aims to progress this ever-growing industry, to highlight why it’s an exciting time to be part of it and more importantly, how the blockchain applies to the real world now and in the future.
While delivering high value content, Beyond Blocks aims to become a platform in Asia for the cryptocurrency and blockchain community to gather and leverage knowledge, businesses, and projects.
After successful conferences in Bangkok and Tokyo, Beyond Blocks is moving forward with a new conference in Seoul, South Korea, from July 17–18, as the flagship event for Korea Blockchain Week.
In April, we had the opportunity to visit Thailand and interview Darren Liu, Content Manager, and Rayed Chaudhry, Marketing Manager at Beyond Blocks, to know more about the project, and how the company is connecting and engaging the cryptocurrency and blockchain community, delivering content, and organizing conferences, meetups, and other events in Asia. The following is the transcription of our interview.
Could you tell us about how Beyond Blocks came into the cryptocurrency and blockchain scene?
“The purpose is to connect the East and West, the East being Asia and the West being the western world, while establishing the company as the “gatekeepers” of Asia”.
Beyond Blocks Founder Saber Aria started as a crypto investor since the early days of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. When cryptocurrency and blockchain industries started blooming and becoming mainstream, he realized the high potential for high quality content for conferences. They saw that everybody was trying to do conferences and meetups, but very few of them have been able to do it right or well. That is where the idea for the conferences came from. The founding team also has previous expertise in running the largest tech conferences in Asia, so the foundation of the company is built to deliver and execute.
Having strong connections in Thailand, we decided to organize the first major conference in Bangkok. That is basically how the blockchain summit series all started. We received a very positive response from the attendees, the media, and from the speakers. The response was so positive that it helped reinforce our vision to become the largest blockchain community builders in Asia.
Why did you decide to call the company Beyond Blocks?
The idea is that we are the platform for the discussion of blockchain in today’s current market AND for the future. We are trying to go above and beyond the technology and the blockchain by bringing world-class speakers and experts in blockchain, and bringing them face-to-face with enthusiasts coming from all around the world.. For our conference in Bangkok, we brought NEO’s founder, Da Hongfei, a highly recognized pioneer in the space who everybody was excited to see speak and give insights. So essentially it is really about the speakers you bring. And in order to get the notable speakers, you need really deep connections in the space, and more importantly, the ability to deliver on big promises.
What is the problem Beyond Blocks wants to solve and what is your contribution for the community?
We feel that other companies that are organizing similar events are not going in-depth enough in regards to the development of blockchain and the importance it has on current-day issues as well as the future.
“We created a platform to connect our network to a larger audience, bringing together first degree connections with third degree connections; and allowing these new synergies to progress”.
Only in this way can the blockchain phenomenon be pushed to greater heights. The idea is to essentially provide a unique experience to the whole community at every single level. This is what we are trying to achieve. A very large-scale dream indeed, but we are definitely moving in the right direction.
“Ultimately, we aim to be the one-stop solution in Asia for all your blockchain needs when it comes to networking and bringing the blockchain community together on one interactive platform”.
In each host city that we organize an event, we make it the priority to bring the largest local enterprises in that country and give them a stage to make their presence felt, and to connect them with the right people in the industry.
What are Beyond Blocks criteria for selecting the conference speakers?
The criteria is based on a lot of research and strong referrals from our community. We look for experience, global reach, community engagement, solid projects and smart investors. We only invite people that have been thoroughly vetted, meaning someone we know has personally vouched for the speaker.
Does your company has any special strengths in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry in comparison with other similar companies?
The major strengths of our company comes down to our connections in the space and our elite experience in organizing tech-related conferences in Asia.
“Strong connections can only be built through respect, reliability and of course the ability to deliver on promises”.
We have established a solid footprint in Asia by building a community of blockchain enthusiasts in the form of world-class speakers, giant blockchain enterprises, large media partners and hundreds of startups. This is where we thrive — and the end of the day it all comes down to delivering. Our conference lead and COO has been organizing major tech conferences in Asia for more than a decade, so not only do we bring expertise in the blockchain space, but we also have the executionary know-how.
In addition, we would like to know your opinion about the cryptocurrency and blockchain scene in Thailand?
The main reason why Thailand has become so strong on the crypto scene is because they are one of the only countries in Asia that regulates ICO’s. Quoting from an article from bitcoin.com:
“Thai regulators have reportedly agreed to enact two separate laws on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings. They will regulate crypto businesses, the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies, as well as their taxation.”
Speaking from a blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiast perspective, the community is absolutely huge, especially in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The interest in cryptocurrency is very strong here, and a large part of it is because Thailand is a very open [country] compared with others in regards to regulations about cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects.
Finally, do you have any plan to organize a conference in Korea during the coming months?
Glad you asked because we recently announced our next major blockchain conference that will be happening in Seoul, South Korea. “Beyond Blocks Summit Seoul” will be a two-day conference, running from July 17–18, which will be the flagship event during Korea Blockchain Week.
We chose to host our next event in South Korea because it has become one of the most critical hubs of blockchain and crypto, and because of this, our community has made it known that they are very interested in connecting with the Korean blockchain community — and that’s where Beyond Blocks comes in. The number one priority is our community, and connecting them to the most exciting markets in Asia will always be our focus.
More information about Beyond Blocks can be found on www.beyondblocks.com/summit/seoul and their social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and linkedin. Finally, several related articles can be found on their blog https://beyondblocks.com/blog, as well as videos at Beyond Blocks’s Youtube Channel.
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