EthCC Voices: Sébastien Couture, The Host of Epicenter
Sébastien tells us why EthCC[3] was an incredible opportunity for Epicenter podcast and why the Ethereum community needs to pay attention to Europe’s regulatory policies.
Welcome to EthCC Voices, the Medium Series for the EthCC community.
Taking place in Paris on 2–4 March 2021, the conference organised by Ethereum France is regarded as Europe’s leading Ethereum conference for the community by the community!
For our first EthCC Voices interview in the lead up to EthCC[4], we spoke to Sébastien Couture, The Host of Epicenter Podcast, and Director of Communications for Adan. We chatted on the resilience of the Ethereum community, EthCC’s ability to bring many different types of people together and the regulatory landscape of Europe.
Let’s delve straight into our conversation…
Sébastien, tell us a bit about yourself and your background…
“I’m one of the hosts at Epicenter, I interview people in the crypto-blockchain industry. At Epicenter we like to fly high to understand high-level concepts and visionary trends and also dive deep into the technical aspects of projects to understand the technologies which make up this ecosystem I do this with my fellow hosts, all renowned experts, Brian Fabian Crain, Meher Roy, Sunny Aggarwal and Friederike Ernst.”
How has being a part of EthCC in the past impacted you and your project thus far?
“I think what EthCC does is it brings together different people in the Ethereum community around a down-to-earth and accessible event. I know this is the vision Jerome (de-Tychey) and Ethereum France had for the conference. They wanted to create a conference where people could hang out and geek out, and that’s what I love about it. It’s a real developer conference, with very little shilling. And because it’s in France everyone has a great time!
Since I run a media organization, it’s a great way to meet everybody in one place. It’s a good compliment to the DappCons and DevCons of the world, it’s a similar vibe to be honest. But being run by a non-profit, there’s a unique vibe and it manages to bring together so many high-level people in the community. The number of attendees at last year’s event, even at the beginning of the pandemic, is testament to that.
It was also great to collaborate with the EthCC folks to put together the Epicenter Podcast booth which popped up in the venue. Lots of people loved it, they had never seen this before! It was fantastic to be there and to be front-and-center, that’s for sure.”
What did you achieve in previous years at EthCC?
“My highlight of EthCC[3] was definitely the Epicenter Podcast booth. We got so much love from people, either just walking by or coming in for an interview.”
What was an industry highlight of 2020 for you?
“That it (the industry) survived, regardless of Covid! It was impressive to see how everyone managed to work together and managed to continue building and collaborating towards the vision for DeFi. In some ways, I feel like it actually helped accelerate progress. Just look at how much has happened since March: DeFi exploded, Polkadot launched, and the Ethereum Beacon chain is here! It’s just amazing what people have been able to build in these circumstances.
But at the same time, it’s not much of a surprise. The Ethereum community was already set up for this scenario — remote work and online collaboration are in the crypto DNA. Where other industries stalled, the blockchain space just kept doing what they do best. There was little adaptation time, they just kept going without even blinking.”
Which blockchain trends do you think will be big in 2021?
“I am super hopeful for Ethereum 2.0, I think that will take over the narrative in the next year.
I’m also looking closely at the regulatory landscape. I’m a staff member of Adan (the French Association for the Development of Digital Assets) — a non-profit organization representing the French crypto industry at a national and EU-level. The EU Commission has made proposals to regulate crypto in Europe (MiCA and Pilot Regime) which could be potentially damaging to innovation and growth of DeFi if it goes unchallenged. As an example, we can’t have a thriving DeFi economy if stablecoins like DAI are considered illegal in Europe — this is one of the possible repercussions of this regulation.
Crypto companies, who are based in, or have dealings in Europe, must coordinate and establish an EU-level industry body which defends the space and allows for innovation to continue.
I’m not sure if most people who are building on Ethereum are aware of the threat of MiCA. Adan is doing a lot to raise awareness and constitute this EU-level initiative.”
Why is France a key hub for crypto?
“France is a ‘grand pays d’entrepreneurs’ and it has many positive traits that attract people who want to start companies. But France is also a great place to start a crypto business as the French Financial Markets Authority has an ICO Visa which several successful companies have benefited from. In fact, Adan is hosting a free webinar on this very topic on December 8th, make sure you tune in!”
This series was created by YAP Global for EthCC. YAP Global is an international PR firm with a focus on helping fintech, blockchain & cryptocurrency startups tell their stories.
