Recap: Toronto Crypto Summit
On Friday March 9th, the myCryptoHippo team was readily preparing for the Toronto Crypto Summit; laying out an array of food, setting up our venue, and practicing our product demo and pitch. In the weeks leading up to the event, the CSR and Sales team had been hard at work securing sponsors and promoting ticket sales. Our product and tech teams were putting in late nights, designing, coding, ready to meet our deadline of launching at our event. Our efforts seemed to have paid off, as our student-run event managed to draw in over 300 attendees, with our event sold out.
Our CTO and CPO kicked off the evening with our company pitch and first-ever live product demo (The BETA version is now live and you can check it out right here).
Our CEO, Rayah Ladak, proceeded to introduce the keynote speaker — Som Seif, the founder of Purpose Investments. Som Seif’s keynote speech was easy to understand and memorable for both cryptonewbies and savvy experts, focusing on the overall effect of blockchain technology on society.
The three main points I took from his presentation:
- Blockchain decentralizes power and puts it into the hands of the people.
- STEM skills are crucial, so start to develop yours.
- Have an entrepreneurial mindset and embrace the future, which is marked by changing technology.
Right after the keynote presentation, during our first networking session, we were hit with the best possible surprise. Anthony Diiorio (the co-founder of Ethereum) made an unexpected appearance. Darrell promptly asked him to be our special guest and join our panel during the second half of our event.
So how did our panelists get into the crypto and blockchain world and become the industry leaders they are today? Through their stories they all exhibited their curiosity in blockchain early on, and had the initiative, adaptability, and drive to become crypto-literate, moving on to accomplish amazing things, such as starting their own companies (Sunny Ray is the co-founder and CEO of Unocoin). Our moderator Maggie Xu also asked our panelists the audience’s most burning questions. Which cryptocurrencies should we invest in? Ones that revolutionize current processes, according to Diiorio. How much should we invest in crypto? Not a lot - Sunny Ray recommended starting off with $10.
During our final networking session, I had the opportunity to meet Anthony and ask one question: “What’s the most important skill that students should focus on developing?” His answer: “being a leader who can create great work environments and synergies.”
My greatest takeaway? Cryptocurrencies are cool, but the underlying technology extends far beyond and has the potential to revolutionize not only our transactions, but industries in cyber security, communication, to name a few. To be successful in rapidly-changing industries, we need to be adaptable and take the initiative to learn and understand the rapidly-developing technologies which fuel them.
Cryptocurrency is big, and blockchain is the future. So check out myCryptoHippo.com, our risk-free virtual cryptocurrency market simulator and familiarize yourself with this game-changing tech.
