Team OST heads to #Ethereum #devcon5, excited to further collaborate with the community, and launch the new Pepo app!

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ostdotcom

5 min readOct 4, 2019

A couple of weeks ago while in Tel Aviv for the Ethereal and Starkware conferences (and coming right on the heels of the amazing ETH Berlin zwei), I observed a noticeable shift emerging in the Ethereum community. Long past the 2017 crazy-days, and turning the corner from the 2018 doldrums, I sensed a renewed energy and enthusiasm bubbling as we begin to enter the usage phase of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. I also picked up an even stronger “we’re in this together” spirit percolating.

With that same spirit at heart, team OST / Pepo heads to Devcon5 and Osaka Blockchain Week 2019 in Japan this coming week excited to further our collaboration with the Ethereum community.

We also come with live product in hand. We just completed a successful alpha for the Pepo app — live on mainnet with >6000 peer-to-peer decentralized transactions this week — and we’re ready to formally launch Pepo in beta during Devcon. (more on Pepo in subsequent posts).

This past week more than 80 devcon5 participants shared “on my way to Devcon5” videos on Pepo as they make their ways from all around the world to Osaka. It’s been so inspiring to watch this take shape, and it’s been such a great way to get to know the faces and personalities behind so many exciting projects.

We’re really happy to be playing our little part towards helping the Ethereum community come together.

Here’s a summary of some of what OST / Pepo has planned for Devcon5.

Building the New Web: October 6

Our chief Blockchain Strategist Benjamin Bollen and I will be presenting on “Designing Ethereum User Experiences for Humans” showcasing Pepo and its underlying tech stack and user experience architecture, as a live mainnet example.

As a part of the Osaka Edition, “Building the New Web” is an event that focuses on how the web has proven to be reminiscent of Pandora’s Box — an unprecedented experiment of human faith with outcomes we had yet to discover. The discussions on privacy, security, trust, personal data, and governance are becoming fiercer by the day. With the inception of Bitcoin and Ethereum, a larger part of the world is witnessing the first steps into a decentralized world. What are the next steps? Which teams are working on the cutting edge of blockchain and distributed ledger technology and are solving unprecedented challenges in the field of cryptography, consensus mechanisms, protocol design, scalability, security, and on-chain governance? Find us contributing to this discussion and register here.

Ethereum Lightning Talks: October 7

We will be continuing the same discussion about how to design seamless Ethereum experiences for humans at Ethereum Lightning Talks which is a Pre-Devcon5 event organized by ETHPLANET, a non-profit Ethereum community organization mainly focusing on Ethereum community building and development. The event aims at providing a platform for more experts in Ethereum to share their ideas on Ethereum development, use cases based on Ethereum technology, cooperation, and integration among various Ethereum communities and more. The event will be open to the public with a capacity of 1000 attendees.

Supporting Blockchain for Good at Ukiyo Conference: October 7

At the Ukiyo Conference, Pepo is one of the participating technology projects in the company of other great projects such as Gnosis, Parity, Web3 Foundation, and others. The conference is a one-day event on the attributes of Web3 technology, practical use cases, research presentations, and participatory workshops that culminate at Ethereum Developers Conference (Devcon5) and beyond for stronger feedback loops between end-users and the developer community. It focuses on the need of development workers, the humanitarian sector, not-for-profits, social science researchers, product managers, and technologists, in the lead up to Devcon5 in Osaka.

Ethereum Jesus x Pepo Dinner & Pub Crawl: October 8

Pepo is thrilled to partner with the one and only “Ethereum Jesus” for his annual devcon pub crawl. All Pepo users who have sent at least 1 Pepo Coin to Ethereum Jesus prior to the event get to drink free!

Plus, we’ve added a special event for all the early Pepo users!

Come enjoy a delicious Japanese Shabu Shabu dinner and drinks with the Pepo team, Ethereum Jesus and friends. All you have to do is make a quick intro to you and your work on the Pepo App. More details here.

Crypto Grows on Trees Exhibition: October 8 — October 11

Could decentralized and autonomous archiving systems be a sustainable way of preserving the current state of flora and fauna? Can we as a community help to solve some of the issues stemming from the climate crisis? Pepo is a supporting partner at the art exhibition organized by the Department of Decentralization, as artists Sarah Friend, Arkadiy Kukarkin among others have the spotlight on these aspects of society at the sidelines of Devcon5.