Which city can be considered the blockchain industry capital?
29 September 2022For the crypto industry to develop, a huge number of events, both large and small, take place around the world, where people gather to discuss the development of blockchain technology and the industry as a whole. According to our research, the list of cities with the most events for 2022–2023 is:
- London — 26 events;
- New York — 25 events;
- Rome — 20 events;
- Dubai — 16 events;
- San Francisco — 13 events;
- Miami — 13 events;
- Singapore — 10 events.
Based on this information, those living in London can visit up to 26 major and several hundred minor events.
Hundreds if not thousands of blockchain events take place worldwide, promising visitors the opportunity to interact with leading experts in the field and get acquainted with the latest innovations, but only a few of them pay off the time and money spent visiting them.
In 2018, before the pandemic, New York exploded with closed parties arranged by crypto investors and millionaires participating in one of the most famous blockchain conferences in the world — Consensus 2018. Raffles of Aston Martin sports cars, whose cost starts at $150 000, rental Lamborghinis, long included among the necessary attributes of dolce vita, nightclubs with extravagantly clothed waitresses — despite the fall of Bitcoin in the first half of 2018, the industry continued to live a life in which Bitcoin traded at $20 000.
Holding blockchain conferences at the time was almost more profitable than trading, especially given the significantly lower risks. CoinDesk, the organizing company, earned about $8 million on tickets to the Consensus 2018 blockchain conference alone.
The prolonged recession on the cryptocurrency market has also affected the conferences. The main complaint against blockchain event organizers was the sloppy speaker selection: employees of dubious cryptocurrency companies or total newcomers with little knowledge of technology would often make the list at the time. Now that the world of cryptocurrencies has more or less stabilized, the public’s awareness of the field has grown, and people have become much more picky when it comes to event speakers, especially considering the distance one has to travel and ticket prices.
From here, it can be deduced that the number and quality of blockchain events held in certain cities may vary depending on the speakers, organizers, and the number of people engaged in the industry.
Relevant minor events are often held in the same city a day or two before and after a major conference, which serves to increase their visibility. For example, Facebook and meetup.com turn out to be well-suited for Bangkok. Here you can immediately find a conference of blockchain enthusiasts with the unusual name of Satoshi Square. Upon joining in, you will see how everything in the local blockchain community works and find access to local investors, partners, and resources. Meetups like Satoshi Square take place in venues such as bars and cafes, where one can meet the leaders of the local Google Developers Network. Minor events are a starting point of entry into the local hangout and an opportunity to make new acquaintances. Such events are often free or relatively inexpensive.
There are several ways to go about finding the most successful blockchain events — you can, for example, follow a noteworthy speaker to the place where a major event is set to take place or go through our list and choose the city with the most blockchain events and try to visit as many of them as possible. It all depends on the goals that you want to achieve visiting such conferences in the first place.