Crypto Invest Summit: Day 1 Recap

Blockchain Beach attended Day 1 of the largest Crypto event in Los Angeles. Read below for some highlights or you can see the full set of our live tweets here. You can also see our recap of Day 2, with entrepreneurs Crystal Rose and former Olympic Medalists Apolo Ohno.

The opening Keynote came from Hashgraph CEO, Mance Harmon. He had a surprising quote:

"First off, @hashgraph is not a Blockchain." –@ManceHarmon pic.twitter.com/bdBOtCcgzY

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

The following was a fireside chat with investor Tim Draper and his son Adam (also an investor):

Next up is a "Pioneering Crypto Investing" chat with @TimDraper who is joined by his son @BoostVC CEO @AdamDraper #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/v5nT206grF

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

Tim had a lot to say about government regulation:

"Governments are going to be freaking out (about cryptocurrencies). They've controlled us using currency for so long…They need to separate virtual from terristrial." – @TimDraper #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/yacsMZnfXz

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

And the current state of heavily regulated industries:

"The industries that are most ripe for change are the ones that have been heavily regulated by government. I'm actively looking for companies that are going to transform government & are in industries that were heavily regulated in the past." – @TimDraper #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/pkEoTn5wvk

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

Adam chimed in with his thoughts about investing in startups and how company structure is not the defining characteristic:

"Start-up investing (throughout) its history hasn't been about investing in start-ups, it's been about investing in movements" –@AdamDraper #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/Upac5CHsyx

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

In the first full panel of the day, a number of Blockchain investors weighed in on the state of the industry:

Panel #3 @cryptoinvestsmt is "Crypto Investment Funds" w/ @AlonGoren @jfhaft @Disruptepreneur, Shashank Sripada, and Cliff Sarkin #cryptoinvestsummit pic.twitter.com/TWDoGOSryL

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

The always interesting Jeremy Gardner, of Augur and Ausum Ventures, questioned the idea of a Crypto “Hedge” Fund:

“How can you call yourself a “hedge” fund when you don’t have the tools to properly hedge… The investments we make @AusumVentures are long term and, if successful, will make the world better in the next ten years” – @Disruptepreneur #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/Qrj7CZC4Oh

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

Moderator of the panel, and one of the Crypto Invest Summit Organizers, Wavemaker Genesis’s Alon Goren gave us perspective on the potential token market:

“There is a 7 Trillion dollar market for alternative investments in the US. It’s not just crowdfunding.” – @AlonGoren pic.twitter.com/ZdAb2CYDxp

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

And back to Jeremy, don’t ignore both the risks and benefits of Airdrops:

“The Supreme Court ruled that you can’t give away securities for free, so there is precedent there for Airdrops. @coinlist is working on a way to do it with compliance where people would pay a few dollars and get an airdrop worth much more” – @Disruptepreneur #CryptoInvestSummit

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

The following panel was a fireside chat between DNA Fund/Wavemaker’s Scott Walker talking to Abra CEO Bill Barhydt:

What’s next for the retail crypto investor? A Fireside chat with Bill Barhydt, CEO of Abra@billbarhydt @AbraGlobal and moderator @scottwalker99 @ThisIsDNA @Wavemaker_VC #CryptoInvestSummit @cryptoinvestsmt pic.twitter.com/Yv5cGWEW0e

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

Did you know that ANY customer service is the top rated customer service in the Blockchain industry?

“@AbraGlobal is the only live, retail, consumer facing application built on smart contracts for Bitcoin (also @CryptoKitties but they’re on Ethereum). And we set a high bar by actually responding to customer service requests!” – @billbarhydt #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/T2zdLkWafx

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

Abra will allow you to lock in a USD value of your Digital Currency:

“@AbraGlobal can use smart contracts to keep you whole in $. If Bitcoin’s price goes up, you hold less Bitcoin (in the app) and if it goes down, you hold more Bitcoin. We hedge away our counterparty risk on exchanges.” – @billbarhydt #CryptoInvestSummit

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

And in some countries, you can exchange funds and not get taxed using their system (not in the US, sorry):

To question asked about Taxes on @AbraGlobal smart contract transactions by Blockchain Beach:

“It’s country specific. In the US, it’s taxable under commodity law, but in the UK, it’s not taxable due to their gambling regulations” – @billbarhydt #CryptoInvestSummit

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

There has been a lot of talk about whether there should be “Women in Blockchain” panels versus just having more women during other panels. However, we still saw a world class group of women today:

Now: Women in Blockchain Panel with Veronica Reynolds @vlectronica @UCLA_Blockchain, Sarah Clayton USC PHD Candidate, Tavonia Evans @cryptodeeva @Guapcoin, Koh Kim @kohkim, Sara Borazan @saraborazan, Jenny Ta @JennyQTa9 @vcnetworkco #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/3fcyzESgTj

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

Tavonia may have created Guapcoin for the African American community, but that doesn’t mean Blockchain is for everyone:

“I work with a lot of accelerators and I’m the one telling companies not to use Blockchain most of the time. If you’re ONLY implementing Blockchain to get ICO funding (because you can’t get funding elsewhere), it’s probably not a good idea.” – @cryptodeeva #CryptoInvestSummit

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

But it is for some:

Good uses for Blockchain include: Fraud, Gambling, Identity, Real Estate (and companies working on infrastructure to help Blockchains work better).

– @kohkim #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/jU9lNWomIl

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

And in case you still think you’ve missed the boat, you haven’t:

“I have seen some examples that show a true utility function, but a lot are securities… Blockchain technology could open up more than five times the current market.” – @saraborazan #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/Tg8tJ2Z6oB

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

The Beyond the ICO Hype panel had a timeline of US Regulatory Action. Recent quotes from SEC Chairman Clayton don’t sound as scary as his previous ones:

US Regulatory Timeline #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/CkJBO67ids

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

The most fiery panel of the day came from a panel of Crypto Investors, plus one entrepreneur (guess who had the most exciting quotes):

Successful Crypto Investing with James Glasscock @molecularzen @ThisIsDNA, Victoria Saucier @chiefbloomer @Ignite 500, David Bleznak @bleznak, Michael @Sonnenshein Grayscale (@DCGco) #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/YUW95bd4m7

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

As one of the investors used soundbites to preach regulatory caution, David Bleznak shot back with passion:

“Let the markets speak! Trusted protocols are the free market. People will trust what works. I don’t think Satoshi Nakamoto was saying we need a Reg A and a Reg D” – @bleznak #CryptoInvestSummit

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

and:

“There is only one clearing house in the US and NASDAQ created that entity. Now they want to get into digital currency exchange? That’s a joke!” – @bleznak @totlecrypto #CryptoInvestSummit

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 1, 2018

To end the day, we got to hear about the Asian Markets and their impact:

Asian Markets and their Influence on the Global Crypto Space with John Nahm Strong Ventures @john_nahm, Aaron Myung Korbit, Miko Matsamura Evercoin @mikojava and Nix Nolledo Xurpas @nixnolledo #CryptoInvestSummit pic.twitter.com/PI6qXkYkfa

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 2, 2018

For long time investors, a difficult shift in mindset is necessary to think about this new asset class:

“Are we in a golden age of R&D? If income isn’t the only driver of value, what is? Maybe it can be something else” – @nixnolledo #CryptoInvestSummit

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 2, 2018

And finally, don’t diss Satoshi:

“People are using transactions per second to diss Satoshi Nakamoto. If you want fast, you can use Oracle. It’s all just a slider for the amount of trust: from trusting nobody to trusting one centralized organization. Bitcoin isn’t a database.” – @mikojava #CryptoInvestSummit

— Blockchain Beach (@blocchainbeach) May 2, 2018

You can also see our recap of Day 2, with entrepreneurs Crystal Rose and former Olympic Medalists Apolo Ohno.