Day one of the North American Bitcoin Conference held in Chicago included major announcements from such notable companies as Blockchain, OKCoin and others.
The North American Bitcoin Conference (TNABC) located in Chicago, started with an announcement of Bitcoin’s first government affairs office. The Chamber of Digital Commerce was founded by Perianne Boring n Washington.
Mr. Boring talked about the big issues Bitcoin has, moreover his realistic objectives and statements excited the crowd.
The conference had a diverse group of speakers. The number of major announcements were made such as Blockchain’s release of its new Android wallet app and OKCoin’s plans to offer USD .deposits and withdrawals.
However, the most important topic of the day was the fierce debate over proposed regulations by New York for bitcoin businesses released this week.
Mr. Levin, NABC organizer, said: “Regulation is one of those things where if it’s done wrong, it could handicap everything. It’s unfortunate that something can’t just bloom and blossom, but we need the smartest people in the room to educate and work on fostering innovation.”
Additionally, the conference included speeches from litecoin creator Charlie Lee and investor Trace Mayer, and other members of major investment firms including Tally Capital’s Matthew Roszak, Future Ventures’ Alyse Killeen, Cryptocurrency Partners’ Brock Pierce, among others.
During the session, it was discussed how quick the bitcoin industry was likely to grow, whether direct bitcoin investments would help the development of digital currency startups.
However, the main focus at the conference was taken by regulation.
Marc Van Der Chijs, a managing partner of CrossPacific Capital Partners, specified that the proposal is already enough for him to not invest in US companies due to their high capital needs.
Roszak’s pointed out that the VC community, would still be actively engaged in digital currency industry despite New York’s regulation proposal.
“Despite all the morass and all the drama in the industry, people were still engaged deeply in the space and putting money to work.”
Roman Leal, PayPal’s corporate strategist, specified he would be ready to working with Blockchain and that bitcoin could help PayPal improve its new payments gateway, Braintree.
Moreover, Mr. Leal, mentioned that PayPal plans to become a part of the digital currency community, but the situation is not clear yet.
Taking into account the regulatory uncertainty in the industry, Roman Leal said it could be five to 10 years before PayPal starts working with bitcoin.
However, Mr. Leal says: “As those clouds dissipate, not just PayPal, but a lot of incumbents will start getting interested as well.”
The conference was international as a number of famous industry companies from outside the US installed booths to introduce their products to American business representatives and consumers.
Booth displays were introduced by major digital currency exchanges such as Beijing-based Huobi and OKCoin and also a bitcoin ATM manufacturer BitOcean. Consumer mining equipment manufacturer Butterfly Labs, merchant processor BitPay and block explorer and wallet provider Blockchain also attended the conference.
Konstantin has always been at the forefront of the global virtual currency scene since first discovering cryptocurrencies the same year that Satoshi Nakomoto created bitcoin in 2009. Konstantin is the owner of a number of small businesses in trucking and mobile development, and co-founded CoinSpeaker in 2014. He graduated from Belarusian State University in 2009 with a degree in Mathematics and Mechanics. You can contact Konstantin via [email protected]
