Consensus 2023 offered a subdued but thoughtful atmosphere
Good morning from Austin, home of the annual crypto industry confab known as Consensus. The tacos here turned out to be as good as promised, and the ubiquitous music and outdoor bars make it a lively place to walk around. The mood at the conference was more subdued than during the bull market years, but that’s not a bad thing, as it meant fewer bottom-feeding grabbers walking around – the joke is that they’ve all moved on to the AI scene instead.
In the meantime, the relative calm meant I had time to catch up with some of the crypto industry’s smartest people. These included Sergey Nazarov, who founded Chainlink, the popular “oracle” that many projects – especially DeFi – rely on to draw data that serves as the basis for many smart contracts. Chainlink last year announced a link with the global money messaging system SWIFT, and Nazarov told me to be on the lookout for news about the service partnering with other major financial players in the coming months. This is further proof that the blockchain and mainstream finance worlds are converging.
I also spoke with Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee, who was Coinbase’s first employee and is one of the kindest and most interesting people in crypto. He sees himself as an entrepreneur in “fringe” technologies and is doing something out there like using magnets to activate different parts of the brain for different occasions – part of an effort to get Silicon Valley to invent tools which not only extends our life but also makes us happier. Carlson-Wee remains very immersed in crypto. One of the earliest advocates of “alt-coins”, he now believes that the industry is flooded with too many Layer 1 blockchains and that it is time to consolidate around Ethereum. It is a view I share.
On stage, I interviewed Polygon’s head of business development, Brian Trunzo, who has signed deals to provide NFT services to the likes of Nike and Starbucks. He predicts that these brands are just the beginning, and that marquee names from industries such as fashion, beauty and music will embrace NFTs – even if they won’t use that name, instead coming up with their own in the same way that Starbucks does out “Stamps” instead of “NFTs.” Most notably, Trunzo said the monetary value of most NFTs will go to zero as the killer use case instead becomes as a tool to drive loyalty and rewards programs.
The consensus also presented an opportunity for the event’s host, CoinDesk, to take a well-deserved victory lap to mark its 10th anniversary. Although the publication remains on the block—the latest rumor I heard is that media outlets like Bloomberg and Dow Jones have passed on, but that hedge funds remain in the mix as potential buyers—Coindesk continues to do excellent journalism and host well-oiled events. Let’s hope they land on their feet.
Jeff John Roberts
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@jeffjohnroberts
DECENTRALIZED NEWS
Solana is up 125% this year, even better than Bitcoin, suggesting the blockchain may overcome its one-time association with Sam Bankman-Fried. (Bloomberg)
Coin base submitted a reply to Securities and Exchange Commission‘s Wells Notice, which declares that the firm “does not list securities.” (Reuters)
Robin Hood announced a new plug-in feature called Robinhood Connect that allows third-party wallets to connect to the crypto broker. (Fortune)
A US judge ordered a South African executive to pay $3.4 billion – the highest CFTC penalty ever – for defrauding thousands in a multi-level Bitcoin marketing scheme. (Bloomberg)
An Ohio man who stole 712 Bitcoins by lifting tokens from his brother’s laptop after it had been seized by the US government, he will serve 4 years in prison. (Insider)
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