Last week, Barcelona hosted the tenth European Blockchain Convention ,EBC a two-day event bringing together the best and brightest of the industry under one roof.
Events across the tech industry have become a vital way to “check the pulse” of a sector. In times of prosperity, events and conferences can feel like a non-stop celebration of innovation and growth. In more bleak periods, however, these events tend to be more somber, with half-empty convention halls and scaled-back productions.
This year, however, the atmosphere in Barcelona was decidedly optimistic and cheerful. And it had good reason to be. After an incredibly difficult two-year stretch, 2024 finally gave the blockchain industry some room to breathe and thrive again. New sector developments and institutional embrace thanks to spot ETF approvals for Bitcoin and Ethereum injected a new dose of confidence among the conference’s attendees.
That being said, conferences like EBC can provide a bellwether as to where the industry could be moving next. Given that the conference isn’t as mass-scale as some other conventions, smaller players carving out new, potentially exciting niches have a greater opportunity to shine. Likewise, this also gives power players in attendance a more direct glimpse at what is emerging across the industry.
Peter Ionov, CEO and Co-Founder of GT Protocol, the developers of blockchain AI execution technology and a Web3 investment platform, said: “What really impressed me at EBC10 was the diversity of topics and renowned speakers who contributed to the interactive discussions on blockchain, DeFi, Web3, and sustainability. The balance between technical detail and discussions about practical applications added immense value to the event.”
This increase in diversity proved to be appealing to many attendees. For many years, it seemed like blockchain only appealed to a narrow scope of users and use cases. However, with the industry bouncing back from its bear market, many projects have shifted how the technology can be used.
Eric Waisanen, CEO and Co-Founder of Astrovault, the first cross-chain value capture decentralized exchange, noticed an emphasis on AI growth within the sector, stating: “AI-based intents has come a long way, and will continue to do so. Account abstraction will not be as limited as recreating a Web2 experience but with digital ownership, but rather the growth of intents enables stream-of-conscious thought to control your actions, ownership, and digital footprint.”
AI is clearly a market driver for new developments across blockchain, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given the technology’s proliferation throughout the entire tech and business landscape. However, these weren’t the only emerging sectors highlighted during EBC.
For instance, a panel on crypto derivatives, titled “The Dos and Don’ts in Derivatives Trading”, saw panelists including Anestis Arampatzis, a trader at Centaur Markets / DV Trading, Hendrik Ghys, Co-Founder and CEO at Thalex, Jean-Marc Bonnefous, Managing Partner at Tellurian (NYSE:TELL) Capital / Tellurian ExoAlpha, Greg Klumov, CEO & Founder of STATIS / EURS, and Katia Babbar, Co-Founder of Immersive Finance dive deep on how this sector is evolving.
Thalex’s Hendrik Ghys expanded on how cryptocurrency-based derivatives like options can overcome the adoption hurdle by institutions, stating: “Options are a low-velocity trade: High open interest relative to volume, which means that non-market drivers of risk (e.g. counterparty risk to the exchange) remains a hurdle for institutional adoption. Off-exchange settlement is an important step towards reducing this but there is still clearing risk and lack of cross-exchange margin,” which detailed how derivatives can grow to welcome more investors into the fold.
So, if crypto derivatives and AI have been instrumental to the blockchain conversation in 2024, what does the year ahead hold? What events like EBC provide attendees with is a real glimpse into areas that may be lacking or can be developed to dominate the discourse in future events.
GT Protocol’s Ionov expanded on what sectors he’d like to see spotlighted in future conventions, namely Web3 gaming and catalyzing the creator economy. Ionov adds: “Next year, I’d like to see more projects on Web3 gaming and how that could be a catalyst for the creator economy. The fact that blockchain games act as on-ramps to Web3 was quite an interesting conversation, and this is one of those verticals where there is a great growth opportunity.”
With another successful event in the rearview, it’s clear to see how conventions and conferences remain critical fixtures within the blockchain arena. From converging ideas and facilitating insightful discussions among the industry’s leaders to offering perspectives on what’s to come— events in the blockchain space are far from the doom and gloom periods the industry faced in its recent past.