If you wanted to go deep on blockchain at the World Economic Forum, you needed to attend the conference’s side events.
Perhaps the largest of these crypto-friendly events was CV Summit, an all-day conference organized by CV Labs. The Switzerland-based organization (operated by CV VC) endeavors to offer crypto entrepreneurs whatever resources they need to succeed, from fundraising help to coworking space. On Thursday, January 23, that meant offering a full agenda of speakers and panel presentations to crypto-hungry Davos attendees.
The docket was loaded with speeches by high-profile crypto people, from MakerDAO’s Rune Christensen to IOHK’s Charles Hoskinson and many more. The day’s events were hosted by Daniel Ramamoorthy, and panelists picked apart topics like the hype versus reality of digital assets, how corporations can benefit from tokenization, how different jurisdictions regulate their crypto industries, and beyond.
CV Summit had the vibe of a day-long TedX event devoted to crypto. This was the event’s third year, and we learned that its first edition was a small, casual crypto meetup. It’s clear that they’ve gained a lot of momentum since then. Whatever your specific niche interest is within the space, CV Summit had experts on hand to take you several layers deeper. Even Nouriel Roubini was there to deliver a polarizing keynote titled “Why Bitcoin Is The Mother Of All Scams.”
Perhaps the largest announcement to come out of the event is that CV Labs will open a new operation in Dubai. “We’ll have another CV Labs in Dubai in Q2 or Q3 of this year,” said CV VC founder Ralf Glabischnig. “Dubai has a clear blockchain strategy from the government, so we want to support it with the technology we have here in the Crypto Valley.”
Glabischnig described plans to open another CV Labs in Asia after that, perhaps in China or Singapore. “The idea is to expand our ecosystem around the world,” he said.
The event also marked the release of CV VC’s newest Top 50 report, which offers a visual representation of how Switzerland’s crypto sector works, as well as ranks the country’s blockchain companies by the specific sector they operate in.
The speculation about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is that it’s going to reshape the world economy in the long term. Yes, the proper World Economic Forum program did address these topics a bit, but it was by no means a focus or highlight of the agenda.
For the enthusiasts and true believers who are all-in on crypto, CV Summit was like a one-day WEF devoted to crypto.