August 29, 2019
A Word Of Mouth Success: Berlin Blockchain Week
For techies in Berlin, the last week of August is dedicated to a full week of exploration and education about autonomous and decentralized blockchains. Blockchain Week Berlin started as a self-organized community initiative to promote educational access to complex technological concepts, advances, and industry milleus, that can make blockchain and its iterations more viable for mass adoption.
Blockchain Week Berlin was started to accompany the Consensus conference in New York in May 2018 (1). While experts gathered in the states, Berlin was brewing a community of entrepreneurs, developers, technologists, and academics to debate, collaborate, and learn about the future of blockchain and crypto. The signature blend generated a ripple effect in tech hubs around the world.
Remaining humble and relying mostly on word of mouth and social media rather than big sponsorship, the propensity and power of Blockchain Week Berlin sprouted from a true community and grassroots effort, which continues to grow organically (1).
Now four times the size compared to last year, Blockchain Week Berlin is a true reflection of the exponential growth in value, interest, and importance of blockchain applications. The ETHBerlin Hackathon at Factory Berlin remained the core event while two main conferences pulsated into four side conferences and sixty-five side events from August 18 through August 29, 2019.
The community has pushed for an active discourse focusing on how the space (and its relevant business and technological entities) should develop. It has experts from all over the globe flocking to join one of 100 blockchain startups embedded within the Berlin ecosystem. Autonomously driven, they want to build their own nodes on the impressive network.
A big reason why the network has remained so resilient is BerChain, a group that connects the varying focus segments of blockchain development. Their mission is possible: to promote Berlin as the blockchain capital of the world and a go-to tech hub for blockchain specializations.
Berlin’s vibrant and ever-scaling blockchain ecosystem is approaching it’s manifest destiny and it all started with a community.
The community members’ initiative “Blockchain Circle” at Factory Berlin hosted a brunch as one of the many side events at Blockchain Week Berlin 201), but below is a more complete recap of how our community members and network were involved.
Events hosted at Factory Berlin during Berlin Blockchain Week:
Blockchain Brunch: Learn About the Berlin Blockchain Ecosystem
After some croissants, muesli, and a cup (or two) of coffee, participants had a sit down panel discussion in the fabulous cinema to talk about Berlin’s ever growing blockchain network with BerChain and the Blockchain Circle.
Diffusion 2019 Launch: Meetup and Networking Drinks
Outlier Ventures revealed their plans for their first devcon this Fall and upcoming initiatives with The Convergence Stack. Leaders in blockchain discussed the latest Web 3.0 protocols and their upcoming involvement with Diffusion 2019, a new DevCon running from October 19th to the 20th at Factory Berlin Görlitzer Park.
NEO Powers Up Berlin 2019
Founder of NEO, Da Hongfei discussed his company’s development journey to upgrade the internet, arguing for strategies around a decentralized infrastructure.
ETHBerlin Zwei & Opening Party
The focus of this year’s ETHBerlin Hackathon shifted from ethereum solutions to blockchain agnostics with decentralised applications, prepping it for Web 3.0. Hackers trickled in on Friday and by Sunday, over 700 hackers took over the Görlitzer Park campus. They drank over 6300 drinks, had over 990 Wi-Fi connections, and submitted 88 projects.
Reimpact Blockchain Edition
Adopting the unconference format, reimpact focused on small group discussions and the exchange of ideas around the purpose and impact of decentalization in practice. Each keynote speaker had five minutes to share their message before breakouts into small and very engaging group talks. Speakers were Alexander Langer (Inflection VC, Jaya Klara Brekke PhD, Jeremy Jak (Neufund), Yoann Berno (Next Big Thing), and Ewald Hess (Grid Singularity).
Interoperability Summit: Keep Network x Fabric Ventures
It got heated as technologists from Silicon Valley came to Berlin and discussed the technicalities involved with erasing silos inherent in the blockchain. Fabric Ventures, Keep Network, and Cosmos hosted this deep dive into the defragmentation of the blockchain ecosystem and some of the latest developments to bridge these segments.
