Cape Town Provides Perfect Setting For Their First Crypto Fest

It would seem the first Saturday of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere was a remarkably fitting day to host the inaugural Crypto Fest, a festival of crypto enthusiasts put together by industry pioneers Bitcoin Events, the same crew that sweat it out for the six-year-running Blockchain Africa conferences.

Crypto Fest saw over 250 people come from all over the world to engage with, talk about, present on, dialogue, and learn everything this still nascent crypto trading industry has going for it. Focussing on payments, investing, trading and even touching on social good opportunities, Crypto Fest was a first-of-its-kind event that looked to incorporate the excitement and dynamism of music festivals more commonly experienced by Rocking The Daisies goers.

And while Good Luck didn’t take to this stage, the venue itself provided equally vivacious energy. Held at the Waterfront’s Shimmy Beach Club, with its sapphire square glass pool raised off ground level, its equally bluish ocean lapping the pier surrounding it, a deck bar of A-list party proportions and a club of world-beating sound capabilities, it really did play a significant role in the act of a memorable day.

PRESENTATIONS

Khaya Maloney, country manager for OKex took us through the opportunities available with derivatives trading. Shantnu Saxena presented why cryptocurrencies were being so closely watched by institutional investors and the value they see in the assets.

REVOLUTION?

In a treat for festival attendees, Simon Dingle was due next after the delicious debate. Dingle is one South Africa’s most prominent speakers in the Tech space, if not in general, and having him perform his provocative and inspiring material is always a big draw card for many tech geeks globally. Simon made a revolution-like call to arms for crypto lovers everywhere, paraphrasing the oft-quoted saying misattributed to Gandhi (it was more directly spoken by unionist Nicholas Klein): “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” From this narrative, he posits that we are entering the “fighting phase” of crypto’s evolution, and we need to be prepared for an almighty battle.

A CAPE TOWN SUNSET

And just like that, Crypto Fest 2019 was over. After a little thank you to the sponsors and a Skype Call (via Quantum Wormhole Reader) from the future, the sun was setting on a scintillating Cape Town sea, and it was time for purple and blue crypto cocktails and an afterparty at a venue to remember.

The day had seen hundreds of new ideas sparked, countless opportunities created through serendipitous meetings, and minds educated to what is possible with cryptoassets. The overwhelming narrative not only at Cryptofest but even at recent events around the country, is that the finance and investment industry is undergoing an almighty upheaval, and that upheaval may well cause clampdowns and restrictions, but it is an inevitable upheaval, and those down the rabbit hole first, will know exactly how to behave at the Mad Tea Party.

Here’s to the Mad Hatters changing the world!