More than buzz at the Malta Blockchain Summit

Malta has set its sails to become the new crypto and blockchain hotspot in Europe. With the Malta Blockchain Summit it has made a large step into this direction. The number of attendees hits the 8,500 mark – 3,500 more than expected – and made the idea of the “Blockchain Island” pretty vibrant. Genesis Mining and its Partner DQR provided not only one of the keynote presentations, but also won the “Mining Initiative of the Year Award 2018”, respectively the “Best Careers Programm Award”.

One of the main purposes of the event was to raise awareness of Maltas blockchain-friendly jurisdiction. With its new regulatory framework, the small Island in the mediterranean sea has made headlines repeatedly when it comes to its stance on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Considering a number of notable companies, including Binance and Bittrex, which established a branch on the island, the government’s work is bearing fruit.

Consequently, no one less than Joseph Muscat, the Prime Minister of Malta, welcomed the participants in his conference speech. “Some may call it the future, but I call it the present”, was one of his statements. There was also a touch of glamour in the air, as her Excellency, the Presidency of Malta, Marie Louise Coleiro, attended the summit at the Award Evening.

With about 100 speakers and 150 sponsors and exhibitors, Malta not only made up the concept of “Blockchain Island”, but has also succeeded in attracting experts from all over the world, presenting their projects and applications of the Blockchain as well as AI, Big Data, Quantum Technology and IoT. E.g. Malta native Angelo Dali, CEO of Umnai, a company building ethical AI solutions, and renown for his work in artificial intelligence (AI) iGaming and now blockchain, presented a project connecting AI and blockchain in the field of art. And he is certain on the potential of combining these ground-breaking technologies. With coingeek.com he shared “(…) I think this will revolutionize also the way that auctions are done, the way that pricing is done, to bring transparency into the art world”.

One of the companies, which already succeeded in revolutionizing – at least in the financial industry – is Genesis Mining. Our CEO and CO-Founder of Genesis Group, Marco Streng, was listed as on of the keynote speakers, and part of a panel discussing “Permissioned vs Permissionless Blockchains”. On top of that, Genesis Mining was rewarded with the “Mining Initiative of the Year Award 2018”. Reason for the nomination was our Radiant project, the most efficient cryptocurrency mining technology to date. Besides us Monero and Chaintech were nominated. Parallel, DQR, a close partner of us, got the “Best Careers Programm Award” – leading to a double delight for the Genesis Mining and DQR delegation.

For those who missed it, here’s a video featuring our CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Kristian Haehndel’s presentation with @Marco_Streng the CEO and Co-Founder of @GenesisMining on ‘Crossing the Crypto Chasm’. Check it out! @BlockchainMT https://t.co/0YbfphoGIC

— DQR (@DQR_Group) November 8, 2018

Everyone attending the Summit commended on the Maltese attitude towards their future plans as Blockchain Island. Also our CEO Marco Streng believes businesses in the blockchain space need certainty from the regulator and this is exactly what Malta is now able to offer:

“I think it’s remarkable to see Malta really stepping forward in a very progressive way. They want to make this the “Blockchain Island” and they are putting a lot of incentive and efforts into the regulatory framework to basically give the companies that are coming here more regulatory certainty which is an essential driver for that.”

Summarizing the message of the event, he added: “I think it’s also a great example for other countries and we will probably have other countries to follow that and that’s a whole new push on a global scale.”

So Malta – it seems, your sails are pointing in the right direction – keep the course.

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