Real Talk: Why You Really Need to Come to The Capital

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By now, you must have noticed the new appearance of a blue banner extending across the top of the CoinMarketCap homepage — the one right below our most-loved header banner advertisements! This dedicated space hosts our announcements for The Capital, CoinMarketCap’s inaugural global conference. 

Our stellar team, who has been busy putting this event together is so grateful to have the support of many companies and speakers in our industry. They’ve set aside their own time and resources in order to partake in our event. We’ve often been asked, “Why are you holding an event and why we should attend?” Our aim is to make this the highlight of 2019 for all of our attendees. Let me try to address that in a way that paints the full picture.

CoinMarketCap is the leading site for cryptocurrency information today in the world. We started from humble beginnings, listing all 6 of the top cryptocurrencies on the site in 2014: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Peercoin, Namecoin, Primecoin, and Novacoin. Since then, we’ve seen an explosion of activity in the space and are now tracking over 2000 cryptocurrencies, 200 exchanges, and 10000 trading pairs in the market… And this is using our extremely selective process for listings! 

CoinMarketCap is the place to discover the best exchanges, top projects and new information about the industry — some will call us the front page of the cryptocurrency industry.

The Capital is Where Unique Journeys Converge

If you run a quick poll in the industry, you come to realize that people hear about cryptocurrencies through their social network. Some of us learn about Bitcoin from our gamer friend who’s grinding on the MMORPG and needs to get his items sold. The majority of Wall Street heard about Bitcoin when the price of the asset continuously climbed to $20,000. Many students of computer science and cryptography bought into the concept after they perused the Bitcoin whitepaper written under the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. Some of us, upon hearing about cryptocurrencies for the first time, performed the search “buy bitcoin” on our default search engine. 

It is however, only after you take the plunge and make that first coin purchase that the rabbit hole opens up, revealing a bottomless valley of information to sort through. Your curiosity might lead you to investigate the different tokens out there support compelling technologies. Aware that you’re treading on a new frontier, you might try to document your cryptocurrency discoveries. Now more adept, you begin to pay attention to the price differences across exchanges, and are likely attempt an arbitrage at some point. You might first win some and then lose, or vice versa. It’s all a part of the learning. 

Eventually, you find a crypto niche that suits your tastes. Advanced traders from the financial markets will gravitate towards the derivatives exchanges, and startup founders may opt to invest in token projects that share similar visions. Financially speaking, when it comes to crypto, there’s something in it for everyone. And The Capital is where the diverse crypto population gathers, and shares the lessons they’ve learned. 

A Call for Open, Genuine Speeches

In 2019, we saw a dip in prices across the board, leaving most projects in a grueling struggle for adoption of their services. Even CryptoKitties, which was launched with great success and fervor at the end of 2017, experienced a significant drop in users, with assets being transferred out of the project daily. Exchanges are experiencing lower volumes, leaving users to question where exactly they should be trading. Many projects with interesting technical breakthroughs, meaningful partnerships, and loyal customers are struggling to receive a fair evaluation from the community.

We understand how difficult it is for projects to demonstrate their full capabilities online. Projects that are development-focused allow users to evaluate their progress with defined objectives. On the other hand, there are those that shine better when speaking on stage. We get that. The Capital, CoinMarketCap Global Conference creates a vibrant space for the community to learn more about the interesting characters, companies, and trends in our industry. Each year, this occasion will take place in a different capital city. We’ll be announcing the next city at the event, so stay tuned for that!

Key Themes: Liquidity, Adoption

The themes that are in focus this year are liquidity and adoption. Exchanges as intermediaries exist in all shapes and forms, from centralized to decentralized, spot, futures, options, regulated or non-regulated, brokerage, order-book, fiat to crypto, and crypto-only. We want to offer the founders of exchanges a platform to share the product innovations they’re eyeing and their reasoning behind it. The audience can look forward to take away meaningful insight on the direction these players are looking, and why they think about the industry in certain ways. The competition in the exchange operator space is fiercely competitive; one may argue it’s the most competitive space within the industry because it holds records for the largest outsized returns.

For non-trading projects such as Ethereum, Algorand, Vechain, V Systems, Chainlink, Algorand, Hedera and Flow, etc, it’s important that their vision and breakthroughs are shared by the wider community. We anticipate the inspiration that will stem from hearing what the teams are working on, with the funding they’ve accumulated. Some projects like Grin, launched solely with donations from their supporters. Every project in the industry has a unique backstory, surrounded by community members, customers, and skeptics. Fundamentally, the founders and developers behind a project are the drivers of the project’s purpose. Attendees should have the chance to interact and hear directly from the team to determine if they agree with their point of view. This type of dialogue is something we’d like to provide at The Capital.

On the Verge of Safe, Digital, Money

The role of cryptocurrencies in our society is discussed from a wide array of perspectives. There are camps of people creating the narrative that Bitcoin is digital gold. Many developers look to Ethereum and other projects as the solution for decentralized finance. Libra, created as a representation of a basket of sovereign fiat currencies is dubbed by some as the future of money. Whatever the storyline, it’s clear that many believe we’re now constructing the monetary layer of the Internet. Traditional systems such as Visa and Mastercard that transfer fiat currencies are no longer the gold-standard. There is a growing community that believes in constructing better solutions and is voluntarily putting its dollars behind its bets.

What You Can Expect at CoinMarketCap’s First Crypto Event

An event is never entertaining without a small amount of suspense, controversy, and fun. There are a few select luminaries who have inspired us and have agreed to join. We want to shine the light (not too brightly) on some of these individuals and people. Step foot into The Capital, and you’ll see the well-cited researchers, and hear anonymous founders speak publicly for the first time. You can expect interactive experiences, admire the hallways that are displaying original artwork created just for the event, and yes, receive complimentary gifts when you step foot in the venue. We exist in an age of rapid information with constant distractions. As your conference host, our priority is to ensure the content is engaging the attendees and satisfying their curiosities. If you’re glued to your seats during the speeches, panels, and fireside chats, we’ll have succeeded in a small way.

Networking and meeting old, and new friends is a major reason to attend events. We will be hosting after-parties on both days of the event with our esteemed sponsors and partners. At sunset, after the agenda has been successfully deployed, the “day” is only beginning. Some of the best connections are forged over a mutually interesting activity — drinks, poker, local eats, and exhibitions? Select one of the various side events hosted by the community; there will be something for everyone. While we’re hosting the conference and a few after-parties, we hope to be invited to your events as well — don’t forget us!And as the first offline gathering of the CoinMarketCap community draws to a close, we hope you walk away with a stack of business cards, memories shared on social media with #TheCapital, notebooks that have captured phrases of brilliance, and hearts filled with excitement to meet us in a different continent, in 2020. Take note and check back on the event site to get on the registration list for next year’s event. We’ll see you there!

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