Recap of the Crypto Assets Conference (CAC21A) - 5300 Participants, COVID-19 Moved us Online
Affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and current regulatory efforts to accommodate the crypto revolution, digital assets are experiencing a boost in popularity on a private and institutional level. This addresses a huge spectrum of topics such as Bitcoin, crypto assets, and decentralized finance; digital securities and infrastructure as well as the digital Euro and identity. Together with executives, founders, investors, and representatives of public institutions, we shed light on these topics and discussed the latest developments in the world of crypto at the CAC21A from May 31 till June 2, 2021. During the 3-day conference, visitors experienced a diverse set of speeches, discussions, panels, and pitches - this year for the first time completely online. — Authors: Philipp Sandner, Jakob Otto, Marla Bläsius
CAC in a novel format and breaking records
The Crypto Assets Conference (CAC) is organized every year by the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center, headed by Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandner, and is the leading European conference on crypto assets. With the CAC, we aim to provide a platform to discuss ideas and inspire people. This time we have once again broken a new participation record despite the pandemic-related obstacles we faced.
We originally planned to hold the conference in 2021 in the well-proven hybrid format as in the previous year. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and the corresponding restrictions we were forced to offer the conference completely online for participants. However, enormous demand and very positive feedback proved that the CAC21A was an inspiring and informative conference. As can be seen in Figure 1, with over 5300 participants, we managed to break a new participation record.
The speakers were invited to convey the feeling of a regular conference, which is why we invited the speakers to give their contribution at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management — only without an audience on site. All keynotes, presentations, and panel discussions that were streamed through the Frankfurt School conference platform were made accessible for all the attendees. This made it possible to follow the conference live and to watch it again afterward.
During the CAC21A, the participants had the opportunity to experience over 80 presentations, panel discussions, and startup pitches. Participants were able to gather detailed information about the latest developments in the crypto sphere through the presence of more than 100 organizations. The spectrum of companies ranged from start-ups and large banks to important representatives from the public sector. We, therefore, brought together a massive amount of crypto knowledge and were able to address all currently relevant topics from the respective interest groups.
Arrangement of the CAC21A in three different subject-related conference days
To account for the latest developments in the crypto ecosystem and enable a defined thematic focus, we divided the conference into three different subject-related topics: (1) Bitcoin, Crypto Assets, and Decentralized Finance; (2) Digital Securities and Infrastructure; (3) Digital Euro and Identities (see Figure 3). The following links below will let you rewatch the whole conference for free.
Day 1 | Bitcoin, Crypto Assets and Decentralized Finance | May 31, 2021
https://fs.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=0b1167a9-ae99-4965-a186-ad1a0129896c
Day 2 | Digital Securities and Infrastructure | June 1, 2021
https://fs.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=7a4fbcf0-7870-4640-ba2f-ad1800d29c47
Day 3 | Digital Euro and Identities | June 2, 2021
https://fs.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=62a28d7d-27c6-4582-a7eb-ad1800d2e59e
High-profile speakers and sponsors
We are grateful to the almost 150 speakers for their contribution and support for this year’s Crypto Assets Conference. They delivered insightful presentations and contributed through interesting panel discussions. This diverse group of speakers — coming from a wide range of industries — have most certainly enriched the public discourse on crypto and blockchain. Among many others, speakers came from Bitmex, Börse Stuttgart, Deutsche Börse and the ECB. We also thank all of our sponsors whose generous support was vital for the success of the whole event. Figure 4 provides an overview of the sponsors of the CAC21A.
Presentations and photos
In order to give the attendees the best chance to recapitulate the conference and to distribute the input of the speakers even further, we collected all presentations of this year’s conference and have offered around 40 presentation slides to the participants.
The Telegram group
To increase interaction and networking during the conference, we have created both a participation list for post-event networking and a Telegram group with over 1000 participants. This enabled the audience to share questions regarding presentations, keynotes, and panel discussions, which were then forwarded to the moderator. Furthermore, the Telegram group allowed participants to provide feedback and communicate with other participants. Below are some impressions from the chat:
“Amazing conference! Great job to everyone who contributed and thanks to all attendees.”
“Thank you for the great conference, there were a lot of interesting presentations and panel discussions. It is especially valuable that one can rewatch the entire conference. Thanks!”
“It was an amazing learning event, covering almost all aspects of the blockchain ecosystem.”
It was our pleasure to organize the conference and once again, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our sponsors and speakers for contributing to shaping the world of crypto assets and making the Crypto Assets Conference 2021A possible.
In case you would like to receive more information on the upcoming Crypto Assets Conference, do not hesitate to contact us at team@fs-blockchain.de.
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