“Everything is bigger in Texas” proved to be true during Consensus 2022. The crypto conference took place June 9–12 in Austin, Texas, this year, attracting 17,000 people from across the globe, despite the 100-degree plus weather. According to the event sponsors, Consensus 2018, which was held at the Hilton Hotel in New York, had previously drawn in almost 9,000 attendees.
Caitlin Long, CEO of Custodia — the Wyoming-based digital asset bank — told Cointelegraph that the event this year speaks volumes. “New York has sent a lot of this industry fleeing to places like Austin, Wyoming and Miami. It will be interesting to see if New York makes a comeback.”
Aside from its new location, current market conditions were another defining factor of the event. However, attendees remained optimistic about the crypto ecosystem as a whole. In general, new projects and the rise of Web3 were the main discussion points rather than cryptocurrency prices. Ray Youssef, founder and CEO of Paxful — a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplace — told Cointelegraph that crypto winters allow for building phases to start, which he fully supports. “We are now seeing projects build platforms that are real and empowering.”
Building the crypto ecosystem in a bear market
To Youssef’s point, Web3 and new tools to advance crypto ecosystems were hot topics of discussion. For example, Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares — a digital asset investment firm — told Cointelegraph that despite the bear market, she has seen an increase in people interested in different facets of the crypto industry:
“There are different niches and pockets of crypto I’m now seeing, some of which I haven’t even heard of. For example, the STEPN group is here, which is a whole move-to-earn movement. The music NFT and fashion NFT scene is also big here. These are newer communities I’ve read about and have engaged with, but seeing them congregate and host their own events has been really fun.”
Demirors gave a keynote at the event on cults and how the crypto community is currently creating shared identity, belief systems and lifestyle rituals around emerging projects. “Cults usually have a negative connotation, but there is a massive crisis of meaning in our world today. People no longer focus on their occupation, religion or nationality. Crypto is filling this interesting role, bringing together people through memes, capitalism and community values,” she explained. As…
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