We're going to Consensus!
Welcome to this week’s edition of RHIZOME Wire!
A consensus around consensus
While discussions about an organized presence at Consensus — one of the largest and most significant blockchain conference in the world — had been occurring for a few weeks, it was officially announced recently that several P-Reps were collaborating on a way to make sure ICON had a presence at the event.
Here is a quote from RHIZOME’s post announcing the sponsorship:
On average, since the beginning of Consensus in 2015 - the event has attained roughly 3,600 attendees. This year’s consensus is expected to have 5,500 attendees across many different walks of life. With this in mind, it is clear that Consensus is the “big event” and obtaining sponsorship for ICON will accomplish several things.
First and foremost, we want the world and the entire blockchain space to know ICON is not “dead”. Attendance in events with the magnitude such as Consensus is expected for many leading projects in the blockchain space. Rumors or negative remarks may spark when industry leading projects don’t attend, as attendance in an event such as Consensus is almost universally expected - especially for a industry leading project such as ICON.
More than a dozen P-Reps are participating in one manner or another. Here is a breakdown of what each participating team will be contributing:
UBIK Capital: Has organized and spearheaded the Consensus 2020 sponsorship initiative. UBIK Capital will provide funding, leading the planning and setup of the booth, and will aid in running it during the conference.
ICONation: Has committed funding and will assist in creating static ads to be displayed in the main ballroom area as well as manning the booth. ICONation will also bring camera equipment and obtain footage/conduct interviews during the event.
RHIZOME: Has committed funding and will create brochures for people who come to ICON’s booth. RHIZOME will also be bringing high-end video/audio equipment and obtain coverage from the event and conduct interviews with other notable projects/attendees.
WeBloc: Will be assisting with running the booth, and demonstrating a DApp running on the ICON network. This will give attendees a chance to interact with a team who is actively building on ICON.
ICONVIET: Has committed funding, will be assisting in video production and manning the booth.
Mineable: Has committed funding and will create several videos to be played on a loop in the main ballroom area. Mineable will also assist in the creation of static ads to be played in the ballroom area in front of thousands of attendees.
Catalyst: Has committed funding, helped organize, and plan the Consensus 2020 sponsorship initiative.
SymmetrySLC: Has committed funding for sponsorship.
ICON Chicago: Has committed funding for sponsorship.
Parrot 9: Will be assisting in providing infographics to use at the booth for people passing by and/or stopping by to see. Parrot 9 will also help with other areas requiring graphics usage.
ICON DAO: Will be assisting in helping set up a broof demo at ICON’s booth. ICON DAO also plans to be present in the booth area and helping attendees who stop by ICON’s booth learn more about ICON.
Reliant Node: Will provide several hundred gift cards to give away at Consensus to people who stop by and complete a demo at ICON’s booth. These gift cards will be powered by their newly launched “Marvelous” ICON gift card service.
Sometimes, conferences can simply be excuses for people to socialize and party; sometimes, they can be immensely valuable. Most of the time, the value you obtain from participating in an event like this is proportional to the amount you put in.
Based on the above list, it’s clear that ICON will be walking away having made an impact, both on the convention-goers themselves, but on the project’s reputation as well. Beyond simply getting in front of more eyeballs from leaders in the blockchain industry, here are some other possible benefits for ICON:
An opportunity to make a positive impact in the eyes of leading voices in blockchain. It’s one thing to impress some random blockchain enthusiast, but it’s another to make a strong, positive impression on those who are viewed as leading voices in the blockchain community. This category also includes the media, who will almost certainly have a strong presence at Consensus.
The ability to interact with other projects within the blockchain community - either entire networks, or more specific applications — on possible collaborative efforts with ICON. By having a physical presence, these discussions and opportunities are more likely to present themselves.
There will likely be a number of developers attending Consensus, either as hobbyists or those looking more seriously for the leading blockchain opportunities. By making a strong case for the development possibilities on ICON, we can potentially work to recruit some of these interested developers.
Ultimately, attendance, participation, and sponsorship in a conference provides the opportunity for both retail marketing (although on a more limited level) and business-to-business marketing (which has been ICON’s primary focus since the inception of the project.
Is this initiative likely to spark any game changing news or partnerships? Not likely. But at this point, the success of ICON will be delivered through dozens of smaller accomplishments and victories. Participation at Consensus can certainly plant the seeds for a few of those.
However, with the rise of COVID-19 concerns, the event is being monitored carefully and a decision will be made accordingly regarding a continuance/rescheduling for next year prior. Accordingly, it has been announced just today Consensus 2020 will still take place amid COVID-19 concerns, except it will be hosted virtually.
Discussion is currently underway to host Consensus 2021 and/or utilize some of the options presented by CoinDesk for this year’s virtual conference.
News from ICON World
The third community P-Rep meeting has been uploaded!
weBloc hosts a trading competition following a recent exchange listing
Following the recent listing of WOK on Probit Global, weBloc has decided to begin a trading competition to incentivize users to trade WOK on the exchange and win up to 4.72M WOK total from the prize pool.
My-ID v. Competition
In this week’s ICON newsletter, a long awaited explainer on My-ID is provided in the form of two infographics shared within the newsletter.
Balanced has released a new roadmap
This week, Balanced released a high-level roadmap and also ascertained their increased scope for the project. Currently, the release is slated for Q1 of 2021. To learn more about Balanced and what exactly it is, be sure to read some of our past publications breaking down the ambitious project extensively.
ICON announces its new ICONLOOP employee participation program
Recently, ICON has announced that ICONLOOP employees will be mitigated from being restricted to limited to work they are allowed to conduct on the public chain. Accordingly, there will be two programs through which ICONLOOP employees will be able to be rewarded for their work and efforts done on the public chain.
This is a positive move for a few reasons, the biggest of which - having the public chain benefit from the extremely skilled and talented developers at ICONLOOP. Secondly, Min Kim shared some additional insight on twitter ascertaining why the decision was made.
ICONation has released ICONSwap
IISS 3.0 proposal has been released
Recently, ICON shared their new vision and details surrounding the newest revisions planned for IISS (ICON Incentives Scoring System) - IISS 3.0.
RHIZOME Report EP16 has been released!
Reliant Node teases a new project in development
Blockchain Industry News
Kraken Exchange Pledges India Expansion as Nation Reopens for Crypto Business - CoinDesk
In its post, Kraken said it was "thrilled" to see the Reserve Bank of India's ban overturned, and would "recommit resources to grow its service in the region through new features and offerings." Among those was a hint it may target the massive remittance market in India, with Kraken keen to help Indians save and "send value" to friends and family overseas.
Figure Technologies Securitizes $150M of Home Equity Loans on Blockchain - CoinDesk
Figure says it can approve a HELOC in five minutes and fund the loan in five days instead of the typical 30 to 60 days. The firm claims its technology could save $30 billion in costs for the $3 trillion annual securitization market if applied widely.
US judge throws out Craig Wright’s latest excuse - Decrypt
Wright's latest argument is that a lawyer holds the documents, and therefore his “communications are privileged.” His wife had also dealt with the lawyer, so he claimed he had spousal privilege. And Wright claimed these documents were connected to 17 companies, another reason for not spilling the beans.
Trolls drive "CEO of XRP" to abandon Ripple - Decrypt
Previously one of the most popular proponents of XRP, Hayden could regularly be found discussing the benefits of the cryptocurrency over competitors, as well as sharing financial insights to her more than 76,000 Twitter followers. However, it appears that the negative backlash she received over some of her more controversial tweets and opinions made her a target for XRP trolls and passionate investors.
Watching ads with this web browser now pays for HBO, Hulu - Decrypt
The browser, which uses a “blockchain-based advertising model,” gives users 70 percent of revenue share through its BAT, according to Brave. Now users who earn BAT can redeem those tokens through the TAP Network for gift cards at various retailers—but only if those users have verified their wallets with crypto exchange Uphold.