Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney left me standing for Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio as European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde walked by the convention center at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
And somehow that was only the second most surreal thing that happened to me this week.
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The badgelessThe narrativeA verynice gentleman I met in Davos told me that there were about 2,500 official delegates at the World Economic Forum (WEF) this year, and about 3,500 people from the crypto industry on the promenade outside the main event.
Why this is importantCryptoindustry
participation inthe meeting and side events outside the event should be a signal. The crypto industry should be taken seriously as an industry. However, setting up a "house" in Davos on the famous promenade outside the main WEF meeting serves to get your name out there and show that you have a real brand. It's not about getting a quick return on investment. As the crypto market continues its recent bear market (amid general economic turmoil), the question is what that return actually looks like.
Broken downCrypto hasarrived.
For two consecutive days, I met people involved in the crypto industry on the train on the way back to my AirBnB after the WEF Annual Meeting panels. Attendees who were outside the convention center where the main panels were held were confronted with posters and advertisements from various crypto companies. Panelists in various sessions brought up crypto without being asked. I attended a dinner hosted by a company unrelated to cryptocurrencies and met someone there who had invested in certain cryptocurrencies years ago (and he was the second crypto investor I met at a dinner!).
It's clear that this industry is on people's minds in some form or another. The question is whether the crypto presence was worth it.
Industry participants paid a lot for the privilege of putting their banners on various buildings. No one gave specific numbers, but this is Davos. In a normal year, companies compete with financial giants and highly touted technology firms. This year, Accenture, SalesForce, Meta (formerly Facebook) and surveillance company Palantir have set up shop.
Moving Davos to May seems to have really shaken things up. Numerous people have told me that this year's event was much smaller than usual. It certainly ended very abruptly, as the security gates cordoning off the convention center were very quickly dismantled early Thursday afternoon, even though the event was theoretically still in progress.
In other words, it is possible, even plausible, that the crypto industry was able to exploit a gap in normal sponsorship to get its foot in the door, so to speak. It is far too early to know if they will be able to replicate this during a normal WEF meeting (the next one will be held January 15-20, 2023). Matthew Blake, head of the Future of Financial and Monetary Systems at the WEF, told me that there would be no crypto panels at the annual meeting unless several parties were interested.
"Everything we do on a thematic and research basis has a multi-stakeholder property," Blake said. "That's kind of at the core of what we do. And the answer is absolutely, I mean, I think one of the key areas where we've seen strong interest from central banks around the world is in the area of [central bank digital currency] ... We're doing interviews around the world with members of parliament, central bank authorities, finance ministers, and so on. I think it's a combination of trying to understand and stay abreast of developments in this area."
Even central bankers and financial regulators, while not necessarily welcoming cryptocurrencies with open arms, are at least tolerating the sector.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, speaking on a panel discussing central bank digital currencies, said there should be no retreat from the cryptocurrency sector, adding that it is important to "separate apples from oranges and bananas."
Others explicitly advocated for regulation.
Here are some thoughts on how the CoinDesk team approached this year's event and what we can or should do next year.
First, I overestimated our access to reliable internet. A few of you pinged on Telegram, but those messages usually arrived hours later and didn't load when the notifications arrived. So that was definitely an unpleasant surprise.
Considering how much happened this week, I definitely started planning a little late.
Still, given all the vagaries and setbacks, I'm really proud of the team we sent. On the reporting side, we had myself, Sandali Handagama, and Helene Braun, both of whom I think did an excellent job (more of their reporting to follow next week).
I also didn't realize that the whole thing was going to be non-stop. I did expect it to be a bit chaotic, but it felt much more like Consensus 2018 than Consensus 2019 (the real Mid-Gs here know what I'm talking about). Still, to be clear, I think it was both a fun and productive time.
Speaking of which
. Consensus 2022CoinDeskwill bein Austin, Texas, June 9-12 for Consensus 2022, the long-awaited return of our IRL event after two years of virtual forums. It's going to be exciting!
On Friday, June 10, I will be moderating a one-on-one conversation with Deputy Finance Minister Adewale Adeyemo. If you would like to ask a question, email [email protected] with your request. I will be asking the best questions on stage.
We will also have a panel discussion with a team from the Federal Reserve on innovation and the role of the Federal Reserve. You can also send your questions for the Fed representatives to [email protected].
Some other interesting panels:
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam and former CFTC Commissioner Dawn Stump will participate in a fireside chat with CoinDesk Chief Content Officer Michael Casey.
- We will have a digital dollar debate with Dante Disparte, Rohan Grey and Caitlin Long, moderated by Angie Lau of Forkast News.
- We will have a Town Hall with a handful of US Senators and Congressmen moderated by Jesse Hamilton of CoinDesk.
We hope to see you in Austin!
Biden's RuleWatch replacementI'llbe honest, I have no idea if anything happened this week. I promise to catch up by Tuesday, though.
Elsewhere:- Crypto is no longer a fringe topic in Davos: our first report from the World Economic Forum's annual meeting, which takes a look at how embedded the industry has become this year.
- Mastercard CEO teases CBDC panel: SWIFT may not exist in 5 years: That was an odd question. Was Michael Miebach joking? Who knows. Sure, why not, let's take it that way.
- (Associated Press) I'm going to be incredibly serious for a second: A few nights ago, news broke that a lone gunman entered a school and shot over a dozen children and two teachers. At the time of this writing, 19 children and two adult teachers have been killed. It's heartbreaking and infuriating, and it's really crazy that something like this could happen nearly 10 years after the Sandy Hook bombing in Connecticut. The AP has a report on the sequence of events.
If you have thoughts or questions about what I should discuss next week, or if you want to give me any other feedback, feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Twitter @nikhileshde.
You can also join the group discussion on Telegram.
I'll see you next week!