BlockShow Americas 2018 kicked off this morning in Las Vegas, gathering over 1,500 attendees and 80 speakers from the blockchain industry from more than 50 countries worldwide to discuss the hottest topics that affect the blockchain community.

Today, the Main Stage brought into focus governmental initiatives, blockchain’s impact on major industries, and the latest updates on technological and legal aspects, while the Second Stage provided a forum for ideas and conflicting opinions, where companies and global experts challenged each other’s positions.

The conference hosts industry leaders and professionals, who shed light on the disruptive nature of blockchain in the fields of AI, advertisement, real estate, and more. Johanna Maska, Ex-Head of White House Press Advance for President Barack Obama, delivered a speech on the possibility of building democracy with blockchain.

Herb Stephens, co-founder and treasurer at Democracy Earth Foundation, also spoke at the conference about blockchain-powered democracy. Stephens argued that “corruption exists in centralized databases. We are moving from corruptible to incorruptible.” Dmitry Matskevich, CEO and co-founder of Dbrain added:

“Democracy is about inclusion of minorities and those without access including to technology. Ability [sic] to distribute the power from majority to minority.”

Bobby Lee, board member of the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange BTCC, spoke about the “freedom of money.” According to Lee, financial institutions and regulators currently “have absolute control over your money.” He said:

“For me the crypto revolution is about freedom of money. Like freedom of speech.”

The famous Bitcoin advocate also outlined the top four mistakes to avoid in crypto investment; indecisiveness in investing, not buying enough, selling after a small gain, and selling after a panic crash.

The conference continued with debates on how proper regulation can foster blockchain development, featuring both industry players and tax, law, and accounting experts. Julian Zegelman, angel investor and founding partner at TMT Blockchain Fund, argued that the industry has been experiencing “jurisdictional agnosticism.”

Discussing challenges for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), Naeem Aslam, CMA at ThinkMarkets and columnist at Forbes, said that “price stability is the key factor for ICOs and regulations.” Andrew L. Rossow, attorney and Adjunct Law Professor, commented:

“It starts with just being smart. Make sure you are protected. Not always believing in what you are seeing.”

Stay tuned to Cointelegraph for more news from BlockShow Americas 2018.