Vitalik Buterin Snubs Consensus Event; Snoop Dogg and Twitter CEO to Appear

Vitalik Buterin, creator of , publically turned down the opportunity to go to the fourth annual Consensus event in New York City. Buterin explained on Twitter that the press has too much power in the affair. He points to the hosts’ reporting policies, one of which says that journalists have the right to decline requests that information stay off the record.

https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/989528945195237376/photo/1

He was also not impressed by the attendance fee of a couple of thousand dollars, saying, “I refuse to personally contribute to that level of rent-seeking.”

However, other celebrities and well-known figures like Snoop Dogg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are attending. Dorsey, a known believer in who once said that it would be the “single currency” of the internet, will be one of the speakers at the event. Other speakers include James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and Frederick Smith, CEO of FedEx (NYSE: ).

Snoop Dogg will be performing in the afterparty hosted by in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan.

Today’s panels include one titled “Mining Boom” and several others oriented around cryptocurrencies, meaning that this isn’t strictly a blockchain-focused event. This is emphasized in that Dorsey’s appearance will be together with Elizabeth Stark, CEO of Lightning Labs.

Consensus’ attendance list shows that cryptocurrencies are starting to become a pop culture phenomenon. Where it once used to attract the attention of very tech-savvy individuals, it now draws in more mainstream attention from celebrities.

Cultural perception is one thing, but perhaps the most crucial moment for this space came earlier this month when Goldman Sachs (NYSE: ) opened up a trading desk for Bitcoin, which observers claim forces Wall Street to take notice of the technology.