Photo by Alexandre Battibugli / Source: blockchainfestival.com.br

The first edition of the Blockchain Festival in São Paulo, Brazil took place on May 23rd and had an audience of 515 people and 27 speakers and specialists from different areas of the blockchain space.

The Event

Photo by Alexandre Battibugli / Source: blockchainfestival.com.br

The Blockchain Festival featured specialists from different areas such as bankers, lawyers, professors, investors and also from companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Consensys, Ethereum Foundation and blockchain startups and projects such as Paratii, Iconic, Democracy.earth and myself from Auctus.

The talks and presentations included a conceptual introduction to the technology, case studies, discussion panels and the decentralized web and smart contracts explained by Alex Van de Sande from Ethereum.

The four discussion panels were about: how blockchain is changing the way companies interact and do business, regulation, ICOs vs. IPOs and how the technology can improve everyday life.

This event was different from the others we attended in May, that were more development-focused. At the Blockchain Festival, I presented Auctus from a business perspective and the case study of using blockchain technology and smart contracts for retirement planning. The festival was aimed at providing a better understanding of the blockchain for the traditional businesses that are trying to catch-up with the advances in the technology.