The room was beautiful and serene. It was about to be abuzz with enthusiasts from Sydney, Melbourne and even as far as Perth. All coming to hear about how blockchain solutions are going to have a positive impact in the world.

ShareRing had been invited to join fellow Blockchain impact making businesses, PowerLedger and Horizon State to tell their story.

CEO and Co-founder, Tim Bos told the ShareRing story. He kicked off with an introduction to the sharing economy, and how it is about better utilisation of assets; where is single asset is utilised by multiple people, and that we do it every day in ways we might not think of, like a plane ride.

He shared the journey from Keaz to ShareRing in looking for a centralised secure more cost-effective way to enable more sharing.

Highlighting that ShareRing is developing its own blockchain specifically for the sharing economy. Within that blockchain framework would be a booking engine, asset management engine, identity management and reputation management. All enabling the possibility that others can build their own apps and products on top of the ShareRing blockchain.

Tim also highlighted that ShareRing is creating a directory service, a marketplace with apps, where rental businesses will be able to rent out their goods though the ShareRing platform, whilst still retaining their own brand identity; something which doesnt happen in other centralised sharing economy models or platforms.

News about SharePay was released, a new at-the-register payment method — more details on this will follow in September.

David Swan technology journalist with The Australian was the MC and panel host. He, along with audience questions, prompted the panel including Tim, to share thoughts on what’s happening in this sector of the business and tech world.

The questions were diverse:

What has the recent market (re)evaluation of cryptocurrency meant to your business?

What’s your boldest prediction about the impact of blockchain technology?

The process I had to follow to complete KYC did not give me trust in such trust-less systems, how is this going to be addressed?

What are the value signals from your customers that they are exchanging their hard-earned cash for what you are delivering to them (aside from speculative ups and downs of the market)?

How do you think the impact of regulation (i.e. security tokens) will affect your business?

ShareRing: Why are you building your own blockchain and what technology approach are you taking?

Others: How do you see growth in your platforms if the structures they are built on do not, or can not, scale? Does this hinder success or adoption of the platforms?

What are the benefits and drawbacks of doing an ICO? What are three simple tips where you could have done better with ICO?

What are your communication strategies at a time when the market is depressed? What are you doing to make others feel more enthusiastic about your project?

With your very revolutionary projects, that offer advantage over what is out there, how are you finding the response from industry and where do you think you are in the adoption of your technologies?

The panel’s answers informed and inspired the crowd — answers too rich to expand on here in a short blog! One point was clear — these are people developing blockchain businesses and intending to make very good businesses that solve real problems. And they all value their highly engaged communities.

The event attracted existing and new ShareRing fans who said, “we love this idea”, and “I can see so many possibilities”. One person, from local government, shared an inspiring possibility about how the substantial assets of councils, could make revenue for councils when they weren’t being used in council business. Sounds like an excellent situation for addressing underutilisation and enabling access to high value equipment that wouldn’t ordinarily be available!

Tim and the ShareRing team mixed with the crowd and got to meet in person some of the fans they’d only known by name in the Telegram group. Photos were taken with big smiles all around — the feeling of excitement was mutual. It was fascinating to hear the stories of how people came to know about ShareRing. The word definitely is getting around in the one-to-one conversations and relationships of people who are fans of the ShareRing proposition.

It was a night to celebrate blockchain, innovation and community. Overheard from the crowd: “that was different — the most professional blockchain meetup I’ve been to” and seen on Twitter: “Awesome night … the highest calibre set of speakers I’ve seen on blockchain. Thanks … for a great event and for your work”.