RelayNode NYC #3 - May 27
Welcome to RelayNode NYC Area edition! The NYC blockchain ecosystem is growing rapidly. My goal is to harness its energy, expertise, and innovation for the benefit of New Yorkers and provide a weekly curated list of interesting content and upcoming events.
NYC Blockchain Week is finally upon us with many activities and events going on throughout the week.
RelayNode Links: Sign up | Submit events
RelayNode NYC is curated by:
David Gogel
Associate @ Techstars' Blockchain Accelerator fmr Co-president @ Wharton FinTech
Things to read
Today, Ethereum is the leading smart contract platform. This is primarily because it was the first of its kind. Ethereum is theoretically capable of encoding any conceivable logic, in practice, it’s rather limited because of throughput, latency, and cost constraints. Because of these limits, developers are choosing to build on other chains at an increasing pace. Kyle Samani from Multicoin Capital explores what applications are being unbundled from Ethereum, what applications are increasingly bundling around Ethereum, and what are the long-term implications for ETH’s monetary premium.
Ethereum 2.0 is on the way. Early this month Prysmatic Labs team launched the most-complete public testnet for the first phase of the Ethereum 2.0 network which uses the Prysm client. The Ethereum Foundation issued an update stating its plans to spend $30 million on key projects in the Ethereum ecosystems. $19 million will be dedicated to Ethereum 2.0 specific projects, including client development state channels and plasma, formal verification, smart contract languages, and eWASM. $3 million will be put towards developer education, community event organization, and additional non-infrastructural improvements
I was a victim of SIM swapping last November. It was a terrifying experience, which I naturally recapped in a blog post. Over the course of several months, I worked with the Manhattan DA’s office to locate and testify against my hacker, who was eventually indicted, representing the first prosecution for SIM swapping by authorities in New York. While this provided some sense of closure, it hurts to see the vulnerability persist and hear from other victims. Sean Coonce, engineering leadership at BitGo, was recently a victim and provides details about the hack. Don’t wait till it’s too late to secure your online identity and digital assets.
Events this week:
CoinFund Rabbithole Talks with Slava Balasanov (Relevant) (Free)
When: Tuesday, May 28, 2019, 7:00– 9:00 PM
Where: Pete's Candy Store, 709 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbithole Talks is a monthly CoinFund meetup, focused on doing deep dives into innovative token economics and technical design decisions for interesting blockchain-based projects. Join us for our May 2019 meetup on 5/28 with Slava Balasanov, Founder of Relevant! Slava will lead a discussion about designing mechanisms for measuring trust and how Relevant Prediction Market design differs from traditional Curation Markets.
Moving Forward Conference NYC 2019 ($234 with 50% discount code FRIENDSMFNYC19)
When: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 8:00-6:00 PM
Where: Metropolitan West, 639 West 46th Street, New York, NY
The Moving Forward Conference is an event celebrating innovation, thought-provoking conversations, and meaningful connections bringing executives, tech founders, startups, creatives, and industry leaders with a curiosity and passion for new ideas, innovations and emerging trends together to inspire and shape the digital future together. This year’s focus includes digital transformation trends such as AI, blockchain, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, design, fintech, health, green tech, marketing, media, mobility, and social media.
Harnessing the Power of Payments on the Blockchain (Free)
When: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 7:00-9:00 PM
Where: AWS Loft, 350 W Broadway, New York, NY
From microtransactions to mobile and cross-border payments, gain insights to the advantages and key considerations for startups that adopt this new financial infrastructure. Speakers include Tammy Camp (Founder & CEO of Stronghold) and Max Krohn (Co-founder & CEO of Keybase).
Upcoming events
2019 Blockchain for Impact Summit ($250)
When: Saturday, June 4, 2019, 9:30-6:00pm
Where: United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY 10017
Members of Blockchain for Impact community are invited to participate in an exciting series of impact-oriented events and task forces throughout the year. Through the Commission, Blockchain for Impact members will engage with Government, the United Nations system, industry leaders, impact leaders to discuss and implement industry governance, regulatory standards, and social impact projects, working closely with SDG related initiatives, Funds, Programs and Specialized Agencies, to apply Blockchain technology to sustainable development and humanitarian challenges.
Blockchains4Hacks (Free)
When: Saturday, June 15th, 2019
Where: TBU
Blockchains4Hacks (B4H) is a hackathon designed to bring blockchain education and awareness to the high school and college level! This hackathon will be open to high schoolers and college students in the NYC area and will be on 6/15. We will have approximately 150-200 students participating in the hackathon.
Notable Conferences
May 31 - SEC Forum on Distributed Ledger Technology and Digital Assets (Washington DC)
June 6-7 - Long Hash Conference (Singapore)
June 20-22 - 40th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (San Francisco)
June 22-24 - Zcon1 - Second Annual Zcash Conference (Croatia)
June 25-26 - Bitcoin 2019 (San Francisco)
June 29-30 - Ethereum Tech and Applications Conference (Beijing)
July 4-5 - Asia Blockchain Summit (Taipei)
July 24 - Mining Disrupt (Miami)
August 20-29 - Berlin Blockchain Week (Berlin)
October 8-11 - Devcon 5 (Osaka, Japan)
October 21-23 - ACM: Advances in Financial Technologies (Zurich)
