During the week of April 22nd, the vibrant island of Curaçao set the stage for the first edition of the Curaçao Blockchain Week. The week was filled with many events focusing on different aspects of blockchain technology with the goal to increase blockchain awareness and form a DAO pilot group.
The events were hosted at Blockchain Labs, a co-working space and shared-office for blockchain projects in Curaçao. Due to the great location and facilities, Blockchain Labs turned out to be the perfect venue for this event.
Some highlights of #CBW2019
- Facilitated a 2-day DAO workshop funded by Genesis, the community DAO of DAOstack. Douglas Kent, Full Stack Developer at DAOstack even flew over to assist in the workshop.
- Hosted a very diverse line-up of presentations with IBIS management(CUR), Unibright (NL), Shannon Clarke (BAR), and PundiX (BRA) all presenting about the topics they know best.
- Welcomed a grand total of 230+ attendees coming from 6 countries!
- Sold cryptocurrencies at the Kingsday festival in the city.
- Currently preparing a pilot DAO project in Curaçao together with the community.
Summary
April 22nd
The week started with the Introduction to Blockchain & Crypto session. During this session, we covered the basics of Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrencies. To our surprise, the attendees picked up everything very quickly. We did a small Kahoot to test the knowledge and almost all answers were answered correctly (even those related to PoW and more technical concepts). To wrap it up, we did a live demo on how to create a multi-currency cryptocurrency wallet. The entire workshop was recorded and can be watched here!
April 23rd
One of the biggest fintech companies in the Caribbean, IBIS Management Associates, hosted a session for Financial Institutions. The session was well attended by local financial institutions and even the Minister of Finance of Curaçao joined the session. The speakers from IBIS Management explained how blockchain creates faster, more secure and cheaper payment settling and gave a brief introduction on how to implement Blockchain.
Later that day CBN hosted a session on the Current state of Blockchain & Crypto. We covered more advanced topics such as different types of blockchains, alternative consensus algorithms, interoperable blockchains, on-chain governance and described the latest blockchain developments in the Caribbean.
April 24th
Unibright.io hosted the Blockchain for Business session. Jack Wiering, community manager at Unibright, gave the audience an introduction to how enterprises and SME businesses can benefit from the use of blockchain. Additionally, we covered multiple use-cases of blockchain for Curaçao and had a good brainstorm session with the community.
During the first day of the Future of Organization workshop, we analyzed why current organization and governance methods are failing in a complex and interconnected world. Douglas Kent from DAOstack introduced the 30 attendees to the concept of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, scalable organizations that allow for collaboration and governance at a grand scale. A DAO could potentially align all stakeholders and give us a real chance at solving the complex challenges of the 21st century.
“A DAO in Curaçao could empower local organizations and individuals to work together from a neutral and trusted ground with easy access to knowledge, resources, and funds all governed by the stakeholders. This DAO would create an environment where current barriers for collaboration, such as race, organizational labels or beliefs do not exist. This fairer ecosystem with clear incentives to do good should lead to a thriving society.”- Luuk Weber
April 25th
On Thursday, Joao Mendes (Brazil) from PundiX hosted the Crypto for Business session specifically for retailers and entrepreneurs who want to implement crypto in their business strategy. The session covered the various use-cases of cryptocurrencies for business and how multiple big organizations are already using cryptocurrencies in their business models. At the end of the session, we did a demo with the XPOS device which allows near-instant payments in cryptocurrencies and has the ability to sell cryptocurrencies in a very user-friendly way.
Later that day Shannon Clarke (Barbados) from Polymath hosted the Getting started with Ethereum Development workshop. In just 4 hours the attendees learned the basics of solidity and programmed their own ERC20 token which they transferred to each other. The session was recorded by a professional film crew and will be released soon.
April 26th
During the second part of the Future of Organization workshop, we used the DAO kitchen method to brainstorm and write down an initial outline for a pilot DAO in Curaçao. You can check out the DAO canvases here.
We aim to run the DAO pilot with the initial group for a period of 7 months with the goal to proof the concept and possibly organize this year’s Innovation Ç event with the DAO.
Later that day we wrapped up the week with a networking event at Beyglz, located in the colorful area of Scharloo.
On Saturday we took the XPOS device to Willemstad to sell some Bitcoin and Ethereum at Kingsday, a national festival where people are allowed to sell products on the streets.
Let’s make it happen
The Curaçao Blockchain Week turned out to be an impressive gathering that brought together a great community. We’re extremely grateful and would like to thank everybody for being involved in CBW2019!
This is however just the beginning. We still have a long road ahead of us, but with enough support and motivation, we will be able to use blockchain to help society thrive.
This movement will only succeed if we all work together! Anybody who wants to leverage technology to improve the region is invited to join.
Get involved in CBN or the DAO pilot project! Reach out us via info@caribbeanblockchain.net or any of our social media pages.
Laga nos uni forsa, p’asina triumfá — Let us unite forces so we can triumph.
From the Anthem of Curaçao.
Written by Luuk Weber
Thanks to Ruben Russel and Doug Kent
Curaçao Blockchain Week Recap was originally published in Caribbean Blockchain Network on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
