BlockShow Going Online to Celebrate ‘Lost Months of 2020’

BlockShow, an international blockchain event powered by Cointelegraph, along with the well-known San Francisco Blockchain Week, has announced its first-ever online trade show called Unitize. The gathering is going to be held digitally over a week-long period — with new content being delivered to audiences on a near-daily basis, beginning on July 6.

Although the world may have ground to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said the community is “still building, trading and investing.” It’s hoped the virtual extravaganza will celebrate the milestones that have been reached in the “lost months” of 2020, even if many of us continue to stay at home.

Free and interactive

BlockShow said the conference will be a one-stop shop where participants can enjoy live broadcasts, virtual exhibitions, interactive lounges and chat rooms for all-important networking. For those who can’t join the fun online, an audio stream will be running simultaneously so people can keep track of the latest developments while they’re on the move.

Whereas physical events normally have downtime overnight, BlockShow is planning to create an online event that will run 24 hours a day — with free registration. This means that blockchain enthusiasts from around the world will be able to enjoy content in their time zone — with top talent from all four corners of the globe coming together to “share, showcase and collaborate.”

Efforts are being made to ensure that exhibitors can communicate with attendees in an engaging way. From live chats to immersive product videos, it’s hoped that BlockShow’s use of the latest technology will pave the way for companies to secure meetings and generate new business — exactly as they would in an old-fashioned conference center.

Registered attendees can also benefit from chat rooms complete with networking and business functions that are tailored to their business goals.

Several other conferences have already taken the leap to go virtual because of COVID-19, but according to BlockShow, this isn’t enough.

Addy Crezee, the CEO of BlockShow, said: “We want to create a conducive environment for networking and discussions that haven’t been seen in the last six months due to the current pandemic situations. Bringing content online is well and good, but our feedback shows that networking is the real craving of the industry and beyond.”

The long-awaited partnership

Speaking of the partnership between BlockShow and SFBW, Jonathan Allen, a partner and organizer of the last event, noted that for quite some time, these two teams have been searching for ways to collaborate with each other and could never get it over the line. 

“By bringing the experience online, it not only allows us to work together on an amazing project but removes previous barriers such as location and timing,” he added. 

The team behind San Francisco Blockchain Week said that it provides education for both consumers and developers with the goal of pushing the boundaries of blockchain innovation. Its goal is to “help the industry reach mainstream adoption through fundamental education and engagement with projects leading the way.” 

A headline-making festival

The online-only event comes hot off the heels of BlockShow Asia 2019, which was held in Singapore last November. That event was heralded as a haven for “trustworthy startups” that had weathered the challenges of last year’s bear market.

Attendees at that conference had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao — also known as CZ — and get first-hand access to headline-grabbing developments from the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

CZ had shared his predictions for what will happen next with China’s central bank digital currency, telling audiences that the country’s government had high hopes of making the Chinese yuan influential on a global scale and competitive with the United States dollar.

There were also crucial insights into the challenges that lay ahead in terms of regulation and attracting institutional players into the space. Justin Chow, the head of business development in Asia at Cumberland, said: “Custody, liquidity and regulations are the top three petitions from institutional players jumping into crypto.”

Further details about Unitize will emerge in the coming weeks. For now, BlockShow and SFBW are urging those who are interested to keep July 6 free — and say they’re upbeat that the conference will help shape the news agenda.