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WEF’s promo video shows Bitcoin mining, but leaves out the B-word

The video showed multiple scenes depicting rows of what appears to be Bitcoin mining rigs, but the cryptocurrency never got a mention.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) showcased the facilities and tech employed by a cryptocurrency mining firm and implied its operations were the “biggest winner” for the environment — but it never actually said it was mining crypto.

Published on April 20, the WEF video promoted efforts toward reducing flaring — where large amounts of gas from oil production or from decomposition are wasted — by the Colorado-based Bitcoin (BTC) miner Crusoe Energy Systems.

Prominent imagery of what appear to be cryptocurrency mining facilities are presented throughout the video; however, the video never directly addresses what is actually happening.

The video (screenshot) appears to show a facility housing Bitmain Antminer mining rigs but is referred to as a data center. Source: WEF

Chase Lochmiller, CEO, and co-founder of Crusoe, explained in the video that it builds and operates “modular data centers” that are co-located with waste energy sources to use wasted methane streams to generate power.

It was noted this enables the production of “ultra-low-cost computing infrastructure” by utilizing stranded energy sources that would otherwise go unused.

A still from the video showing a close-up of what appears to be a Bitmain Antminer mining rig. Source: WEF

The video was noticed by several crypto industry figures.

MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor shared the video with his 3 million Twitter followers on April 23, stating that “even the WEF is recognizing the environmental benefits of Bitcoin Mining.”

Meanwhile, Kristine Cranley, a director at the advocacy group the Texas Blockchain Council, pointed out in an April 23 tweet that the video didn't once mention "the b word": Bitcoin.

One user suggested in a tweet that the WEF wasn’t allowed to mention BTC because of their previous “standpoint,” which has included advocacy for changing Bitcoin’s code to proof-of-stake, citing the environmental impact of its current consensus mechanism.

Crusoe expanded its Bitcoin mining assets through the acquisition of the operating assets of portable BTC mining operator Great American Mining (GAM) in October 2022.

Related: ExxonMobil is using excess natural gas to power crypto mining: Report

The acquisition added over 10 megawatts (MW) to Crusoe’s mining output, along with approximately 4,000 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) crypto-mining rigs.

In June 2022, Crusoe Energy partnered with the government of Oman — a country that exports 21% of its gas production and seeks zero gas flaring by 2030.

Crusoe will open an office in Oman’s capital city of Muscat and install its equipment for capturing gas waste at well sites to use as computing power for crypto mining.

Magazine: Crypto Twitter Hall of Flame: Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton ‘10x more into BTC, 4x more into ETH

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‘Panic of 2023’: James Corbett Explains How Bank Crisis Could Lead to CBDC ‘Nightmare of Total Monetary Control’

‘Panic of 2023’: James Corbett Explains How Bank Crisis Could Lead to CBDC ‘Nightmare of Total Monetary Control’Investigative journalist James Corbett has recently referred to the ongoing global banking crisis involving SVB, Signature Bank, Credit Suisse and others as the “Panic of 2023,” drawing comparisons to what he views as historical precedents, and pointing ahead to an inevitable and bleak, technocratic surveillance future leveraging central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) should nothing be […]

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Analyst Warns of Banks’ Authority to Confiscate Funds, Decline of US Dollar Purchasing Power

Analyst Warns of Banks’ Authority to Confiscate Funds, Decline of US Dollar Purchasing PowerAccording to Lynette Zang, chief market analyst at ITM Trading, U.S. banks have the legal authority to confiscate people’s funds due to legislation passed by Congress. In a recent interview, Zang discussed how the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has dwindled to “roughly three cents,” her belief that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will […]

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Nokia uses the Metaverse to connect remote breweries, train aircraft techs

Once known as a manufacturer of hardy mobile phones, Nokia has been working on developing industrial use cases for the Metaverse.

From beer breweries on opposite ends of the globe to aircraft technicians in isolated airports, telecoms infrastructure firm Nokia has been looking for ways to use the Metaverse to aid remotely-located workers.

Nokia, who many remember as a manufacturer of consumer mobile devices, has since pivoted into developing technology and equipment that “delivers the internet.”

Robert Joyce, CTO of Nokia Oceania told Cointelegraph that part of those plans also includes delivering the Metaverse.

“Nokia set up two labs last year to really look at the Metaverse and the technologies that underpin the Metaverse.”

Last year, Nokia began collaborating with an Australian university to deliver a 5G-connected microbrewery using metaverse technology, noted Joyce.

Using Augmented Reality (AR), researchers from a brewery tech lab at the University of Technology Sydney have been working alongside researchers from a twin facility at Dortmund University in Germany.

The University of Technology Sydney “Industry 4.0 Nano-Brewery” Source: UTS

“They actually do joint experiments where they brew beer, they change the process, the temperature, the timings, the volumes, the recipes [...] and they feed back all of that brewing process into the digital twin,” he explained.

“Then they can actually simulate brewing in the digital twin so they can perfect the beer in the digital space."

Meanwhile, in South Australia, Joyce said Nokia has been using the metaverse to potentially assist Cessna aircraft technicians at remote airports. 

“We worked with a company that had a virtual Cessna aircraft [...] You’ve got a Cessna in front of you, and then you have an audio instruction in your ear to tell you how to change the wheel, or change a part on the engine," said Joyce.

“We had a 5G connected Microsoft HoloLens and we were able to instruct people on how to service a Cessna using augmented reality in this case.”

Pictured: Cessna Aircraft is being serviced virtually. Source: Robert Joyce on LinkedIn

Earlier this month, Nokia's global chief strategy and technology officer Nishant Batra told the World Economic Forum (WEF) that the Metaverse will have the biggest immediate impact on industries, rather than the consumer market.

“Ports have begun using digital twins to track every container on their docks, no matter how deeply they are buried in stacks. Aerospace companies are building engines and fuselages in the digital world to simulate exactly how an aircraft will fly – long before they tool its first mechanical part,” wrote Batra in a Jan. 13 WEF op-ed.

Joyce agreed with the statement, adding he doesn’t expect the “consumer metaverse” to take off until 2030.

He said by next year there will be five times the revenue spent on the “industrial Metaverse” compared to the consumer or enterprise Metaverse.

“The technology is not there yet, the technology is clunky,” said Joyce, referring to currently available consumer Metaverse devices.

“It's not the best experience to have a Quest 2 on your head for a couple of hours, and it's not until people get to the augmented reality wearables that are comfortable [and] mass-produced.”

“We see this three or five-year lag before we actually see massive uptake in consumer virtual reality or augmented reality services.”

Related: An overview of the metaverse in 2022

Asked how blockchain will play a part in the future of the Metaverse, Joyce was optimistic that the technology will be key when payments or a transfer of assets is involved.

“Clearly if you wanted integrity within a metaverse, then blockchain will play a part,” said Joyce.

“If I was going to buy a house next to Snoop Dogg’s and want to ensure that it couldn’t be lifted and shifted and copied, that's where blockchain is quite useful in terms of maintaining uniqueness in a digital space.”

Joyce however said that he doesn’t believe blockchain is a necessity in all applications.

“It's not an essential underpinning technology for the Metaverse but I'm glad we've got it [...] and it will be used in the Metaverse,” he concluded.

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Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency: The Rise of AI-Focused Projects in 2023

Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency: The Rise of AI-Focused Projects in 2023Trends show that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a major topic in 2023, as data indicates a surge in interest. Since interest peaked and Microsoft invested billions into Chatgpt, demand for AI-focused cryptocurrency projects has risen dramatically. For example, the crypto project Fetch.ai has seen its native token FET rise 212% in the past 30 […]

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Here’s how the World Economic Forum leaps into the metaverse —Davos 2023

Industry insiders highlight World Economic Forum workshops on the metaverse focusing on user privacy, asset protection and regulation.

Web3 and the metaverse were handed a seat at the table of the World Economic Forum in 2023 as the ecosystem continues to drive innovation across industries.

As Cointelegraph continues to explore, the presence of the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem was mainly found outside the walls of the WEF. Blockchain Hub Davos and GBBC’s Blockchain Central were two central events in town that brought together the wider crypto community that has been somewhat left out of the WEF’s discourse on the sector.

The metaverse is a notable exception to this trend. Although some metaverse applications do not operate on decentralized blockchain systems, key proponents for the space have been involved in high-level workshops within the WEF that look to understand and plan for the future integration of innovative technology.

The WEF agenda featured two workshops directly addressing the metaverse as part of the conference’s ‘Defining and Building the Metaverse’ initiative in 2023.

The first workshop, ‘A New Reality: Building the Metaverse,’ featured Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox while a second, titled ‘Deployment in the Industrial Metaverse,’ explored how industries can tap into the benefits of the metaverse while avoiding its disruptive potential.

Related: TradFi and DeFi come together — Davos 2023

The World Economic Forum is exploring metaverse experiences within the convention as well. The 2023 conference afforded delegates the ability to experience the Forum in its very own 3D immersive digital sessions called the Global Collaboration Village.

A custom digital avatar allowed WEF delegates to explore Davos in the metaverse and experience tailor-made experiences during the weeklong conference. Decentralized or not, the organization is tapping into the potential of Web3 to offer more to delegates through virtual experiences.

Blockchain-based metaverse platforms were also present in Davos as the wider traditional finance industry, policymakers and delegates looked to continue learning about the promise of metaverse ecosystems and their potential influence.

Playing in The Sandbox

Cointelegraph talked with The Sandbox co-founder Sebastien Borget at an exclusive networking event known as the Swedish Lunch halfway through the week. Every January, the Schatzalp Hotel hosts the gathering, seeing swathes of WEF delegates dine and mingle on the snowy terrace of the picturesque venue located high above Davos.

The Sandbox has emerged as a popular decentralized metaverse platform worldwide. Its collaboration with mainstream brands and companies is a major drawcard, which is part of the reason Borget was involved in some high-level workshops on the metaverse inside the World Economic Forum in 2023.

Related: Inside the World Economic Forum: Circle, Ripple reflect on Davos 2023

Borget held meetings with government ministries and heads of digital transformation to open dialogue around empowering and protecting digital ownership and digital economies. He said this was a pertinent point considering that half of the world’s population is now beyond generation Z as digital natives:

“We still have to demystify a little bit what the metaverse is today and what it can be in three, five, ten years from now.”

As a lens to conversations within the World Economic Forum centered on the metaverse, Borget revealed that stakeholders were focusing on considerations around data privacy and security:

“How can we make sure that metaverse platform will respect user privacy, that it will implement enough rules or controls to make sure that users can be safe and protected and their digital assets as well?”

Borget said he had the chance to speak with representatives of the European Parliament about its general data protection regulation, which came into effect in May 2018, as well as regulations around artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and how nonfungible tokens (NFTs) should be treated differently.

The Sandbox co-founder Sebastien Borget in conversation with Gareth Jenkinson at the Schatzalp hotel overlooking the town of Davos.

Borget believes regulation of the space is inevitable but hopes that these dialogues will ensure that the industry is afforded room to innovate and experiment. This could prevent the metaverse being hamstrung by restrictive measures in the years to come:

“It's a chance to make sure that those regulations will not be too prescriptive for entrepreneurs to really be able to build something interesting here and develop and push their ideas. And so we are involved as early on as possible in the dialogue rather than trying to solve the issue too late as well.”

The Sandbox co-founder highlighted the ‘productive’ nature of the WEF metaverse workshops, describing the meetings as different from a typical conference featuring panels or talks. Working groups discussed key topics at length inside the WEF, while Borget had ample opportunity to network and collaborate with the wider crypto community at various events around Davos throughout the week.

'We need a bigger voice'

The World Economic Forum and mainstream institutions seem keenly aware of the promise of Web3 functionality and metaverse experiences. Dirk Lueth and Idan Zuckerman, co-founders of metaverse platform Upland, shared these sentiments in conversation with Cointelegraph on a snowy Thursday evening outside of Blockchain Hub’s venue on the Promenade.

The pair were in Davos, involved in speaking engagements and networking with crypto and blockchain minds. Conversations around metaverse applications provided a learning opportunity and Lueth highlighted the need for industry leaders to have a 'bigger voice' among policymakers and industry leaders at conventions like the WEF.

Gareth Jenkinson interviews Dirk Lueth and Idan Zuckerman, co-founders of metaverse platform Upland.

“I think everybody's pretty much bought into the idea that the web will evolve into an immersive version of it. It will take time, but people are realizing it and are taking the first steps to understand how they fit into the plan,” Zuckerman explained.

Decentralization is another important tenet that powers digital ownership and economies according to Lueth. He believes that open metaverse networks provide a variety of entrepreneurial and media opportunities that closed systems might not provide.

Zuckerman offered a more thoughtful take, suggesting that the future of metaverses will become hybrid featuring centralized and decentralized elements:

“I always look at decentralization, it's not like a one or a zero, it's a gradient. So there are some elements that need and should and could be decentralized and those will be the first ones.”

Examples of this were seen first hand by Cointelegraph in Davos. Moderating a panel on metaverse adoption by institutions, two speakers represented mainstream metaverse solutions at the cutting edge of virtual reality.

The Future of the Metaverse panel at GBBC. From left to right: David Treat (Accenture), Vince Cacace (Vertebrae), Dirk Lueth (Upland), Emma Todd (MMH Group) and Gareth Jenkinson.

Accenture’s David Treat unpacked their advanced extended reality technologies while Vince Cacace touched on Vertebrae’s 3D and augmented reality commerce platform. Both projects operate on blockchain technology and serve mainstream institutions and commercial clients.

Related: Bitcoin dialogue at WEF requires ‘open-mind’ — Davos 2023 

Interoperability could become an important part in the evolution of various metaverse platforms and applications but Davos 2023 suggests that collaboration and innovation is already happening. Decentralized and centralized are already interoperable, providing a glimpse into the future of the space.

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Bitcoin dialogue at WEF requires ‘open-mind’ — Davos 2023

“It’s about taking inspiration from what we’ve done.” Lugano’s Plan B hopes to drive Bitcoin adoption dialogue at future World Economic Forum conferences.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) convenes in Davos annually, taking over the Swiss skiing town. The main promenade is flush with events and companies renting out properties, with an increasing presence from companies in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space.

The entrance to the WEF compound is restricted by cement barriers and security personnel, drawing an invisible line between the conference and the rest of Davos. Curiously, the last building on the fringe of the conference was branded with familiar logos, that of Polygon and the ever-recognizable Bitcoin (BTC) symbol.

Cointelegraph stumbled upon Pietro Poretti while shooting footage of the Bitcoin logo emblazoned on the Tech Lodge stand. Poretti is the director of Lugano’s Economic Development department. This Swiss city has opened up BTC and crypto payments for various municipal accounts for its residents through its Lugano Plan B project.

Bitcoin was not on the official agenda of the WEF in 2023. Crypto and blockchain featured across different workshops during the week, but these conversations focused more on Web3, the metaverse, central bank digital currencies and blockchain payment systems rather than decentralized cryptocurrency adoption.

Pietro Poretti speaks to Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson outside the World Economic Forum compound in Davos in January 2023.

2023 is the second year that Lugano’s Plan B set up shop in Davos, as it looks to meet new people, create connections and share its story driving real-world BTC adoption and use cases. The project has been operational since March 2022 and Poretti says while it is in its infancy, it’s about educating and demonstrating the utility of cryptocurrencies:

“It’s about promoting crypto payments throughout the city by the city administration. Soon in Lugano, you’ll be able to pay taxes, fines, anything you pay to the municipality.”

Lugano Plan B merchants accept payment in the native LVGA tokens, Bitcoin, Lightning Network payments and Tether (USDT). This year, sharing experience with other industries, policymakers and public officials has been a focus. Poretti says payments innovation has been approached with “small but very concrete steps” focused on providing different but complementary payment gateways.

“I think that at the end of the day if people see the benefits of having an alternative, it’s not something necessarily will replace or is going to replace.”

Lugano’s cryptocurrency payments initiative could serve as a tangible case study for the adoption of decentralized payment options worldwide, including inside the WEF. That has not yet happened, but representatives from other cities have asked Lugano for the “hows and whys” of their Plan B initiative, which Poretti describes as progress:

“We think that it’s not about duplicating the exact same approach elsewhere in the world, but maybe it’s about taking inspiration right from what we have done and and and learn something also from our experience. I think that in this respect, Lugano still is a little bit of a pioneer.”

While the likes of Ripple and Circle were prominent cryptocurrency ecosystem participants involved in WEF workshops, Poretti believes a more open-minded approach will be required for Lugano to sit at the table to outline their crypto-adoption efforts.

Related: TradFi and DeFi come together — Davos 2023

This requires many moving parts, including financial and legal services participation and political support for similar initiatives. Perhaps most importantly, Poretti believes users will drive discourse and adoption of solutions like Bitcoin:

“If your citizens are on board and they say, ‘let's try, we are curious, we are open,’ then when we start seeing the benefits.”

Poretti believes this drives job creation, stimulates economic growth and ensures technological and digital adoption.

Bitcoin Suisse was another Swiss-based cryptocurrency industry player that Cointelegraph managed to connect with in Davos. CEO Dirk Klee highlighted the company’s role in founding Crypto Valley and its early work to drive BTC adoption in Switzerland, which has become a leader for worldwide cryptocurrency adoption in many respects.

“I would call it the world headquarters of wealth management and the early adopters, right? We’re partially crypto natives, but who grew into wealthy individuals early on.”

Klee said that Switzerland’s reputation as a well-regulated and safe place to do business has also helped the local cryptocurrency ecosystem grow over time while conceding that its an ongoing journey.

Highlighting tough market conditions over the last year, Klee suggested that the industry is at a point where trust and confidence need to be built before considering more participation in events like the WEF:

“A lot of trust has been destroyed and eroded in the last year and we want to be kind of the center point of the next stage of institutionalization, making the place more accessible, easier to use, but also safer.”

Klee also wants to see the likes of Bitcoin Suisse potentially involved in cryptocurrency workshops in future WEF conferences and described going mainstream as “the ultimate goal.“

The likes of Lugano and various Swiss regions are prime examples of the potential for cryptocurrency adoption for everyday payments. Furthermore, the presence of Plan B and Bitcoin Suisse in Davos proves that the industry is driving its own conversations with interested parties outside the walls of the World Economic Forum.

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Inside the World Economic Forum: Circle, Ripple reflect on Davos 2023

A handful of cryptocurrency industry players who took part in workshops at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting paint a picture of increased collaboration within the space in 2023.

Key figures from the wider cryptocurrency space painted a picture of increased dialogue and collaboration at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology remained but a small part of the projects and initiatives discussed and workshopped at the annual WEF conference high in the Swiss Alps. However, an increased number of sessions focused on the sector suggests that the wider world is looking for synergies between traditional finance and decentralized finance.

This theme emerged from a number of interviews conducted by Cointelegraph during January’s conference in Davos. Senior executives from XRP issuer Ripple and USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin firm Circle highlighted the importance of embracing solutions and systems that are creating tangible utility and value.

Circle and Ripple had a bird's eye view of the wider crypto and blockchain conversation in Davos, given their participation outside the WEF conference at a myriad of crypto-focused events like Blockchain Hub Davos and GBBC’s Blockchain Central.

More than a Ripple

Ripple’s team rented out office space in Davos to conduct meetings and business during the WEF conference. Cointelegraph met Ripple’s APAC managing director, Brooks Entwistle, inside their Davos hub to discuss the firm's involvement at this year’s conference.

Entwistle painted an interesting picture as an individual who has been to past WEF Annual Meetings in different roles for different companies and organizations from as early as 2009. The presence of crypto and blockchain industry participants has come to the fore in recent years, as Entwistle explained:

“What you notice over time is the crowd changes, the promenade changes and, certainly with crypto over the past few years, that has been the case. In May [2022], you could not walk down the promenade without being offered a Bitcoin pizza.”

However, the prolonged downturn across conventional and cryptocurrency markets, coupled with seismic events like the collapse of FTX late last year, has made a noticeable mark on the number of crypto ecosystem participants that set up shop at the conference in 2023.

The likes of FTX, who had a stall at the conference last year, were nowhere to be seen. Instead, blockchain infrastructure providers like Filecoin and Hedera had a notable presence, alongside the likes of Circle. Other firms maintained a presence outside the conference at their own event, like CV Labs’ Blockchain Hub and, at Davos' Hotel Europe, GBBC’s Blockchain Central.

Related: TradFi and DeFi come together — Davos 2023

But Entwistle drew a silver lining around the decreased number of crypto stalls along the promenade, suggesting that more fruitful dialogue has been possible at the WEF conference:

“It’s definitely more muted now, but we’re actually having a really good WEF. With some of the noise and hype gone, the conversations and ability to go deep present more of an opportunity.”

Ripple’s APAC head highlighted his belief that progress was being made in terms of dialogue and understanding of crypto given that the number of panels within the event had increased from two sessions in 2022 to seven in 2023, stating:

“If you think about the two parallel tracks, the industry pushing the agenda outside on the street, around Davos and around the region and then what’s going on inside. That infiltration over time, why it’s important, why regulators and banks need to talk about it, and why it should be a broader topic than just what’s happening at a night cap here or a panel there along the promenade.”

Whether there should be more representation from the crypto and blockchain ecosystem inside WEF is a more complex question to consider. Entwistle believes topics with a broad reach outside of the crypto ecosystem need wider representation with projects, protocols and tools that offer value and insights into vexing global issues. He added:

“You need all those different forms represented, but I also think we have to use those slots wisely, use the panels wisely when you do get in front of this group and make sure that people understand real-world utility.”

Entwistle said the “general thrust” of crypto conversations inside the WEF Annual Meeting was focused on why the industry exists and what it’s building. For Ripple, that has been cross-border payments and liquidity provision. Other crypto proponents have been driving conversations around blockchain-based CBDCs and carbon credit initiatives.

While a more specific discourse took place at the WEF Annual Meeting, conversations and business between TradFi and DeFi flowed freely along the Davos promenade. Cointelegraph moderated a number of panels during the week, one of which involved mainstream banks Bpifrance and Arab Bank discussing TradFi’s relationship with the industry.

A key takeaway was the fact that both these traditional financial institutions were offering cryptocurrency custody services for private clients, clearly showing that TradFi is already exposed to the asset class. Regulatory and process controls remain hurdles, but the industries are already cross-pollinating on their own terms.

What remains to be seen is whether the cryptocurrency and blockchain space will continue to camp out along the promenade in the years to come. Entwistle thinks that may well be the case, given the proximity and ability for the sectors to intermingle, stating, “I would expect that Web3, crypto, blockchain, if we do our job and convince the world that we are actually needed, and we certainly believe we are, that we’ll have a place at the table for a long time here.”

Coming for Circle

Cory Then, Circle’s vice president of global policy, said he’d seen a lot of idealistic individuals trying to cooperate and marshall resources in a way that would benefit the world economy. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph after moderating a panel at Hotel Europe, Then highlighted the importance of exploring the role of blockchain-based payments systems like Circle with regard to the future of finance and global payments:

“We're out there talking to policymakers, we're talking to traditional companies outside of tech, who are looking at using USDC as a payment solution, we're talking to tech companies, to figure out how we might integrate with the work that they're doing. We're talking to humanitarian organizations.”

According to Then, Circle has had hundreds of conversations with policymakers from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Mexico and more as USDC continues to become more readily available as a stablecoin solution.

Key drivers around adoption were focused on how decentralized payment systems can help large swaths of unbanked people around the world. Then said that stablecoins can improve financial systems and inclusion in areas that are largely unserviced by banks and financial institutions:

“You have a phone. You download a personal wallet onto that phone. And next thing you know, you have access to a payment mechanism that is quite reliable and you can get U.S. dollars or you can get Euro coins.”

Then suggested that continued utility offered by protocols, platforms and institutions in the sector and less “betting on price fluctuations” would drive further inclusion.

Driving collaboration in a fragmented world

Brett McDowell, chairman of Hedera, also gave his perspective having been involved both inside the WEF conference and along the promenade in Davos. 

Hedera’s institutional, open-source decentralized network is used by a variety of enterprises, universities and Web3 organizations globally. The proof-of-stake blockchain platform’s “performance-optimized” Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts allow for the creation of diverse Web3 applications and ecosystems.

McDowell told Cointelegraph that the impression of fragmentation between the WEF conference and the crypto and blockchain ecosystem was understandable, but highlighted his own experience of continued collaboration:

“As someone who was privileged to be on both sides of the fence this week for those conversations with leaders of the industry and the World Economic Forum directly, the conversation is a lot more fluid than it looks.”

McDowell said that the WEF’s ability to assemble stakeholders from different industries that might otherwise be separated from one another was invaluable, bringing policymakers to the table alongside private and public enterprises. He added:

“The WEF has unparalleled convening power. Blockchain and crypto is really about building trust layers, anchoring truth and then using cryptography to ensure truth over time on immutable ledgers. That’s why it’s about trust and it starts with relationships.”

The environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework, a focus of the WEF, is another sector that could leverage the many applications of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. As McDowell explained, “This is trust technology. It’s the perfect backbone for ESG applications at scale and that is what we need, we need network effects.”

The Hedera chairman said that the WEF was actively considering blockchain-based tools and applications to tackle topics like climate change and power digital economies and tokenization of assets.

The organization might still be at a stage where it is learning about the power of these relatively new technologies, but the growing discourse inside the World Economic Forum emerged as a positive takeaway from Davos 2023.

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TradFi and DeFi come together — Davos 2023

On this episode of Decentralize With Cointelegraph, the team reflects on their week in Davos covering the World Economic Forum as crypto and TradFi continue to collide.

Traditional finance, or TradFi, continues to explore the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, with the World Economic Forum holding more workshops and sessions for the sector in 2023. These were major themes seen by the Cointelegraph team as they covered the action throughout a busy week in Davos, Switzerland. In a late-night recording session, the team recapped everything readers need to know about the week for the new Decentralize With Cointelegraph podcast.

Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr reflected on her access inside the WEF compared with previous years in Davos. She also unpacked the ongoing synergies between traditional finance and decentralized finance, or DeFi, that were evident from the myriad crypto industry events taking place. Cointelegraph journalist Gareth Jenkinson was tasked with covering these crypto meet-ups, which took place at a number of shops refurbished for events down the central promenade in Davos.

Speaking to a number of industry insiders and TradFi participants, Jenkinson highlighted the ongoing cross-pollination between the sectors, while just a handful of crypto participants were involved in conversations inside the World Economic Forum.

From JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s renewed skepticism toward Bitcoin (BTC) to the Cointelegraph team nearly getting stranded due to frozen diesel in their gas tank, Davos 2023 proved to be an entertaining and educational journey.

Davos has long been the spiritual home of the World Economic Forum, but recent years have seen a number of crypto and blockchain firms, projects and events rent space along the central road that runs to the WEF conference compound.

While crypto proponents mixed with TradFi members and curious visitors from both public and private institutions on the promenade, just a handful of crypto-related institutions took part in workshops inside the WEF.

Cointelegraph editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr (right) on stage with Rhett Power (left), Forbes columnist, hosting Webit Founders Games in Davos during WEF 2023. Source: Cointelegraph

Cointelegraph spoke with representatives from Circle and Ripple, who gave an inside view into the WEF’s changing perception toward the sector, while the heads of metaverse platforms The Sandbox and Upland also touched on the different perceptions both inside the WEF and outside of its walls.

Related: Cointelegraph heads to Davos for World Economic Forum

There seemed to be general consensus that the crypto and blockchain space was becoming increasingly talked about at the WEF, with the number of workshops and discussions on the sector increasing from May 2022.

Cointelegraph reporter Gareth Jenkinson (right) with Brooks Entwistle (left), APAC managing director at Ripple. Source: Cointelegraph

Nevertheless, the co-mingling of TradFi and DeFi proponents was clear to see. Conventional investment funds, hedge fund managers and banks all drove discussions around cryptocurrency adoption and custody at the events Cointelegraph attended and moderated.

To hear Cornèr and Jenkinson reflect on changing perceptions and increased conversations between the old guard of traditional finance and the innovative cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem, listen to the first episode of Decentralize With Cointelegraph on Cointelegraph’s newly launched podcasts page — and be sure to check out the additional lineup of new shows. The episode is also available on Spotify.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Praises Metaverse ‘Sense of Presence,’ Calls It ‘Game-Changing’

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Praises Metaverse ‘Sense of Presence,’ Calls It ‘Game-Changing’Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has given his opinion about the metaverse and the impact that the tech might have in the future. In a conversation with Klaus Schwab, chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Nadella stated that the sense of presence achieved while interacting using metaverse tech is “game-changing.” Microsoft’s Satya Nadella Talks […]

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