What Is Consensus?
It is one of the largest crypto/blockchain conferences in the world attended by the who's who of the cryptocurrency industry.
It starts May 14th and is expected to have over 7,000 crypto enthusiasts in attendance.
https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2018/
Consensus has been running for 4 years now, call me dumb if you wish but really?? Clearly this is not being broadcasted as much as it would seem, as the only way I found about it was in a Discord server.
How Big is Consensus?
Well according to CNBC, roughly 8500 tickets were bought at an average of $2,000 per ticket. That is equivalent to $17 million dollars that the event is pulling in just through ticket sales. They further that the conference has grown three times as large, compared to 2017.
(Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/14/new-york-cryptocurrency-conference-triples-in-size-tracking-for-17-million-in-ticket-sales.html)
(Source: https://forum.stake.com/topic/8597-coindesks-consensus-conference-in-nyc-have-massive-attendees/)
Impacts To Value Of Currencies
As Tom Lee, managing partner at Fundstrat Global Advisors, points out, May is just a good time of year for increases in crypto prices. Below is a chart to go along with his statement to show a correlation between Consensus and the price.
However noting the value of Bitcoin nearly hitting 10k, ended up dropping down to 8.5k, it is clear that other factors will impact the value a lot more than Consensus. For example, with tax season over more people are able to start buying cryptocurrencies again without having to sell it off to pay taxes, all the way to Warren Buffet calling it "rat poison squared" (Is that the term??). So with these in mind we can see that, sure the Consensus gets Crypto fanatics and investors running over, but other factors actually make the value of Bitcoin change unlike what Consensus has done so far.
However if you very much do believe in Consensus increasing the value like past years, expect another run similar to that of last year and invest heavily in alt coins. As bitcoin already is at 8.5k ish, the max it will likely go up is 2x. That is quite high but with other alt coins you will probably see gains of anywhere from 400-600%.
Final Thoughts
With the market at a down trend still, Consensus has t he chance of making it rebound like it has in the past. However my belief is that it won't impact the value that much due to the already known presence of bitcoin unlike prior years. If you are indeed feeling bullish though, I would advise to buy right now, and be watching the market over the weekend. Bitcoin already at 8-9k won't have as much potential as last year, but alt coins are where you can make some good cash.