Ethereal Summit: What is it? Why is it important? Why should you care?
Ethereal Summit
In case you missed it the 2017 Ethereal Summit took place May 19 in Brooklyn, New York. The summit was a gathering of Ethereum enthusiasts and developers who spent the day discussing the future of Ethereum and decentralized applications.
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference.
If you want to learn more about Ethereum, check out this awesome post from 
"Ethereal Summit is a culture-focused blockchain event that brings innovators in the fields of governance, impact, sustainability, community building, arts and media together with experts in exponential technologies. We aim to highlight the technologies and innovators that are ushering in the next generation of the internet, and catalyzing our transition into a decentralized world."
“The day will include art installations, virtual reality experiences, keynote speakers, and panels featuring some of the most prominent names in blockchain and beyond." Source
Let’s look at some of the details of the summit and what they can tell us about the future.
I published the sponsors, speakers and program in it's entirety before providing my analysis. While it may seem long-winded, I want to drive home how seriously businesses are taking blockchain and the wave of new interest in the sector.
Ethereal Summit Sponsors
The event was sponsored by the following organizations...
Consensys - is a venture production studio building decentralized applications and various developer and end-user tools for blockchain ecosystems, primarily focused on Ethereum.
SingularDTV - is a blockchain entertainment studio laying the foundation for a decentralized entertainment industry. Building the future of rights management, project funding, and peer-to-peer distribution, SingularDTV’s platform empowers artists and creators with powerful tools to manage projects from development to distribution.
Microsoft - American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. Wikipedia
CrunchFund - CrunchFund is an early stage venture capital firm founded by Patrick Gallagher and Michael Arrington. The fund invests in and works with information technology companies at any stage but is primarily focused on seed and early stage investments.
Rockwood Management - is a solutions based strategic investment firm providing high quality investment grade securities and products for institutional investors. Rockwood also provides capital to innovative entrepreneurs, developers, and businesses with specialized funding solutions.
Venture One
Ethereal Summit Speakers
The event featured over 50 speakers from a diverse set of backgrounds. The impressive list contains former politicians, investors, artists and FinTech professionals. Below is the complete list of speakers. Take note of the wide reaching coalition behind Ethereum.
VINAY GUPTA
Founder of Hexayurt Guy Capital Partners; Blockchain Thought Leader
GIORGI VASHADZE
Founder and CEO of Innovation and Development Foundation; former deputy minister of justice and member of the parliament of Georgia
KIM JACKSON
Co-founder and President of Entertainment, SingularDTV
GEENA ROCERO
Filipino-American Supermodel, TED Speaker, Transgender and Identity Activist
ELIZABETH ROSSIELLO
Co-Founder & CEO, BitPesa
DAVID ORBAN
Singularity University, Founder & Managing Partner at Network Society Ventures
LAURENT LAMOTHE
Former Prime Minister of Haiti, Founding Partner at LSL World Initiative
RACHEL HAOT
Managing Director, 1776; Former Chief Digital Officer and Deputy Secretary for Technology of New York State, and Chief Digital Officer of New York City
JOE LUBIN
ConsenSys Founder, Ethereum Co-Founder
BROCK PIERCE
Managing Partner at Blockchain Capital & Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation
LAURA SHIN
Forbes contributor covering cryptocurrencies and blockchain, co-lead reporter of the Forbes Fintech 50 list and host of the blockchain and cryptocurrency podcast Unchained.
JASON GREEN
CEO & Co-Founder at Edenworks
RAHILLA ZAFAR
Author, "Internet of Women"; Director of Strategic Research at ConsenSys
CAB MORRIS
Deputy Director of Strategy and Operational Performance, Illinois
ZACH LEBEAU
Co-founder and CEO, SingularDTV
PETER ASARO
Assistant Professor at The New School, Affiliate Scholar in the Center for Internet & Society at Stanford Law
LEIGH CHRISTIE
Manager Isobar NowLab Americas
NIRAN BABALOLA
Founder of Benefactory, Product Engineer at ConsenSys
MAXIMILIAN BECH
Sculptor, maker, and designer; Creator of the first 3D model of the blockchain
LAURENZO MEFSUT
Founder of Artchain
FEDERICO AST
Founder & CEO at Crowdjury
JESSE GRUSHACK
Co-Founder of Ujo Music
SIMON DE LA ROUVIERE
Engineer of Societies at ConsenSys
ALEXANDER KLOKUS
CEO of Futurism
ANDREW PARKER
General Partner at Spark Capital, serving on the Boards of eShares, Panjo, Panorama Education, Socratic, Timehop, Quantopian, Upworthy, and Splash, and Board Observer on Kik
MACIEJ OLPINSKI
Co-founder at Userfeeds.io
RYAN KING
Co-founder at FOAM
MORGEN PECK
Cryptocurrency reporter for American Banker, Scientific American, Backchannel, and BBC Future
ALICIA CARMONA
Consultant Anthropologist
ANNE CONNELLEY
Head of Business Development at Ledger Labs
WILLIAM E BODELL III
Web3 Architect, Entrepreneur, recent graduate of Columbia University GSAPP
JARED HARWAYNE-GIDANSKY
Deputy Global Head of Emerging Business & Technology for BNY Mellon
BRIAN ISELIN
Founder and President, SlaveFreeTrade
ELISA ACHTERBERG
Program Manager Circle Financial Innovation, Researcher & PhD Candidate Sustainable Finance Lab
JUAN LLANOS
FinTech & RegTech Lead, ConsenSys
MAX REBO
CEO, Machine Colony
MELISSA MEYER
Founder, HealthMJ
MELTEM DEMIRORS
Director of Development at Digital Currency Group (DCG)
PATRICK DEEGAN
ROSANNA CHAN
Digital Economist & Founder of World Bank Blockchain Working Group
ROBERT HACKETT
TAMARA ST. CLAIRE
Health IT Advisor
MEHER ROY
Co-Founder, Validity Labs
SANTIAGO SIRI
Founder Democracy Earth
RON GARRETT
SRI and Business Development Wizard, ConsenSys
DAVID GZESH
Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, Blockchain Gaming Counsel
JAKE PORWAY
Founder and CEO, DataKind
BENTON BAINBRIDGE
Media Artist
BRAD BURNHAM
Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures
WILLIAM MOUGAYAR
Author at The Business Blockchain
TYLER SMITH
Director of Energy and Consulting and ConsenSys
RYAN HOOKS
Founder of Huxley
ALYSE KILLEEN
Managing Partner, StillMark
MATTHEW LEISING
Bloomberg News
THOMAS JANKOVICH
Digital Innovation Leader, Deloitte Consulting
AYAKO MIYAGUCHI
Managing Director Japan, Kraken
Ethereal Summit Program
“The program for Ethereal Summit has been carefully designed to tell the story of decentralization over the course of a day. It features architects of the Web 3.0, futurists, media influencers, government officials, artists, musicians, and pioneers in humanitarian aid and sustainability, coming together for a day of technology storytelling in every imaginable medium.” Source
The summit featured 32 panels and presentations from over 50 speakers. The event was sold out and the schedule was jam packed with informative panels and speeches.
Analysis: Why is it important?
With Ethereal Summit 2017 behind us, what can we take away from the high profile blockchain event?
Institutional Investors are coming!
This event was sold out with tickets going for $600 a piece. Obviously, the event was popular and extremely successful. With cryptocurrency prices soaring and blockchain startups booming, it is no surprise the summit received so much attention.
According to an article by Coindesk
Many of the attendees were sent by employers to learn about “this blockchain stuff”.
Tech companies and Financial Services are taking notice of the technology and blockchain is becoming a buzzword within the many industries.
With sponsors like asset management firm Rockwood Management and venture capital firm CrunchFund, it is clear investors are eyeing blockchain as a new area of growth. Not to mention the event was also sponsored by tech giant Microsoft, who has already developed its own blockchain service Azure. The big boys are coming to play in this hot new sector and they will be bringing a lot of money with them.
Blockchain goes way beyond cryptocurrency
Blockchain is a decentralized distributed public ledger and is the technology Bitcoin is built on. While most people know about blockchain because of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, we are beginning to see that blockchain goes way beyond cryptocurrency. Industries which could be revolutionized by blockchain include finance, health, government, logistics, real estate and many more.
One of the most interesting and talked about applications at the Summit is supply chain. Blockchain could streamline supply chains and make them more accountable.
On a panel about the supply chain, Brian Iselin, president of Slavefreetrade.org said..
"I'm tired of people suffering and dying for the things that we buy,"
Blockchain may prove to be one of the most important innovations in modern history, providing humanity with the opportunity to build better systems and a better society.
Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency are attracting an increasingly diverse audience
Cryptocurrency in the past had the reputation of being “nerd money” however blockchain technology is beginning to build a large and diverse cadre of followers.
As I previously mentioned Ethereal Summit attracted artists, investors, politicians and journalists. This technology is quickly moving into the mainstream and many people don’t even realize it.
Companies like Microsoft, Walmart and bank JP Morgan are all researching blockchain and getting in on the action.
The more that blockchain and cryptocurrency enter into a diverse group of industries the quicker we will experience innovation, advancement and mass adoption.
Ethereum value is exploding higher!
The Ethereum network runs a fuel, called Ether. It is a form of payment made by the clients of the platform to the machines executing the requested operations.
In the days following the Ethereal 2017 Summit, the price of one Ether has gone from roughly $95 to over $180.
There are other cryptocurrencies that are Ethereum based which have also seen massive growth.
Ethereum Classic (ETC) which came into existence because of the DAO hardfork in the Ethereum blockchain is now trading over $10 a coin, the price was less than $2 a few months ago.
Expect the price of Ethereum based tokens to rise with the growing interest and widespread usage of the Ethereum blockchain.
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency are here to stay
I will leave this section short and sweet.
If you think blockchain and cryptocurrency are a fad, you are wrong.
Brock Pierce, co-founder and managing partner of Blockchain Capital said
“Every asset is eventually going to end up here. The thing to think about as investors is market timing. A lot of ideas might be right, the question is, where are they in the cycle?”
I want to keep my readers ahead in the game and on the right side of history
