At the end of July, on the personal island of the famous businessman Richard Branson, the third blockade summit took place, which usually includes only elected representatives of big business, international organizations and crypto community. Among them was the Ukrainian representative - the developer and president of the Ukrainian Investment Holding Mark Ginzburg.
At the end of July on the island of Richard Branson was the third consecutive block-meeting. How did you end up there?
Mark Ginzburg: From 25 to 29 July I visited a blocking summit organized by The Bitfury Group, the world leader in blockbuster technology, with the support of the largest Asian financial company Credit China FinTech and, of course, the direct participation of Sir Richard Branson. He is known to be a legendary person and a unique investor.
Actually, I was at the summit thanks to a happy coincidence. In the beginning I got acquainted with the main block-driver in the government of Ukraine -
Konstantin Yarmolenko, and he introduced me to the founder of The Bitfury Group Valery Vavilov, who after several meetings and interviews deemed me worthy to participate in the summit, as the only participant from Ukraine.
FL: Everybody knows that this is a closed event, so it would be interesting for our readers to find out in what atmosphere it passes.
MG: Of course, the key figure of the event is Sir Branson, a devoted and ardent patriot of blockade technology. He provided for the summit his private island Necker Island. The 30-hectare island is part of the British Virgin Islands, it is located in a fantastically beautiful and clean area of the Caribbean Sea, surrounded by coral reefs and inhabited by many exotic animals and birds.
I visited many islands of America, Asia, Australia, but I have never seen any such
Giant turtles, iguanas and such a variety of lemurs and parrots.
Richard Branson and Mark Ginzburg
It was reported that the summit will bring about 50 leaders of various sectors of business and technology, representatives of government structures, as well as the world of science and the arts. Tell us about the composition of the participants and who you remember most.
MG: At the summit after a careful selection of the organizers 40
World business leaders, both directly related to the technology of
Crypto-currencies, and just eyeing the possibilities of implementing these technologies in their traditional business.
In addition, there was a number of political leaders of the United States and Europe. For example, I was greatly impressed by the Peruvian economist and public figure Hernando de Soto. He is president of the Institute of Freedom and Democracy - one of the two most important think tanks in the world. Over the past 30 years, Hernando de Soto and the institute he led were the organizers and participants of all the most significant humanitarian projects and reforms implemented on all continents. Many hours of conversations with him in a relaxed atmosphere on the beach have become much more informative for me than the months spent at the university audience in lectures on political science.
Many impressions left from the conversations with the CEO of the leading Asian Corporation Credit China FinTech Fang Yu Kiat, a member of the board of directors of The Bitfury Group Jamie Smith. Jamie previously worked for 20 years in the governing structures of the White House and was a special assistant to Barack Obama and Deputy Press Secretary of the White House.
I learned a lot of interesting and fundamental facts about the blockbuster and crypto-currencies from a two-hour conversation with Michael Casey - the author of the world bestseller "The Age of Crypto-Currency. How bitcoin and blockade change the world economic order. "
And, of course, the practical experience that is generous and friendly, as perhaps probably only in such a miracle-island atmosphere, is valued by the founder and CEO of The Bitfury Group Valery Vavilov and vice-president of the group George Kikvadze.
Valery Vavilov, Richard Branson and Mark Ginzburg
How was the meeting organized?
MG: The Summit was organized according to the program of free exchange of ideas and ideas, including planned discussions, which focused on certain topics related to the development of blockade technology. As a rule, in the morning there were several group discussions, then a break, many hours of private conversation on the beach and several group discussions in the evening. Each such discussion was headed by experts in the field of the topic under discussion. There was a lot of unplanned free time, which, it seemed to me, was specially conceived by the organizers in order for the participants to get to know each other better and to decide on joint projects in the future.
Have any concrete decisions been taken or agreements on cooperation have been reached?
MG: I'm not sure that some "definite" decisions were made at the summit.
Again, this is a completely new world, a new reality, therefore, major changes in the
Branches occur in real time every day. I would say that the main goal of the summit was not to make decisions and final Resolutions, but an opportunity to discuss ideas and strategy in the future, to establish personal contacts between generators of ideas, strategists and investors.
What opportunities did this summit open for you personally?
MG: As for me, my goals for the near future were clearly defined -
To promote the development of blockade technology in Ukraine and to encourage our leading
Corporations and government agencies are not afraid to work with a radically new
Technology. I sincerely believe that this is the best chance for the country in the next decade to become significant on a global scale.
Given the intellectual and educational potential of our youth, in the next few years, Kiev can become the IT capital of Eastern Europe. I met many people at the summit who liked this idea and they will use their experience to cooperate with us in Ukraine, whether it is providing new software or creating educational
Centers. I note that everyone was interested in cooperation, and I believe that a lot of openings were not opened, but doors.
In conclusion, I want to say that, as a result of the summit, I personally revised the format
Development of one of the significant projects of the Ukrainian
Investment holding ". Several years ago, we acquired a former central
The building of the plant "Arsenal", facing the facade on the street. Moscow, where on the area of 14 000 sq.m. Wanted to build lofts - the now popular format in the world of modern housing. Now I firmly decided to organize a state-of-the-art IT incubator uniting the functions of traditional coworking, research laboratories and sites for conducting lectures and seminars with the participation of the world's leading experts.
I very much hope for cooperation and cooperation in the implementation of these ambitious goals with the state eGovernance Agency of Ukraine and its excellent team in the head of the Agency Alexander Ryzhenko, First Deputy Aleksey Vyskub and the above-mentioned adviser to the head of the Agency Konstantin Yarmolenko.
To achieve these goals, my holding and the Agency this week will sign a memorandum of cooperation on the implementation of eGov / Blockchain technologies in Ukraine and the launch of the Arsenal Blockchain Center, which will become the center for the development of these breakthrough technologies in our country.