In 2017, the interest in cryptocurrencies grew rapidly, which has led to more and more people getting involved in the crypto world. The effects of the many commitments now begin to show.
One of these initiatives is the new international blockchain conference Bloxpo, which will be held at Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 17th.
“We invite the international crypto community. The idea is to put Sweden on the map, to make people understand that things happen here too, but also to inspire the Swedes. There is a lot going on abroad, and I think that something like this is needed in Sweden”, says Ivan Liljeqvist, a cryptoanalyst who runs the big Youtube channel “Ivan on tech” and also is one of the organizers behind Bloxpo.
The tagline for the blockchain conference, which the organizers describe as Europe’s biggest, is “forget the hype – build things”.
“During the early days of bitcoin, much was about building things. There was a lot of visionary thinking and people wanted to change the world. During the past six months, we have noticed that it has been more about speculation. People just want to make money fast. We want to shift the attention to what’s really important, namely building things, implementing solutions and invent new infrastructures”, says Ivan Liljeqvist.
The idea of hosting a big blockchain conference was born after Ivan and a colleague to him gave a lecture at a similar event in Singapore last year.
Bloxpo will mainly consist of speakers and panels. Around 30 speakers will give their lectures on three different stages. Among the more famous names, we find the Swedish serial entrepreneur Isabella Löwengrip, co-founder of Wikipedia Larry Sanger, and the well-known bitcoin evangelist Richard Heart.
There will also be an exhibition hall where various blockchain companies exhibit what they do.
The organizers of the conference aim to attract up to 1.000 visitors.
“We’re also trying to involve people on-site, maybe with workshops and a hackathon, but we are still working on the agenda”, says Ivan Liljeqvist.
How is the interest?
“Well, it all moves forward. What’s good is that people in Sweden appreciate it. We feel a strong support from the Swedish community. Our focus now is to get as many international speakers and guests as possible. We have already managed to get several big names, and we’ll get many more before May”.
Of those who are booked, which speaker do you look forward to the most?
“We’ve got Richard Heart, who is quite outspoken in the community, and also Wikipedia founder Larry Sanger. We’re also trying to get representatives from different governments. We have a minister from Bermuda underway. We want business leaders, but also politicians because it is important that they work together”, says Ivan Liljeqvist.
