(Written by @Bakyt_CF, Director of Global PR, Communications and Marketing)
The Cardano Foundation, for the second year in a row, was honored to represent Cardano in Davos during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in late January 2020. For the first time, the largest Cardano delegation to date included executives from our ecosystem partners – IOHK and EMURGO.
The Cardano delegation in Davos included:
- Nathan Kaiser, Chairperson, Cardano Foundation, and General Counsel, IOHK
- Manmeet Singh, Vice Chairperson, Cardano Foundation, and Chief Investment Officer, EMURGO
- Domino Burki, Treasurer, Cardano Foundation
- Tamara Haasen, Council Member, Cardano Foundation, and Chief of Staff, IOHK
- Bakyt Azimkanov, Director of PR, Communications and Marketing, Cardano Foundation
- Hinrich Pfeifer, General Secretary, Cardano Foundation
- Charles Hoskinson, Chief Executive Officer, IOHK
- Gerasimos Fragiskatos, Commercial Director, IOHK
- Rod Alexander, Media Director, IOHK
- Dominic Hicks, Filmmaker, IOHK
The 10-strong Cardano delegation descended from far and wide—from Singapore, United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Switzerland—with the Swiss town in Graubünden meeting us with –16°C (+3°F), heavy traffic, tight security and spirit of Davos, a feeling of collaboratively being able to change the world for the better.
United with a common purpose of promoting Cardano, the three entities came together as one to the most important global gathering of the year in the Rhaetian Alps. Even the ranging elevation from 1,560 meters (5,120 feet) to 3,146 meters (10,322 feet) above sea level, daily four-hour sleeps, 70-minute train commutes into Davos every morning and an 8-hour time difference did not deter us from our mission – promoting Cardano.
(Nathan Kaiser at the CV Summit 2020)
In Davos, we talked about distinctions of Cardano, governance, diversity and inclusiveness, evolution of financial markets, interoperability, privacy and the wider societal benefits blockchain can bring to sustainable socioeconomic development. The delegation led by the Cardano Foundation engaged with the world leaders in blockchain to shape the future of the industry and drive the adoption of Cardano.
The 50th annual WEF gathering of the planet’s most influential individuals was themed “stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world”. Many discussions we held in Davos during this global event with the top decision-makers focused around blockchain, crypto and their governance in line with the Tech for Good thematic pillar.
Just as more than 3,000 participants of the annual meeting in Davos, we also see blockchain, especially ours, playing a more prominent role in shaping the global architecture as more financial institutions, corporations and industries prepare to integrate the DLT technology into their daily operations.
Recognizing the growing importance of governing the digital currencies, the World Economic Forum announced the first Global Consortium for Digital Currency Governance during the 50th annual meeting. This is in addition to the Global Blockchain Council that WEF established in 2019.
Nathan Kaiser, Chairperson of the Cardano Foundation, delivered keynote addresses and attended panel discussions focused on blockchain solutions for businesses, current state and future prospects of interoperability, security token exchanges and privacy. He exchanged ideas with both supporters and opponents alike, and called for inclusion of economists, philosophers and regulators in the wider conversation about the DLT technology.
(Click the image above to watch Nathan’s keynote speech: Interoperability: current state and future prospects)
Our ecosystem partner IOHK’s CEO, Charles Hoskinson, spoke of the evolution and future of fintech, Switzerland’s regulatory environment around blockchain, KYC and AML, as well as blockchain’s positive societal impact. Tamara Haasen and Domino Burki, Council Members of the Cardano Foundation, met with Diversity in Blockchain Switzerland, a think tank promoting diversity and inclusion, to exchange ideas on making the industry bias-free.
(Click the image above to watch Charles’ keynote speech: Blockchain for social good)
In addition to numerous public speeches and press interviews in Davos, our entire delegation held a number of meetings with leading academics, top executives and financiers, politicians and even musicians. Some of these meetings resulted in letters of intent, collaborations and agreements.
Our project is known for its strong academic rigor and research-first approach. The Cardano Foundation participated in multiple roundtables with the world’s leading educational establishments such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard University. These meetings resulted in the approval of a research grant request from Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center to study blockchain governance.
The Cardano Foundation has also signed letters of intent with potential launch partners for Goguen, our smart contracts layer. As such, a collaboration with DUST Identity will lead to greater transparency and accountability for global organizations. And the relationship with Finka will help democratize cattle as an asset class thanks to blockchain technology.
And the Cardano Foundation’s Council will sign an initial letter of intent with LO3 Energy, a US-based provider of local energy solutions platform, as a potential Goguen launch partner.
The Foundation has also accepted an offer to implement a Proof-of-Concept integration with ScanTrust to co-develop Cardano Connector, a blockchain-enabled product provenance and authenticity tool.
In a world’s first, the Cardano Foundation together with GenTwo has made a step towards bringing an ada-denominated structured finance product to the market. Both organizations will work to make future issuance of ada-denominated securitization products a reality.
Davos, a Swiss town with 11,000 residents, became a springboard for many potential use cases as the Cardano Foundation continues to promote adoption, shape blockchain governance and call for a wider dialogue on technology’s benefits. The planet’s biggest gathering of the brightest minds will continue to be a robust platform for more people to learn about Cardano. The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting ended, and our work continues as Cardano is just taking off!
Find more:
Davos Recap: keynotes and panels in Davos
Cardano Ambassador, @rodri, has written a detailed breakdown of the Cardano delegation’s activities in Davos. Read his full recap here: