Downtown Packed
After being put up to it by @barrydutton , I signed up for the Decentral 4th Anniversary Meetup down at its new headquarters at 292 Adelaide St. W. in Toronto. The meetup made for an unusual night.
I drove down in the STEEMIT Versa, hitting the road a little before 7 PM. The traffic wasn't that bad until Yorkville, a little north of Bloor St.: the zone that marks the beginning of downtown. After that, it was (shall we say) downtown driving.
I parked at a small municipal lot. It was the cheapest one in the vicinity, and unsurprisingly it was full. I had to settle for a spot where the plower had moved the snow. Although the Versa's a small subcompact, it could barely fit into what was left of the space. The parking fee was ten bucks: that's low for the area.
A four-block stroll, and I was at 292 Adelaide. There, I saw something I had never seen before:
a line-up for the elevator.
On the left side of the elevator, I was surprised to see a sign saying that you consented to be filmed and photographed if you entered Decentral's event. So naturally, I photographed it. :)
Our point of entry was the sixth floor, which had an informal coat room set up. After checking our coats, we were supposed to walk down to the third floor for the pre-presentation meet-and-greet:
The place was packed. Lots of folks, talking. Everyone seemed to know each other. Since it was my first time there, I felt a wee bit like a misfit.
Looking for the washroom, I wandered up to the fourth floor where the physical part of the presentation was going to be made:
I didn't know it at the time, but there was to be a hologram simulcast on the third floor.
The Presentations
Although it was billed to start at 8:00, the first presentation didn't kick off until 8:25. Maybe the meet-and-greet was too lively for the speech to start at the billed time.
The first presenter was Decentral's founder and CEO Anthony Diiorio.
As leaders go, he's the visionary type. He started off by saying he got into Bitcoin in 2012. As part of his self-education, he immersed himself into Austrian economics. Finding out that there were no Bitcoin meet-ups in Toronto, he organized the first one in 2013. He said that 2013's attracted about ten people. In contrast, Decentral's biggest had hosted 800. (This one had 500 spots, and there might have been crashers.)
He started Decentral in 2014, and not only produced the first Jaxx wallet but also installed the first Bitcoin ATM in Toronto and the second worldwide. Later, he said that he considers retail acceptance to be a low priority because there were too many variables (volatility, mining fees, etc.). His vision for Jaxx is for it to become the browser of the Internet of value.
He also announced a new project for 2018: Jaxx Liberty. He hopes to add an ID feature which would be tied to Jaxx's 12-word seeds: an ID that would vouch for a person's identity without revealing any personal details.
Part of his speech was he recounting his role in getting Ethereum off the ground. He said that his experience left him wary about soliciting investment or pre-sale money for any project.
Both he and Decentral's President Addison Cameron-Huff said that Decentral uses 50 servers to keep up with all the blockchains that the wallet uses.
He also made a point of saying that the ICO frenzy currently in play is likely a bubble. There were too many teams soliciting money with nothing more than a whitepaper and an idea. A huge majority of these ICOs will not end well.
He also said that people wanting to get into cryptocurrency should do these three things:
- Take the time to learn about it;
- Think hard about what you bring to the table - what you have to contribute;
- Network.
In that order.
As mentioned above, Addison Cameron-Huff also made a speech.
Consistent with his role, his speech centered on the technicals.
Business Development Lead Maggie Xu gave a short presentation
that amounted to announcing a social media contest.
How It Went Down
I have to say, this was not like a shareholder's meeting! As the pictures indicate, Decentral's floors in the building were not furnished or even outfitted. The walls and pillars were bare concrete. Before the speeches began, I spent a little time looking up at the pipes and fixtures below the ceiling.
This is crypto! No frilliness, just function.
There was an open bar, set up pop-up style with portable tables, but there wasn't that much drinking. When I looked around in the latter half of the presentation, I saw scads of abandoned beer bottles that were half full.
Although it was my first time there, and despite the organized nature and the fact that I seemed a newbie in a gathering of oldbies, I did manage to talk to four people. Got two business cards, gave my Email address twice.
The presentations themselves were effective. Mr. Diiorio has the rare knack of being both visionary and matter-of-fact. Jaxx has grown hugely, and is approaching a million users. The meetup was quite different from a shareholder's meeting in that no-one talked us up. Mr. Diiorio just promoted Decental, Jaxx and his vision of cryptocurrency.
Gave me a lot to think about as I drove home.