StartEngine Security Token Summit 2018 Recap

Friday, October 19th 2018 – Blockchain Beach attended StartEngine Summit: Tokenizing the World in Santa Monica with the focus on security tokens and equity crowdfunding.  Our recap of the conference highlights is below.  Also, video of the event is available, but it doesn’t include some the morning keynote speeches.

The day begun with a keynote from former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox:

“I couldn’t agree more with @CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo (@giancarloCFTC), cryptocurrencies are here to stay!” – Former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox @StartEngineLA Summit #CryptocurrencyNews #crypto #cryptonews #bitcoin #ethereum #regulation pic.twitter.com/WOqVl9oUHs

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 19, 2018

He explained the “highly decentralized” nature of the SEC:

“When the SEC staff speaks (publicly), they aren’t necessarily speaking on behalf of the agency…the SEC is highly decentralized” – Former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox @StartEngineLA #regulation #tokens #utilitytokens #ICO #icosale #ico pic.twitter.com/nZSPK8nqU5

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 19, 2018

And urged US regulators to take the “Do No Harm” approach on blockchain regulation:

“Hats off to Romania for embracing cryptocurrency…Slovenia recognizes cryptocurrency as real currency. We (the US) should take a look at these models” – Former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox @StartEngineLA Summit #cryptocurrencies #cryptonews #regulation #regulations pic.twitter.com/u4G1mjNKKn

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 19, 2018

Next, the conference turned to a panel on Stablecoins:

Next panel @StartEngineLA Summit: “Are Stablecoins the Bridge from Tangible Assets to the Blockchain” with @PrimeTrustCO CEO & CTO Scott Purcell, @TrustToken Co-founder Tory Reiss (@theetory), and @carbon_money Co-founder & CEO Sam Trautwein (@futurenomics) #StableCoin #tether pic.twitter.com/mcVF2bxL0h

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 19, 2018

There was a question about Tether, which had some volatility this week:

“I believe that Tether (@Tether_to) is not backed by fiat reserves…(just look at their whitepaper)” – @PrimeTrustCo CEO & CTO Scott Purcell says @StartEngineLA Summit #tether #StableCoin #stablecoins pic.twitter.com/SxbwK2aFPW

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 19, 2018

The next panel looked at investment strategies and featured Evercoin founder Miko Matasumura and Autonomous Partners’ Ariana Simpson:

Next @StartEngineLA panel: “Investment Strategies with VCs and Funds” moderated by @everc0in Co-Founder Miko Matsumura (@mikojava) and featuring Autonomous Partners’ Ariana Simpson (@AriannaSimpson), Peter Chen, and Sunny Dhillon @SunDhillon #SecurityToken #venturecapital pic.twitter.com/Z2gm1JuFg0

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 19, 2018

Simpson shared a viewpoint about whether or not startups need a token:

“I’m sick of hearing businesses that say putting a token on the blockchain IS the solution, like ’putting @Uber or @Airbnb on the blockchain’” – @AriannaSimpson #tokens #StartEngineSummit #blockchain pic.twitter.com/YrLhNpY9HR

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 19, 2018

The focus then shifted to Global Investments:

Next @StartEngineLA Panel: “Global Investments in Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies” moderated by SHEQ+ & WIIW Digital Founder Anu Bhardwaj, @HuobiEco Head of BD Will Wang, Wavemaker Genesis and Genesis Founder David Siemer, and Trammell Ventures Partners’ Christopher Calicutt pic.twitter.com/a7uPddTphL

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 19, 2018

Genesis Founder David Siemer has traveled the world and has learned a lot about global regulations:

“The US has the most oppressive regulatory regime on the planet.” – Genesis Founder David Siemer on the current state of cryptoasset regulation @StartEngineLA #regulation #SEC #cryptoassets #tokens #cryptocurrencies #securitytokens pic.twitter.com/eKAQ8945oD

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 20, 2018

The closing keynote was given by Charles Hoskinson, founding member of Ethereum and IOHK (Cardano):

The final @StartEngineLA Summit keynote of the day is Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles), who is a Founding Member of Ethereum, IOHK, and Invictus Innovations #ADA #cardanocommunity #Cardano #ethereum pic.twitter.com/KLPN1CJUor

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 20, 2018

He had some strong words about Ethereum:

“In 2017, we realized that this whole Ethereum thing was basically a Rube Goldberg machine in the sky…in 2018, we woke up and realized that that may not be such a good thing” -Charles Hoskinson @IOHK_Charles #ethereum #eth #blockchain pic.twitter.com/jh94qLgFML

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 20, 2018

But also an optimistic view of what Blockchain technology will bring:

“We’re about to start seeing money move at the speed of information.” -Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) at @StartEngineLA Summit #bitcoin #cryptonews #ada #cardano #crypto #cryptocurrencies pic.twitter.com/YQDOEQFwhk

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 20, 2018

Based on what we learned today, we are well on our way to “tokenizing the world!” To watch a stream of the entire conference, you can find it here.