Crypto currencies and blockchain headlined in Sofia

Conferences on crypto currencies and blockchain are no longer a novelty, but they are still relatively rare in Eastern Europe, though the argument could be made that this part of Europe is more open to new ideas and more entrepreneurial that Western Europe. Just such an impressive international shindig took place in Sofia, Bulgaria in the past six days.

Organized by Mr. Ilian Vassilev, a former Bulgarian ambassador to Moscow and a distinguished energy expert and entrepreneur, in conjunction with the New Bulgarian University, the yearly 'master classes' attracted international participation and substantive discussions of the blockchain/crypto currency phenomenon and its commercial and political implications.

The first speaker (Alex Alexiev) outlined some of the current problems of the dominant social media (highly centralized, prone to censorship, do not pay for content, politically leftist) and speculated whether the blockchain revolution may not destroy their business model giving the example of steemit.com as the exact opposite.

This was followed by Mr. Dinko Dinev, a long-time IBM executive, who discussed, that company's new initiatives in the blockchain tech area and a couple of Italian scholars (Carlo Stagnaro of the Bruno Leonni Institute and Carlo Amona of the University of Palermo, who discussed respectively, the shared economy and the problems and prospects of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The last day was dedicated to the presentation by long-time independent media and crypto currency activist, Dan Dicks of pressfortruth.ca, who summed up the current problems and prospects of the field. Also involved in the presentations was independent investigative journalist, Josh Friedman, who related personal experience of the abiding hostitlity of mainstream media and governments toward independent media. For those who are interested, the organizers intend to make available summaries of the discussions.