The cryptocurrency conference industry showed no signs of slowing down in mid-May 2018, even as bitcoin traded at roughly $8,700 — down more than 50% from its December 2017 peak near $19,000. CoinDesk’s annual Consensus conference, the centerpiece of Blockchain Week NYC, was expected to draw over 4,000 attendees, a dramatic increase from the 2,700 who attended the previous year.
TL;DR
- CoinDesk’s Consensus 2018 expected 4,000+ attendees, up from 2,700 in 2017
- Three-day tickets cost roughly $2,000, generating an estimated $8 million minimum
- More than 20 satellite events created a full “Blockchain Week NYC” in partnership with the NYC Economic Development Corporation
- Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was among the headline speakers
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin boycotted the event over high ticket prices
A Multi-Million Dollar Ecosystem
At roughly $2,000 per ticket, Consensus 2018 was projected to generate at least $8 million in ticket revenue alone, before accounting for sponsorships and other revenue streams. The conference had grown dramatically from just 400 attendees three years earlier, reflecting the explosive growth of interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies.
But Consensus was far from the only game in town. More than 20 other events populated the calendar during Blockchain Week NYC, many charging similarly steep admission fees. The Ethereal Summit, organized by ConsenSys, sold tickets for $1,300 each. TokenSummit, scheduled for May 17, had sold out its regular $649 tickets, with “very late” tickets priced at $979. The Women on the Block conference, held on Mother’s Day, charged $299 for general admission and $599 for VIP access. The NYC Blockchain Tech & Invest Summit ranged from $899 to $1,299, while the ADI Cryptocurrency Mining Summit charged $499 to $699.
Mainstream Validation and Industry Heavyweights
The speaker lineup for Consensus 2018 reflected the cryptocurrency industry’s growing mainstream credibility. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and CEO of Square — which had launched bitcoin trading earlier in 2018 — was scheduled to speak. The event also featured government officials alongside startup leaders, signaling the technology’s expanding reach into regulatory and policy circles.
Consensus has a reputation as a kingmaker in the crypto world. Michael Oved, co-founder of the token marketplace AirSwap, noted that “if you speak at that event you’re on the map.” Oved organized his own blockchain conference called Fluidity, deliberately pricing tickets between $150 and $250 to make it more accessible. About 700 people attended that event in Brooklyn.
“Clearly there’s a lot of money to be made in the enterprise IT world, and blockchain seems to be the flavor of the month,” said Bill Barhydt, CEO of Abra, which operated a mobile cryptocurrency storage app. “This represents an opportunity for companies that are trying to jump on that bandwagon to take advantage of that confluence of factors at the same time.”
Not Everyone Was Celebrating
The escalating cost of cryptocurrency conferences drew sharp criticism from prominent industry figures. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin publicly announced he was boycotting Consensus 2018, citing the $2,000 to $3,000 ticket price. “I refuse to personally contribute to that level of rent seeking,” Buterin said in a tweet on April 26. He also accused CoinDesk of being “recklessly complicit in enabling giveaway scams” and called their coverage of an ethereum split “highly sensationalist.”
Amber Baldet, the former head of blockchain at J.P. Morgan who had recently left to start her own venture, echoed similar concerns. “The irony of high-priced conferences is they’re the ones least likely to be paying speakers within the community, who care the most & need the platform to share new work,” she wrote. “Corporate expense accounts subsidize people who rarely say anything novel, ‘celeb keynotes’ extract high fees.”
The Consensus Price Effect
Despite the criticism, some analysts believed the conferences would serve as a catalyst for cryptocurrency prices. Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Research, noted in a May 7 research note that bitcoin had historically rallied during conference periods. “The rally post-Consensus has been strong and more supportive of our view that bitcoin has already bottomed for the year,” Lee wrote. “Bitcoin has rallied 10 to 70 percent during each of these conferences.”
Lee added that he expected altcoins to benefit as well, given the “sizable increase in attendance.” With the conference calendar growing increasingly crowded — Michael Oved observed that in the Bay Area alone there was a blockchain conference every week — the industry was grappling with whether the event circuit was helping or hindering actual development progress.
Why This Matters
Blockchain Week NYC 2018 illustrated a critical tension in the cryptocurrency industry: the gap between the hype-driven conference economy and the builders focused on fundamental technology development. While the millions generated in ticket sales and sponsorships demonstrated massive interest in blockchain, voices like Buterin and Baldet raised valid questions about who these events actually served. For investors and observers tracking the crypto market, the Consensus conference effect — the historical tendency for prices to rally around the event — added another data point to watch in an already volatile market.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.