Paris Blockchain Week Highlights The Impressive Traction & Innovation Shown By Web3
Paris, France, April 17th, 2024, Chainwire
The 5th edition of Paris Blockchain Week, the leading international conference dedicated to blockchain and Web3 and Europe’s largest gathering of thought leaders, innovators, and experts from around the world, has reached its conclusion.
This year’s event attracted a record number of more than 9,000 attendees and over 500 speakers including names such as Richard Teng, the CEO of Binance, Denelle Dixon, CEO & Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, Jeremy Allaire the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Circle, Tim Draper the Founder and Managing Partner at Draper Associates, DFJ and Draper Venture Network of Draper Associates, Davidi Marcus the CEO & Co-Founder of Lightspark, Jan Van Eck the CEO of Van Eck, Brad Garlinghouse the CEO of Ripple, Silvio Micali, the Founder of Algorand and many other prominent names in the industry.
The hugely successful Paris Blockchain Week demonstrated the rapid progress and maturity of numerous sectors in Web3, covering distinct areas of the industry such as Open Finance, Tech Builders, Corporate Web3, Public Policy and Enterprise Blockchain.
The event, welcomed Marina Ferrari, French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs who commented, “If the Paris Blockchain Week has become an unmissable event in Europe – and beyond – for the Web3 sector, it is obviously thanks to its organizers who bring together every year, in the heart of our capital, the best players in the crypto ecosystem and its future nuggets.”
“It is also because our country has succeeded – and particularly thanks to our reforms since 2017 – in creating a favourable climate for foreign investment. A dynamic tech ecosystem, talent, world-renowned research and training infrastructures, and a stable and pragmatic regulatory framework: these are the assets that allow our country to strengthen its attractiveness and encourage the most promising international players to set up there” continued Ferrari. “We are going to continue on this path and we are even going to amplify this movement: I said this this morning to the Web3 players gathered at the Louvre. They know they can count on my support, my commitment and my mobilization.”
Emmanuel Fenet, CEO of Paris Blockchain Week comments “We are thrilled with the overwhelming success of our 5th edition. This year, we welcomed a record-breaking number of participants from over 85 countries, demonstrating the global interest and investment in blockchain technology. Our diverse lineup of speakers, groundbreaking discussions, and the unveiling of innovative technologies not only provided immense value to attendees but also marked a significant milestone in fostering global collaboration in the blockchain ecosystem. We are grateful to our community, partners and all participants for making this year’s event a landmark occasion and look forward to even greater achievements in the future.”
A Magnet For Capital and Startup Talent
Leading crypto investors were out in full force for the return of Paris Blockchain Week Investors and Founders Day, where industry founders, venture capitalists, DAO representatives, and startup teams come together to connect, fundraise, secure deals and collaborate on the future of Web’s next generation of technology and infrastructure.
One of the key events at PBW Investors and Founders Day was the second annual START IN BLOCK startup competition, which saw over 800 promising Web3 startups vie for investors’ attention. The contest shone the spotlight on dozens of Web3 startups with high potential, competing for $10 million in prizes, grants, funding and credits from this year’s sponsors and partners.
The top startups in this year’s contest also won a unique opportunity to enhance their visibility, appearing on stage with legendary investor Tim Draper at his live TV Show: Meet The Drapers, viewed by millions all over the world.
Web3’s Growing Strength
With the strong performance of Bitcoin in the run-up to this year’s event, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency was a major talking point, with a number of key speakers voicing the opinion that there’s plenty of growth potential throughout the remainder of the year.
VanEck CEO Jan van Eck said at the event that Bitcoin ETFs might have attracted significant capital inflows into Bitcoin, but very few traditional banks and institutional investors have poured their money into them, with the retail sector being responsible for most inflows. While he believes the institutional money will come, he said many are waiting for Bitcoin to mature further.
The event saw a number of blockchain pioneers share their insights into the evolution of Web3, giving us an exciting glimpse into future trends.
Tim Draper highlighted the benefits of decentralization. During his keynote, he pointed out the critical importance of trust in terms of business success, and explained that blockchain establishes a whole society that’s based on trust, creating a world that does not need to address centralized authorities.
Another headline speaker was Circle Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Policy Dante Disparte, who praised USDCs rapid integration with traditional payment processors, explaining this is just as valid a measure of stablecoin success as overall circulation.
Binance’s CEO Richard Teng embodied the industry’s more welcoming stance towards regulation, explaining that under his leadership the world’s biggest crypto exchange is heading in the direction of sustainability and compliance.
Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands & Founder and CEO of Outblaze commented: ”If I had to describe Paris Blockchain Week with one sentence, I would say both exciting and very, very significant because it’s probably the only event which could basically be in the Louvre talking about NFTs and digital cultural artifacts. So in that sense, I would say it’s very special.”
Blockchain’s Biggest Innovators Recognized
To close out the event, PBW hosted its second annual Paris Blockchain Week Awards Ceremony, which recognized several individuals and projects for their innovations, contributions, and leadership in the Web3 industry:
- Best Brand Initiative of the Year – Circle
- Best Blockchain for Social Impact – OpenFood Chain
- Best Regulatory Innovation in Blockchain – Tokenize
- Best Web3 Personality of the Year – Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink
What’s next
Next year’s edition of Paris Blockchain Week will take place on 8 – 10 April at the Carrousel du Louvre and is already taking shape with many sponsors, speakers and partners securing their place. Lowest-priced tickets are available now.
Chain Of Events, the managing company behind Paris Blockchain Week, hosted its first RAISE event on 8 April for those interested in Generative AI for Enterprise. The event was an outstanding success and will run on a larger scale on 8 and 9 July 2025 at the Carrousel du Louvre. Find out more: https://www.raisesummit.com/
Photos from the event can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ODYmDxeOKqaha_o3ZH8nxgX3vd9PKi0d?usp=sharing
About Paris Blockchain Week
Paris Blockchain Week is a leading organisation in the blockchain/web3, dedicated to fostering innovation, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. As the premier event platform, we bring together thought leaders, industry experts, developers, entrepreneurs, investors, regulators, and enthusiasts from around the globe to explore the potential of blockchain technology and its transformative impact on various sectors.
The 5th edition took place at the Carrousel du Louvre between 9 – 11 April and hosted 9,000+ attendees and 500+ speakers, such as Richard Teng the CEO of Binance, Kingsley Coman the International French Footballer and Lingo ambassador, Jeremy Allaire the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Circle, Tim Draper the Founder and Managing Partner at Draper Associates, DFJ and Draper Venture Network of Draper Associates, Blaise Matuidi, Football Legend and Web3 investor and Chiliz ambassador, Marina Ferrari the French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, Davidi Marcus the CEO & Co-Founder of Lightspark, Jan Van Eck the CEO of Van Eck, Arianna Simpson the General Partner of Andreessen Horowitz, Ryan Selkis the Co-Founder & CEO of Messari, Mo Shaikh the Co-Founder & CEO of Aptos, Verena Ross the Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority of ESMA (European Securities and Market Activities), Eric Anziani the President and COO of Crypto.com, Brad Garlinghouse the CEO of Ripple, Jiten Varu the Head of FinTech & Web3 – Industry Leader EMEA of Amazon Web Services, Karina Fernandez the General Manager of Emerging Digital Technologies of Shell, plus many more.
