WEF 2022: Blockchain community breaks stereotypes at Davos

cointelegraph.com:

On the second day of Global Blockchain Business Council's (GBBC) Blockchain Central Davos 2022, Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr moderated a panel discussion focusing on the direction that the financial industry is going. 

Panelists included the co-founder and CEO of Soramitsu, Makoto Takemiya; Treasury executive at Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Johannes Duong; and chief operating officer (COO) of Stellar Development Foundation, Jason Chlipala.

The panel tackled various issues such as educating the mainstream about blockchain, how blockchain companies are breaking stereotypes at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2022 and current market issues surrounding central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins.

The common perception of WEF is that it’s a gathering of industry bigwigs and “financial elites.” However, this year’s WEF has been more exciting as “barbarians” stormed in. According to Takemiya, blockchain companies have broken the stereotype. He explained that:

Apart from having a voice at one of the biggest gatherings of the financial industry, the panel also discussed the community’s efforts on educating the masses on cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Duong weighed in on the topic.

According to Duong, there are a lot of educational concerns in Austria. However, there are also efforts from universities to teach about blockchain and crypto. He said that “we have universities providing courses for blockchain assets and are trying to see it from a neutral position.”

Among topics discussed, current market issues such as CBDCs and stablecoins have also surfaced. Chlipala compared the launch of Libra, later renamed Diem, and its impact on the conversation around CBDCs with the current situation of