Cardano Summit 2023, the annual flagship conference for the Cardano blockchain ecosystem, has wrapped up along with a sleuth of exciting announcements that could have a significant impact.
It was also a time for the global Cardano community to meet in a single location and celebrate the year’s highlights and things to look forward to in 2024.
As a founding entity supporting the commercial adoption of Cardano, EMURGO hosted a booth and brought many talented Cardano builders to speak at the booth.
In this recap, we will recap the highlights and some of the EMURGO booth speakers at Cardano Summit 2023.
Nikhil Joshi COO of EMURGO remarked on the mission of the organization, to quote from him:
“To facilitate commercial adoption through partnerships with existing ecosystem members and the seamless integration of new entrants. By prioritizing investments, delivering continuous education, and building infrastructure, we aim to unlock the full potential of the Cardano ecosystem.”
EMURGO wants to work with current Cardano projects and help them hit their targets. Also, move projects from Web 2.0 to the blockchain industry, focused on the Cardano network. EMURGO Academy was also highlighted, it has certified 2500 learners in blockchain technology and will continue to expand its offering.
The presentation closed with some important announcements. EMURGO will launch an auditing service to review and help secure smart contracts. The future of Yoroi Wallet was also shown, with the next stage becoming a headless crypto wallet.
The Cardano Summit was packed with important announcements. The ecosystem has grown rapidly since the last summit and it’s accelerating as we speak. EMURGO has played a major role in this expansion, and it will expand its offering in the future. The next summit will be even bigger for the Cardano community.
Watch Nikhil’s presentation below.
EMURGO announced a strategic partnership with NMKR during the summit. The objective is to increase the tokenization of real-world assets on the Cardano network in the form of NFTs. Additionally, both entities want to amplify brand increase marketing efforts, and lead generation through Events, PR, Social and Global Media Partnerships and also strategic access and localization of NMKR to Asian markets, new business development, and integrated partnerships for the platform’s user expansion.
Watch the Cardano Summit 2023 recap video below.
At the main stage, during the first day of the Cardano Summit, Yosuke Yoshida, Co-CEO of EMURGO Middle East and Africa gave the community an update regarding all the initiatives underway in Africa and the growing Web3 landscape on the continent. Yoshida leads EMURGO’s efforts in the Middle East and Africa, making him an important piece in the overall aim of Cardano.
Africa represents a major market of expansion as the continent’s population is very young, 97% of them below 65 years of age. This is coupled with mobile network coverage which at the moment stands at around 46% and is the preferred way to access the internet in the continent.
The Co-CEO of EMURGO then elaborated on the blockchain and Web3 technologies and their use cases for the African continent. One clear example, is stablecoins have started to play a major part in the regions, especially to those lacking access to regular financial services and dealing with high transaction fees in the legacy banking system. Users can go to the stablecoins to protect themselves against local currency depreciation, as well as, use it for remittances.
To quote him directly:
“My interest gradually grew towards the emerging markets. Why? Because I thought and we thought that technology and blockchain, it makes much more sense in the emerging markets than in the developed markets”
One highlight of the blockchain applications in Africa came from Nigeria. One Nigerian startup developed a system to use blockchain and settle intra-banking transactions, which has been a major source of over costs for users and a major inefficiency in the financial sector. Some banks in the country have adopted such a solution.
This integration of blockchain with real-world applications has changed the perception Africans have of the technology. In the West, it is seen as a speculative asset class or a vehicle for scams. In Africa, on the other hand, users in Nigeria see it as the future of money, while in other parts as an alternative to the traditional financial system.
EMURGO has seized the opportunity and invested in the last 3 years in 40+ companies across Africa, a majority of them ready to build on Cardano and use it as a base for their tokens. Yosuke Yoshida highlighted the variety of offerings in Africa such as Nodo, EMURGO Labs, EMURGO Kepple Ventures, and Adaverse among many others.
Finally, EMURGO along with PWC has released a report that details more of the developments in Africa. One conclusion is that the continent won’t follow the same path as developed nations, instead, they’ll adopt the latest advancements and leapfrog over other regions. Blockchain technology is among these key technologies, and Cardano along with EMURGO is best poised to help the African continent with this project.
Watch Yoshida’s full presentation below.
Sebastian Zilliacus from Cardano Spot gave an update on the project. In Web 2.0 there is an environment of censorship, lack of control over data, poor monetization, and even possibly being blocked by certain governments.
Social networks that work in the Web 3.0 space can solve all these problems and create a fairer playing field for content creators and content consumers. But it’s still in its infancy, blockchain social networks still lack good user experience, clear regulations, network effects, and education on how to use them.
Cardano Spot is moving in these areas. It has already completed 3 phases of development and the 4th one will bring: open access out of its beta state, Cardano Wiki, content ownership, gamification, rewards systems, and enhanced content discovery. The Cardano Spot platform will be the trailblazer of the social networks on Web 3.0.
Watch Sebastian’s full presentation below.
In an exciting first, the Cardano Summit hosted the Battle of the Builders. It was a live challenge where ten teams took to the stage to create a solution on Cardano, the teams participating included: NMKR, NEWM, Xerberus, Fida, Mehen Finance, Iagon, ZKFOLD, Maestro, and TVVIN.
Takashi Hayashida from EMURGO Ventures was one of the judges for the competition. In the end, there were three winners: 1st place Maestro, 2nd place NEWM, and 3rd place ZKFold. Congratulations to all of the participants!
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You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing contained herein shall constitute a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by EMURGO to invest.
