The conference is finding itself in a swirling pool of controversy after recent mistakes and accusations of bias in reporting...
All it took was a simple mistake that should have been immediately retracted and corrected with humility. A link to a scam website from a Coindesk article about OmiseGo set off Vitalik Buterin and sparked a growing boycott of the upcoming conference.
Joined by Cardano, Digibyte, and OmiseGo, Ethereum developers will not be attending the Consensus 2018 conference after recent criticisms emerged regarding Coindesk and its parent company, the "Digital Currency Group". As Jared Tate of DigiByte pointed out, Coindesk is a subsidiary of the Digital Currency Group and therefore pumps currencies that benefit its own interests via its publications. A portfolio of the Digital Currency group can be examined here. Vitalik Buterin also criticised Coindesk for its "sensationalist" reporting regarding a potential chain split of Ethereum that, in reality, was far from acceptance and does not pose a real threat to the integrity of the Ethereum blockchain (not for now, anyway).
Further accusations toward Coindesk include the fact that the term "blockchain" is often being misappropriated in numerous articles as a gimmick, meaning nothing more than a kind of digital currency. A true blockchain currency, by definition, is one that is decentralised, not running on a controlled small group of servers by an elite group somewhere under the guise of new technology.
Being that Ethereum, Cardano, OmiseGo, and DigiByte are significant developers in the blockchain space, this boycott could grow and have a serious impact on the quality of the conference. It bears mentioning that the conference is not cheap, with registration costs starting at a thousand dollars for government and students - the lowest rates, thus provoking another criticism via Twitter by Buterin regarding Coindesk's "rent-seeking" behaviour.
Over the past few years, Consensus has acted like a spark alighting the cryptocurrency markets, often resulting in a surge in investment following news and announcements released at the event. Will the boycott spread and cast a pall on the conference? With two weeks to go until the event, there is still time for more to join the boycott or possibly for those who are boycotting to change their minds. This could have a significant impact on the mood and energy of the conference.
*This is not professional trading advice - it's just my opinion!
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source:
http://bitcoinist.com/vitalik-buterin-boycott-coindesk-consensus-2018/
https://dcg.co/portfolio/
https://www.coindesk.com/events/consensus-2018/register/
image source:
https://davidpeterson.com/prepared-boycott/