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Developer conferences for founders and computer scientists, developers, and designers of cryptocurrency tokens and blockchain technology are typically found in places like San Francisco, New York, or cities that are tech hubs around the world. While Washington D.C. might not come to mind as a crypto tech hub immediately, a combination of remote working policies and burnout from policy conferences has prompted a ‘genesis’ first-of-its-kind conference only for developers in D.C.
So if you are interested in a neat drink of technical blockchain development speakers and panels with policy talk on ice, the very first ETHDC conference is being held at Culture House DC tomorrow on May 14th starting around 9:30am ET. I had a chance to talk with Shailee Adinolfi, Business Development Manager at TrustMachines and someone who has been in the blockchain space in D.C. for a long time, who explained how she identified a growing ecosystem of developers in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland that over several years grew to 300 people.
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Adinolfi stated, “The genesis ETHDC conference is to put a spotlight on D.C. area founders in the crypto space. We formed the DC DAO and the idea of ETHDC came about because we wanted to have an event for ourselves that was not focused on policy where we have talked about things like scaling and roll-ups, token standards and abstraction and all the things that we want to do to scale, grow and succeed in this space, and partner with each other.”
Amid what many are describing as a Bitcoin renaissance with renewed interest in developing applications on top of the base layer of Bitcoin, TrustMachines is a company that is focused on developed the Bitcoin
Bitcoin ecosystem. Using its own Leather Bitcoin wallet, Adinolfi described the company sees an opportunity for bitcoin applications to be built that could that potentially replace the fees that will naturally decrease over time from Bitcoin miners, and thereby provide a replacement for a financial incentive to keep the Bitcoin network secure and sustainable in the future.
UniSwap, MetaMask, and Casa are among the many companies that will be represented. Adinolfi said developers attending the conference are looking to, “…understand how these companies have dealt with launching tokens in a decentralized way in a safe space – for what developers, not policymakers want to talk about.”
It is of course hard to ignore the policy discussions that may arise with the aforementioned companies particularly regarding MetaMask and self-custodial wallets. Adolfini described that a self-custodial wallet, “…is like a browser, but where the user owns all the cookies, bookmarks, and their data, and can easily switch providers and keep all of those things intact”.
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UniSwap has made public that it received a Wells notice from the SEC and ConsenSys, the developer of the MetaMask wallet, also received a Wells Notice after which the company announced it was suing the SEC to defend the Ethereum
Ethereum ecosystem. Both companies are defending themselves against the potential regulatory enforcement actions on the policy and legal side, and for now, are clearly still interested in building in the U.S. The question is, does the U.S. want blockchain developers launching tokens or not and under what circumstances. That will of course, have to be left to another conference.
Associated Students of GCU President Judah Floyd (left) and Vice President Gracie Zimbardi (right) participated in a workshop with Arizona Congressman Eli Crane at the Campus Victory Forum conference in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., has been a popular spot this summer, especially since it’s the nation’s 250th anniversary. And it’s where many Grand Canyon University students have traveled, including the campus’s student body leaders.
Associated Students of GCU President Judah Floyd and Vice President Gracie Zimbardi traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Campus Victory Forum conference and celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence.
“It was a humbling opportunity to be able to represent GCU and be poured into by so many admirable Christian leaders,” Floyd said. “It reminds me of the leader I want to be as a Christ follower and as someone who’s been put in a position to have influence on the students of GCU.”
Outside of conference sessions, Judah Floyd and Gracie Zimbardi explored Washington, D.C.
The three-day conference was organized by Campus Victory, an organization empowering collegiate leaders to step into civic engagement. It featured workshops, sessions and activities that equipped students with practical tools to step into their leadership roles.
Roughly 250 student leaders from universities all around the country traveled to the nation’s capital for the conference, where they met and heard from politicians and community leaders, including U.S. Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona.
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He addressed the young crowd with a personal testimony about his experience in public leadership and gave an empowering message from 1 Timothy 4:12, which reads, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
He encouraged students to boldly press on in their positions despite their young age.
Sharing a home state with Crane was made extra special to Floyd and Zimbardi when Crane invited all Arizona students backstage to meet and have conversations with him.
“He was phenomenal,” Zimbardi said. “He talked about how being firm in our faith is so important in this time, and though we are young leaders, we do have the knowledge, experience and people to look up to, so use it. It was so inspiring to hear from him.”
Gracie Zimbardi (left) displayed her patriotism with student leaders from other universities.
When sessions concluded, students explored significant landmarks, including memorials, museums, and federal and local government buildings.
Everything was decked out in red, white and blue, with flags and banners hanging everywhere to commemorate the milestone anniversary.
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Celebratory events unfolded one after another on Independence Day, finishing with the largest fireworks show in history. Some 850,000 pyrotechnic effects were detonated over 40 minutes, with thousands gathered for the once-in-a-lifetime event.
Floyd waited five hours in line to attend Salute to America 250, which concluded yearlong celebratory festivities. The six-hour event on the National Mall featured presidential remarks, musical performances and military flyovers.
While in Washington, D.C., Judah Floyd (center) met with other student leaders.
“President Donald Trump talked about how America is really a land of people of faith and people who overcome challenges time after time,” Floyd said. “It really rekindled in us the spirit of liberty that we all carry as Americans and the importance of defending that liberty for generations to come.”
Military veterans were brought onstage and honored for their commitment to serving the country. Flags from every generation of America were displayed, and singer Lee Greenwood led the crowd in singing “God Bless the U.S.A.”
The World Cup was happening at the same time. While Floyd and Zimbardi were in Washington, D.C., they witnessed another level of patriotism when a Team USA vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina watch party, complete with a projector screen, was organized in front of the U.S. Congress.
“Thousands of people all wearing U.S.A. jerseys were shouting and screaming and spraying water in the sky when we scored a goal. It was deafening,” Floyd said.
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Judah Floyd and Gracie Zimbardi celebrated the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C., with student leaders from around the country.
As the start of academic year approaches, Floyd and Zimbardi’s tenure as student body president and vice president will soon commence.
The duo said that participating in the Campus Victory Forum conference, networking with student body presidents and vice presidents from other universities, and witnessing everyone’s patriotism prepared them to lead with passion and boldness.
“It means a lot to me that someone in this organization thought of us, GCU, and said, ‘We need them there.’ Zimbardi said. “It was really unique hearing from other students about how they do things at other universities.
“We got to sit down and spitball back and forth. We talked about things like, ‘Wow, that’s what works for you? We are struggling in that area, do you mind if we try it?’ Having conversations like that is extremely helpful, and it is cool how unified we can all become.”
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Dozens of Iowa National Guard soldiers leaving Iowa today will spend the next six months serving in Washington, D.C..
Last August, President Trump issued an executive order declaring there was an epidemic of crime in the nation’s capitol and he immediately mobilized National Guard troops from the District of Columbia. The Pentagon then started asking state guard units to deploy to D.C. and made a request of Governor Kim Reynolds last year. “They asked earlier and I said no because we had one of the largest deployments that we’ve had for a long, long time and I just felt we were stretched pretty thin,” Reynolds said.
In May of last year, nearly 2000 Iowa National Guard soldiers were deployed to the Middle East. The final group of those soldiers returned to Iowa last month. Reynolds said the Pentagon “circled back” recently and asked her to send a group of Iowa Guard soldiers to D.C. and she’s deployed 120 Iowa Guard soldiers to D.C. “to ensure the safety and security” of people who are in the nation’s capitol, “especially with everything that’s going on with the 250th birthday of our country,” Reynolds said, “and so we were able to participate and do our share.”
Reynolds told reporters the federal government will pay the entire cost of the deployment. Reynolds will speak this morning at a private send off ceremony for the Iowa Guard soldiers before they leave for D.C. There were over 5000 National Guard troops in Washington this past Sunday, including 185 from Nebraska and over 100 from Minnesota.
