MOSCOW – February 14, 2020
Prominent figures from the worlds of sport and technology came together in Moscow, as the Palais for Innovation played host to Blockchain for Future of Sports – a one-day summit focused on identifying opportunities within sport for the application of blockchain technology.
Hosted by Shulgin 2.0.3.5 and sponsored by Bitcoin Association, the day featured six keynote presentations from leaders in sport, finance and technology, interspersed with networking opportunities designed to cement the relationships that will help in realising the prospects and potential outlined.
Setting the scene for a day with a global outlook, but a distinctly local flavour, Alexander Shulgin, CEO of Gruppa Kompaniy Familia and Bitcoin Ambassador for Russian and CIS region, opened the day with a declaration that ‘the blockchain revolution has already happened in Russia!’
‘We’ve seen this, especially in one part of Russia: Siberia! Siberia is a live region in the blockchain revolution. They are already calling themselves the crypto-capital of the blockchain, the capital of Bitcoin!’
Following Shulgin, those in attendance were treated to presentations from:
- Toli Makris, CEO of EX Interactive Ventures.
- Joachim Thumfahrt, Director of the International Federation of Ju-Jitsu in Abu Dhabi.
- Panagiotis Theodoropoulos, Vice President of Alliance of all Independent Member Sports AMS.
- Roman Dubov, President of Total Sports Investments.
- Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President of Bitcoin Association.
Immediately following the event, Nguyen shared his biggest learnings and takeaways from the day, which were characterised by a bullish attitude towards how Bitcoin SV could be applied to sport.
‘By its nature, the sports world experiences moments of huge interest and transactions. If there’s a big sporting event, a big match – think the FIFA World Cup, the Super Bowl, The Olympics – any blockchain application for sports will experience huge spikes in transactions during that time period.To support that, you need a blockchain that can support that big scale and that is Bitcoin SV,’ explains Nguyen.
‘Another proposal we heard about today was using the blockchain as a tool to complement anti-doping efforts in sports, as a way to improve trust in the testing that is conducted by different sports governing bodies, as well as to create a permanent, auditable, on-chain record of the results and for that, you need a public ledger with surety.’
‘Both of these examples illustrate why Bitcoin SV is the ideal solution to transform the sports industry. It is the only blockchain that can scale, that can support micropayments and microtransaction, has the ability to deal with the huge spikes in activity and transactions associated with these events, and provides transparency and auditability.’
It was a sentiment shared by Shulgin, who has made Bitcoin SV a central component of his companies’ investment and development strategy – a platform he advocated for others in sport to adopt.
‘I thank that Bitcoin SV is the perfect platform for this revolution,’ says Shulgin.
‘BSV offers many solutions for enterprises by adhering to the Satoshi Vision. A lot of enterprises will share his vision, because their goals for the blockchain and Satoshi’s goals for Bitcoin are the same.’
Asked how he had found his time in Moscow and at Blockchain for Future of Sports, Nguyen was positive – both on the locale and its budding future in Bitcoin.
‘This was my first time in Moscow, and I definitely will be back. I’ve met some fantastic people here, And I’ve had great conversations at the event too, discussing potential use cases for how sport could use blockchain technology,’ says Nguyen.
‘Moscow has been amazing – it’s cosmopolitan, metropolitan, great restaurants – amazing. It’s been fantastic to be here along with our host, Bitcoin Ambassador for Russia and CIS region, Alexander Shulgin.’