There has been a rapid escalation of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak worldwide, which is affecting cryptocurrency events from Hong Kong to Paris, Cointelegraph reported.
TOKEN2049, a major crypto event held annually in Hong Kong, is the latest one to postpone its conference. Originally scheduled for mid-March 2020, TOKEN2049 will now instead be taking place on October 7-8.
The TOKEN2049 team announced: “Over the past weeks, we have been monitoring the global developments around the coronavirus closely. Whilst Hong Kong is managing the situation well and has taken strict precautions to contain any potential impact, uncertainty prevails.”
Hong Kong, which reportedly announced its plans to close border crossings with mainland China in a further push to control the deadly virus, has been experiencing even more uncertainty due to local anti-government protests.
As was recently reported by Cointelegraph, a major local blockchain remittance startup called Bitspark abruptly announced its closure earlier this week, citing internal restructuring issues alongside coronavirus and political protests.
Vietnam
TOKEN2049 is not alone in postponing its event. On January 3, popular global crypto exchange Binance announced the delay of its Binance Blockchain Week Vietnam, which was originally scheduled from February 29 to March 4, 2020. Binance said that it will reimburse registered guests, noting that a new date for the event would be announced later: “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay. If you have registered for the Binance Blockchain Week, you can get a full refund through the event registration platform […] We will inform everyone soon regarding further updates on this event.”
In late January, another major conference, Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020, announced that it will put the event scheduled for March 2020 on hold. The event organizer said that they will make a public announcement of the new date as soon as it is determined.US
United States
Two major crypto conferences in the US have been affected by the epidemic so far.
“Bitcoin 2020,” originally scheduled for March 27-28 in San Francisco, has moved to Q3 of 2020. The Chamber of Digital Commerce also postponed next week’s “DC Blockchain Summit 2020” conference. The rescheduled dates are not yet confirmed, according to the announcements on March 6.
Bitcoin 2020 has assured all attendees that their tickets for the conference will automatically be valid for the rescheduled event. They have also asked all registered participants to wait until updated details are announced before requesting a refund.
With the bitcoin halving in May fast approaching, Bitcoin 2020’s goal was to bring the top bitcoin community speakers and supporters together in one place. They hoped to learn and discuss blockchain technology’s upcoming milestones, and determine whether the technology’s current trajectory will allow it to reach its full potential, according to the post.
The DC Blockchain Summit is inviting both government officials and blockchain industry influencers as keynote speakers. The event is organized by the Chamber of Digital Commerce, an organization that promotes the acceptance and use of digital assets and Blockchain-based technologies.
Paris
The Paris Blockchain conference, initially scheduled for the end of March, has been rescheduled to the end of this year.