Major Central Asia Blockchain Event Defined New Ways for Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Development in Kazakhstan

The major Central Asia fintech event Blockchain Conference Astana took place on June 14, 2018. The Mariott Hotel Astana brought together 25 speakers from the UK, USA, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as over 200 participants from various sectors of the economy and government to discuss the most interesting and popular topics of the blockchain industry and prospects for the development of this technology in Kazakhstan.

The Conference was held with the support of Astana International Financial Center, MOST Business Incubator, Kazakhstan Association of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency and Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs.

The Conference was opened with an address by the AIFC Managing Director Mr. Kairat Kaliyev. He stated that financial technologies such as blockchain and crypto assets were key areas of focus of AIFC. Keeping with the theme, the president of the Kazakhstan Association of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, Mr. Dastan Kozhabekov, told about the role to be played by blockchain in the development of the Kazakhstan economy in the future. The founder of the Blockchain KZ community, Mr. Batyrbek Umarov, noted that a large number of fraudsters existed in the cryptocurrency market and the market regulation would solve the problem. In turn, Mr. Vadim Adriyana representing Crypviser spoke about the advantages of creating a depository for the cryptocurrency market. The MOST Business Incubator director Mr. Alim Khamitov spoke about the prospects for the development of start-up projects in Kazakhstan. The first section of the Conference ended with a discussion of peculiarities of the blockchain market in Kazakhstan. The discussion was joint by Mr. Kairat Kaliev, the AIFC Managing Director, Mr. Alim Khamitov, the MOST Business Incubator Director, Mr. Erlan Dumanuly, the Crowdsale Network Founder & the Vice President of the Association of Digital Technologies and Crypto Industry in Kazakhstan, Mr. Alexander Bondar, the SBH Law Office Partner, Mr. Dastan Kozhabekov, the Executive Director of the Kazakhstan Association of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, Mr. Yernur Rysmagambetov, the Managing Director & Member of the Board of AIFC and Mr. Batyrbek Umarov, the Blockchain KZ President.

The second section of the Conference was devoted to the regulation of cryptocurrencies and blockchain around the world. Mr. Mikhail Chobanyan, the founder of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine & KUNA Exchange told about the peculiarities of regulation in Ukraine. Alexander Bondar, the SBH Law Office partner, shared the experience of cryptocurrency regulation and legalization in the CIS in general and Belarus in particular, and Ms. Caroline Armitage, the Deloitte Legal lawyer, spoke about the UK practice. The discussion panel covering regulatory issues raised by Mr. Mikhail Chobanyan, the founder of Blockchain Association of Ukraine & KUNA Exchange, Mr. Alexander Bondar, the SBH Law Office Partner, Mr. Nursultan Utkelbayev, the Senior Lawyer at PwC, Ms. Caroline Armitage, the Deloitte Legal lawyer, and Ms. Ksenia Osipova, the Senior Consultant at the Tax and Legal Department, was the final chord of the second section.

After the break, Ms. Aida Meirman, the SDBS Director, continued the Conference speaking about ways to prepare businesses for introducing innovations. In turn, Mr. Mikhail Korotko, the IBM IT Architect and Technical Manager, focused on important points, mistakes and risks in the course of blockchain implementation. Ms. Zarina Kazhamaganetova, the KPMG Manager in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, shared the practical experience of implemented blockchain project in the sphere of purchases. Mr. Viktor Galasyuk, the Creditor Platform Co-founder & CEO, told about blockchain and personal data in the era of massive hacker attacks. Mr. Mikhail Voevodsky, the Emercoin team member, disclosed the possibilities of financial instruments available in the decentralized economy to reduce transaction costs. Mr. Eric Iglikov, the leading blockchain developer and blockchain expert at Aion Foundation, told about the protocols of the future. The independent crypto trader Mr. Kir Kelevra completed the third section speaking about the features of crypto trading in 2018.

The last section of Blockchain Conference Astana featured Mr. Roman Kravchenko, 482.solutions CEO & REMME CTO, and Mr. Leonid Foyu-Hatskevich, the Business Analyst at 482.Solutions and the Community Manager at QUOINE, who described capabilities of blockchain to manage the supply chain of values and peculiarities of choosing an optimal blockchain platform for ICO.

In addition, the last section involved an ICO pitch. The presentation was attended by the following five teams: eCoinomic, Matrix Gold, RAWG, Crowdsale.network and Seshaat. The best one was RAWG, according to the jury.

The Conference organizer AroundB thanks all participants, partners and sponsors for their interest and high-quality discussions. We express our thanks for the support to our sponsors bcwallet.io and Blockchain.kz, to participants of the demo area and to official partners of the Conference Astana International Financial Center, MOST business incubator, Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan Association of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies.

TO VIEW THE PHOTO REPORT OF THE EVENT & TO READ PRESENTATIONS, PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW