A Different Kind of Networking Event
So she did what any good entrepreneur would do — and created her own. Although Erica knew it would grow to be popular, she could never have imagined it would snowball into the nationwide networking event that it is now.
What sets her event apart from many others in the space is that people can just get to know more about each other in an informal environment over food and drinks — hence the name Crypto Curry Club.
Erica explained: “I started in October 2018 because there were not any good events in London. The majority were just sales pitches, and many charged their speakers to attend. At the Crypto Curry Club, the majority of people that attend our event are founders of a blockchain company or project. Lots of senior management and partners of law firms. Our event is invite-only. And our event focuses on introductions rather than sales.
“It has been phenomenally successful, with lots of deals and partnerships occurring within them. I had a feeling it would be popular, but I don’t think I knew quite how popular it would get. It has been going well and it has been very humbling and exciting.”
Erica’s own journey with blockchain technology started three years ago when she read about blockchain technology and how easy and quick it was to send money without the delays and high fees associated with fiat currency.
She has been hooked ever since and in addition to organising events, she also worked in sales and marketing, prior to co-founding an educational website called Cryptocurrency Simplified. Shortly after, she founded the Crypto Curry Club, where she gathered together some of the biggest leaders and company directors in the blockchain industry.
She explained: “I’ve got the biggest group of senior blockchain people in London, possibly in the UK. I’ve got hundreds of senior management from many blockchain companies attending my events. They sell out in days, some of them sell out within hours. My plan is to make it the biggest blockchain event networking company in the UK. I realised there was nobody else who really knew other people in crypto in London and I wanted to go to events and meet more people but without the used car salesmen running sales pitches.”
Her interest in cryptocurrency came after she started to profit from her investments and when she saw the potential applications of the technology. She spent a full year researching cryptocurrencies with a team, reading white papers and looking online.
She added: “I got into cryptocurrencies three years ago through a friend and I started researching and investing in it. I saw the potential and I could see that it was possible to send money instantly for free. I could see how much better it was than the traditional ways of sending money.”
After spending some time travelling across South America, her appreciation of cryptocurrencies grew as she reflected upon its ability to send money quickly when it is needed the most.
Erica had her credit cards stolen in South America. The delays and fees associated with collecting money that was sent to her highlighted the potential challenges that cryptocurrencies could help solve.
Erica explained: “There was a time in Guatemala where I’d had all my credit cards stolen, I’d been mugged a few times. I had no cards left whatsoever and I was staying in this tiny village in Guatemala.
“I had to walk for miles through this really dodgy area to the nearest Western Union. It was the only way of getting money in, but it had limited opening hours. I called my dad who sent me some money but it took three days and cost 14% in fees. That was not ideal.
“The average fees charged by banks is 6% but in many places, Western Union is the only option and they charged 14%. But with crypto, anyone can send money instantly to anyone else in the world. I can see the potential for that in many different industries, for micropayments, transactions and sending money abroad. I could see how much better and more transparent it was and I liked the fact that it was against the status quo because it doesn’t need banks or centralised authorities.”
However, blockchain technology is not without its challenges. The major hurdle is that many businesses who could potentially benefit from it do not always understand its potential.
This is a challenge that Erica has fought hard to overcome.
She said: “The problem is there has been so much hype and scams around blockchain and that hasn’t helped because then people just don’t trust the whole thing. You’ve got large companies that don’t understand it, but a lot of people who do understand it are really intelligent and are working on the tech but don’t know how to explain it. So what’s needed is for it to be simplified in a language people can understand.
“The thing that I’m most excited about is the use of blockchain to improve sustainability. If you really look at what it can do, it can be used to hold companies accountable. For example, it can track where their products are coming from, how much they paid for, how much they paid for workers and it can help customers to see whether products are actually organic or recycled. It can also provide physical accountability within a supply chain and some companies have used it to track the recycling of plastics. That’s the main thing I’m interested in.”
However, while she is extremely passionate about cryptocurrencies and investing, she also warned people against investing until they have done their research.
She added: “Don’t do it until you have done a lot of research and only with money you are happy to lose. Markets are budget-volatile and risky, it’s unregulated and highly manipulated. Don’t trust social media, as it’s unregulated and many people are paid to promote projects. Cointelligence.com is a good source of information for calling out scams.”
Going forward, Erica plans to hold more themed events based around various subjects, such as sustainability, micropayments, digital rights management and banking.
Blockchain technology impacts many different industries, such as vlogging, music streaming, or digital rights management which tracks ownership and allows people to pay in live time for watching videos or reading articles. These are possibilities that do not currently exist with fiat currency because of the costs involved.
Erica’s plans are to educate others about the potential of blockchain through speaking engagements and events.
She added: “I’m planning to do niche events such as blockchain for farmers, for miners and for banking. But they are much more niche events. I’ve been asked to do some educational events at universities, such as blockchain for crypto which is really cool. I’m looking to do other events such as the future of money, and also more events about crypto where people can learn more about it. I’ve also got plans to do events about sustainability.
“What’s really good is you have got a roomful of really intelligent people who are actively working on the tech. So we get a lot of really good debates and discussions. We’ve got people who are known all over the world as industry leaders.”
The next Crypto Curry Club meeting will take place at Bristol on September 20th, October 2nd in London and October 11th in Oxford.
Published at Tue, 10 Sep 2019 07:23:57 +0000
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By trendingtopics on 2019-03-27 16:05:44
