Thank you for all the encouragement here. Bitcoin and Blockchain are breaking out and it's a very exciting time to be in this space.
We decided as a board to rebrand to the Blockchain Association of Canada for a number of reasons:
1)Blockchain Technology is Bigger than Bitcoin; Bitcoin is the currency, financial network. Blockchain will be touching voting, identity, assets, etc. and we don't want to handicap ourselves.
2)It's not as scary as bitcoin. Bitcoin to many who don't understand it is scary. Blockchain doesn't have that rep.
3)Association is more appropriate and clear than Alliance we felt; we are here to represent and help the industry grow in Canada.
1) We're building bridges...for example, last week Joseph Weinberg, Shannon Steele, and myself spoke at a payments compliance forum in Toronto to about 60 people; predominantly, bankers, compliance officers, and lawyers. We spoke for an hour on bitcoin, blockchain, identity, transformation, scalability, and opportunity. The feedback from delegates was summed up in 1 word..."MindBlowing."
Similarly, we exhibited at a conference called the Manning Centre in Ottawa; it was a political conference for conservatives and libertarians. 90% of people had no idea what Bitcoin or Blockchain was but we left about 10-15% of the 800 delegates with a solid understanding; including many students. Also, these events are attended by other industry associations and by educating the associations we get partners and access to entire industries; the great thing about Blockchain is that it applies to almost everyone in some form or fashion and it's a captivating subject.
Going forward we plan to continue supporting industry events but it's important that we bring the message to new audiences with ambassadors who can teach & inspire.
2) We are helping build and support the community. Whether it's supporting meetups, hackathons, workshops, or other groups we want the community and know that we want to support you. We can assist with mentoring startups and businesses, connecting companies to individuals, and we're soon to become more active with content.
3) Media Responsiveness; we have a phone number you can call. We can answer questions on a number of topics and if we can't we will do our best to point you in the right direction.
4) Advocacy; governments enact laws but industries generally write them. When it comes to bitcoin and blockchain are we going to let the legacy industries write the rules or are we going to write them? It's not quite that simple but we definitely do need to have a position and advocate it.
We are a federal non-profit and we can use support from individuals, private companies, other associations, and government. If you would like to get involved don't hesitate to reach out directly: kemper @ blockchainassociation.ca
I am Kyle Kemper, the Executive Director of the BAC. Been in the space since 2013; can say with confidence that I have my 10,000 hours and that I'm helping other people get theirs.
We are the BAC, we have 9 excellent and diverse directors, a host of advisors in different sectors all across the country, a membership of individuals and corporations, and partner organizations of many different colours.
Thats aboot it for now.
KK
