“MinerUpdate was started with a simple thesis. As long as Bitcoin is king, mining is fundamental.”
The Global Mining Leaders Summit 2019 opened with the following statement from MinerUpdate co-founder Daniel Armitage. The MinerSummit weekend made it abundantly clear how central mining is to everything cryptocurrency-related.
Industry leaders travelled to the Sichuan province of China from regions worldwide to contribute to the discussion of how mining is evolving. MinerSummit was established with the aim to connect miners and mining companies from both the East and the West, to facilitate meaningful conversations and discussions which would have an impact on the mining world, and to host industry leaders in the region which holds the dominant share of Bitcoin hash rate. Based on the feedback of our guests, we can confidently say this aim was achieved.
From
the outset, MinerSummit was planned to be an invite-only conference. In
retrospect, this seems to have been the correct decision. The calibre of
attendees was extremely high and many commented on the high quality of
conversations they engaged in. Energy specialists, fund managers, and every
variety of miner and mining business were among the guests.
How Mining is Evolving?
The day of MinerSummit was packed with phenomenal panel discussions and keynotes. Daniel Armitage opened the conference detailing the history of MinerUpdate and what MinerSummit was setting out to achieve. This was followed by an eye-opening keynote from Peter Ng from JD Mining which provided an honest and open exposition of how the mining business presents itself to the public and why this may be working against the interests of miners. Peter’s keynote was personal but insightful and set the tone for the day’s discussions.
A long list of leaders took to the MinerSummit stage to share their expertise of the mining industry. Researchers, hardware giants, and pools were only a small sample of experts that shared their insights on the main stage. Our media partners published news on the day’s developments, and conference attendees had the opportunity to network outside the main hall and could also explore sponsor stands. Several interviews took place between our media partners and the companies in attendance. The biggest Western and Eastern media were present including Odaily, 8BTC, Jinse Caijing, Bitcoin Magazine, CoinTelegraph, and Coindesk.
There were also some exciting announcements at MinerSummit. Luxor Mining revealed that they will be launching a Bitcoin mining pool. To date, Luxor Mining have only provided altcoin mining pools. However, when CEO Nick Hansen shared a panel with leaders from Slush Pool, Poolin, and BTC.com, he informed everyone in attendance that there would be a new competitor in the business of Bitcoin mining pools.
This was not the only development revealed at MinerSummit. Canaan brought their latest generation AvalonMiner A11 with media and attendees getting exposure to this new hardware. This was one of many mining devices displayed at the conference. Our media partner Bitcoin Magazine also started recording for a new podcast which will be dedicated to mining. MineBest CEO Eyal Avramovich will likely be the first episode to be released of this new podcast series.
Side Events
The conference took place on October 12th but the weekend’s events started the night beforehand with a pre-networking party co-hosted by OKEx and MinerUpdate. The party took place at Sip Skybar on the 51st floor of the Waldorf Astoria, a venue which towers above even the high rise buildings of Chengdu. Alina Yao, head of OKEx pool, delivered a speech at the party welcoming guests and introducing OKEx.
Several side events hosted by our partners took place on the 13th. North American hardware broker Blockware Solutions started the day’s events detailing their involvement in mining in North America. Their event gave attendees a comprehensive look into mining in North America and what the secondary hardware market suggests about mining moving into 2020. The team from Blockware tied their expertise into the wider macroeconomic picture providing attendees with a perspective on how cryptocurrencies fit into the global economy and the role mining has to play in this.
Blockware’s event was followed by an afternoon meeting hosted by Canaan which was coordinated in Mandarin. All events on the day following the conference took place in Nio House and Canaan’s event was completely full as attendees filled the venue to hear about Canaan’s ventures in hardware and blockchain. The final side event took place that evening and was co-hosted by MinerUpdate and financial services firms OSL and GSR. This event explored the blossoming field of financial services for miners. The topic of building financial markets around mining operations was a recurring theme at MinerSummit and GSR presented various financial instruments which can be created for miners to hedge their risk and transfer exposure. Following GSR’s presentation, professionals from OSL, 21 Landmark Capital, FalconX, and Matrixport all gathered on stage to discuss the intricacies of this growing area.
Mining Farm Tour
Sichuan
is estimated to account for roughly half of the entire Bitcoin hash rate. In
the days following the MinerSummit weekend, some attendees got the chance to
visit a mining farm in the region. This was the first exposure to a mining farm
in China for a number of these attendees. For others, it was their initial
exposure to any mining operation. China is certainly a unique place when it
comes to mining. This trip provided rare access to this world and led many
attendees to deeply consider the advantages and disadvantages of their own
operations compared to mining in China.
MinerSummit 2020 & Future Plans
MinerSummit
2019 would not have been possible if it was not for our guests who travelled
from far and wide, our speakers who shared their expertise and insights, our
sponsors and partners who provided financial support, and our media partners
who spread the word. The MinerUpdate team were proud to make new connections
and nurture existing ones.
Over
the following months, we will be working hard on some of the relationships and
ideas whose foundations were laid during the conference. Content on the
MinerUpdate website was significantly slowed as our small team prepared for the
conference. Readers can be assured that our content and research will be restarted
with an even deeper focus on longer-form research. We had the chance to
coordinate several interviews during MinerSummit and we are excited to release
these shortly.
As
the conference wrapped up, many attendees asked about our plans moving forward
and prospects for MinerSummit 2020. We are already considering new locations
for our next conference and we will be releasing news regarding this in the
coming months. Stay tuned!
