2022 SmartCon Conference Review
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2022 SmartCon Conference Review
The 2022 SmartCon conference opened yesterday, drawing widespread attention from the Web3 community.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsThe 2022 SmartCon conference opened yesterday, drawing significant attention from the Web3 community. This year's SmartCon features over 150 guests delivering more than 100 talks, bringing together industry leaders, founders, developers, researchers, and community members from both Web2 and Web3 to share insights and explore the latest innovations in Web3.
This article recaps key speeches, programs, announcements, and product updates delivered on the first day of SmartCon in New York.
Attendees gather at TechFlow SmartCon 2022 in New York.
Building the Web3 World: Keynotes, Insights, and Panel Discussions
SmartCon brought together leaders from Web2 and Web3 to discuss how to drive mainstream adoption of trust-minimized applications.
Keynote by Sergey Nazarov
Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, kicked off the event with a keynote titled "Building a Web3 World Powered by Cryptographic Truth." He outlined the success factors behind the Chainlink network, key developments in Chainlink economics, and new services poised to accelerate Chainlink’s future growth.
The Chainlink network delivers increasingly advanced oracle services for hybrid smart contracts, powering innovation in Web3.
"Ultimately, these services will come together to create an infrastructure—an environment—that moves real-world value onto blockchains and transforms it into a more reliable model: one where 'we can't be evil.' " – Sergey Nazarov, Co-Founder of Chainlink
Watch the full video of the keynote.
Panel Discussion on Capital Markets with SWIFT, DTCC, and BNY Mellon
Jonathan Ehrenfeld Solé, Strategy Director at SWIFT; Stephen Prosperi, Head of Product Management at DTCC; and Victor O’Laughlen, Head of Enterprise Tokenization at BNY Mellon joined Sergey Nazarov to discuss how cross-chain interoperability can advance digital assets in capital markets.
Solé and Sergey announced that SWIFT has adopted the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) in its early proof-of-concept project. SWIFT will use CCIP to send messages on-chain for token transfers, enabling its network to achieve interoperability across nearly all blockchain environments. Video link
Fireside Chat: Eric Schmidt and Sergey Nazarov
Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Steel Perlot and former CEO of Google, joined Sergey Nazarov for a fireside chat. They discussed the growing importance of trust minimization and the core value of Web3 infrastructure for Web2 enterprises.
Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt discuss the future of Web3.
"I want to congratulate you all—you're in exactly the right place at the right time to help move Web3 forward with Chainlink." – Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Steel Perlot and Former CEO of Google
Watch the fireside chat video.
Chainlink 2.0 Economics
Chainlink 2.0 Economics introduces a suite of initiatives focused on enhancing data security and functionality, reducing oracle service operating costs, increasing revenue for Chainlink service providers, and enabling broader participation—such as stakers—in the Chainlink ecosystem.
Chainlink 2.0 Economics aims to enable sustainable growth, cryptographic economic security, and more effective value capture mechanisms for the Chainlink network.
Chainlink SCALE
SCALE ("Sustainable Chainlink Access for Layer 1 and 2 Enablement") is a program launched by Chainlink Labs. Under this initiative, blockchain projects commit to offsetting the operational costs of oracle networks, accelerating ecosystem growth and supporting the long-term sustainability of Chainlink oracle services.
Initial participating blockchains and L2 networks include Avalanche, Metis, Moonbeam, and Moonriver.
Overview of the Chainlink SCALE program.
Chainlink BUILD
Chainlink BUILD is a program launched by Chainlink Labs to accelerate the development of early-stage and mature projects within the Chainlink ecosystem, offering enhanced Chainlink services and technical support. In return, participating projects commit to paying network fees and other incentives to stakers and other Chainlink service providers.
Overview of the Chainlink BUILD program. Initial participants include:
- Space and Time — A decentralized data warehouse enabling low-latency queries and tamper-proof analytics for Web3 users.
- Truflation — A data provider offering consensus-grade pricing data from over 30 real-time sources, delivering independent and manipulation-resistant inflation metrics.
- bitsCrunch — An AI-powered NFT analytics service that filters wash trading from NFT markets, provides more accurate NFT valuations, and verifies digital art authenticity.
Chainlink Integrations and Product Updates
Kemal El Moujahid, Chief Product Officer at Chainlink Labs, announced several product updates during his keynote on Chainlink products, and invited leading projects to share how they are using Chainlink oracles to unlock new Web3 applications and markets.
Kemal El Moujahid, Chief Product Officer at Chainlink Labs, on the main stage at TechFlow SmartCon 2022.
"We invented a decentralized consensus mechanism based on oracles that solves blockchain connectivity while guaranteeing trust minimization for applications. We've built a community-driven, decentralized system—the more developers involved, the better it becomes." — Kemal El Moujahid, Chief Product Officer, Chainlink Labs
Bitcoin Interest Rate Curve
Chainlink and CF Benchmarks are collaborating to launch the CF Bitcoin Interest Rate Curve (CF BIRC), a replicable and non-manipulable benchmark measuring current and expected interest rates for Bitcoin across various maturities.
Coinbase Cloud x Chainlink NFT Floor Price Feeds
Coinbase Cloud, Coinbase’s standalone blockchain developer services suite, is partnering with Chainlink Labs to launch NFT floor price feeds. This includes a series of Chainlink Data Feeds tracking the floor prices of the top ten NFT collections.
Chainlink Automation
Kemal also announced that Chainlink Keepers has been officially rebranded as Chainlink Automation, reflecting a broader product scope aimed at automating more advanced smart contract applications.
Chainlink Badge Program
The Secured With Chainlink badge allows applications to showcase their integration with Chainlink’s industry-leading security infrastructure. Projects can join the program to receive the badge and demonstrate their use of Chainlink’s premier services to users.
Enterprises and Web3
Leading global technology infrastructure companies gathered at SmartCon 2022 to discuss how Web3 can transform traditional industries.
Universal Interoperability for Financial Institutions
Global financial institutions can leverage Web3 technologies to streamline existing processes, including optimizing clearing and settlement systems and simplifying cross-border payments.
SWIFT
Jonathan Ehrenfeld Solé, Strategy Director at SWIFT, shared how SWIFT’s global messaging network is adopting the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) to enable on-chain token transfers, allowing the SWIFT network to achieve interoperability across diverse blockchain environments.
Jonathan Ehrenfeld Solé explains how SWIFT leverages CCIP to streamline cross-border payments.
DTCC
DTCC provides essential financial market infrastructure for international finance, settling transactions worth tens of trillions of dollars annually. Stephen Prosperi, Head of Product Management and Digital Securities, explained the critical role of reliable interoperability solutions in enabling large-scale blockchain adoption by financial institutions.
BNY Mellon
BNY Mellon, one of the oldest and largest banks in the U.S., was represented by Victor O’Laughlen, Head of Enterprise Tokenization. He highlighted the pivotal roles of interoperability and tokenization—not only in connecting banks but also in serving as hubs across many standalone business lines within major financial institutions.
Cathay Financial Holding Company Limited
Cathay Financial Holding is a publicly traded company whose subsidiaries operate in banking, life insurance, real estate, and accident insurance. Nicholas Yang, Cathay’s blockchain lead, shared how Chainlink enables easy scaling of enterprise consortium chains, connects them to external systems, and decentralizes control over shared data.
Monetizing Data and IT Services
There is growing demand in Web3 markets for high-quality real-world data and off-chain computing resources. SmartCon 2022 demonstrated how Web2 data and IT providers can facilitate the transition toward Web3 infrastructure and seize emerging monetization opportunities.
Previously siloed, the Web2 and Web3 ecosystems are now becoming increasingly interconnected. Web2 enterprises can monetize their existing data assets in the Web3 world, support innovative staking products, and even become validators on blockchains.
LexisNexis
LexisNexis specializes in providing legal, regulatory, and business data and analytics to clients. The company currently operates a Chainlink node, supplying real-world flight status data to smart contracts. At the conference, LexisNexis announced plans to expand its offerings, helping other enterprises monetize their existing compliance, patent, and other proprietary databases via Chainlink.
Michael Cole shares his team’s experience running a Chainlink node.
T-Systems MMS
T-Systems, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, specializes in information technology and digital transformation services. T-Systems MMS currently operates as a Chainlink node operator, securely transmitting real-world data to smart contract applications. At the conference, they reaffirmed their commitment to exploring innovative opportunities and providing secure node infrastructure services for the Web3 ecosystem to advance cutting-edge IT innovation.
“Find the SmartCon Key” Contest
Three lucky participants found the SmartCon Key. The first-place winner received a lifetime pass to SmartCon and complimentary accommodations; the second-place winner received a lifetime pass; and the third-place winner received a ticket to SmartCon 2023.
The “Find the SmartCon Key” contest launched online several weeks before the in-person event. Participants had to solve a series of puzzles hidden across various Chainlink content channels. Solving each puzzle revealed a clue directing them to locate a blue armchair at the physical event. Enthusiastic participants discovered a map under a blue chair near the Aristotle Stage, which led them to a live mural created by artist Vizie. The mural featured the Statue of Liberty wearing a plaid shirt and holding a key, with the text below reading: “Tell Lynn to win.” Three standout participants found Lynn, a Chainlink Labs team member, and said the keyword “plaid shirt,” successfully claiming the SmartCon keys.
Vizie’s live mural, revealing the final clue to the SmartCon Key.
More Information
Day one of SmartCon 2022 gave attendees a comprehensive look into Chainlink’s future roadmap—from new product launches and key 2.0 economic mechanisms to Chainlink’s long-term vision of building a global economy powered by cryptographic truth.
You can watch videos from day one and select sessions from day two through the official 2022 SmartCon YouTube playlist. To stay updated on Chainlink and the Chainlink ecosystem, subscribe to Chainlink News and follow Chainlink on Twitter.
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