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- The London Blockchain Conference could see up to four speakers withdrawing in the space of a week
- The conference, slated to take place in October, rebranded from the CoinGeek Conferfence in 2023
- It appears that speakers are unaware of the ties to the propagandist news outlet, although a campaign is afoot to educate them
The London Blockchain Conference seems to have a speaker problem, and it’s nothing to do with acoustics. The conference, which takes place in October, is experiencing something of a revolving door of speakers, with even replacements dropping out just days after being added to the roster. Three speakers alone have dropped out in the last week, including one just three days after being added, and it seems that the desire to avoid association with the conference lies in its past, and, in particular, its chief backer.
When Rebrands Fail
The London Blockchain Conference has been running since 2023, bringing together “industry pioneers…thought leaders…innovators and changemakers” to discuss the current and future state of blockchain technology. However, until 2023, the conference went by another name: The CoinGeek Conference. This was a nod to the online crypto news outlet which, for six years, trumpeted Craig Wright’s fraudulent attempt to con the British courts into confirming him as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Had Wright succeeded, he could have crushed certain sections of the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors, with one particular lawsuit targeting Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash developers to the tune of billions of dollars.
As we know, the entire thing was a lie, a lie which CoinGeek perpetuated through one-sided ‘reporting’ through fake authors, including advertising a $5,000 bounty to doxx the Bitcoiner Hodlonaut, one of Wright’s legal targets. CoinGeek’s proprietor is Craig Wright’s principal financial backer since 2015, Calvin Ayre, and so it is no wonder conference was rebranded in 2023 following a series of embarrassing defeats for Wright (another example of the whitewash which has since seen it scrub almost all mentions of its support for Wright going back to 2018), but the company has found it hard to rid itself of the reputation it built for itself through its support for Wright.
One In, Three Out
As late as 1 July, the list of key speakers included Barnali Biswal, CEO of Hilbert Capital; Ray Dillet, Head of Financial Institutions (Europe) at Bitwise Asset Management; and David Palmer, Chief Product Officer at Vodafone. However, Biswal and Dillet are no longer present on the list of speakers, with FullyCrypto learning that both asked to be removed once they were informed of Ayre’s chequered past, which includes pleading guilty to violation of the federal Wire Act and a very public proclivity for the company of scantily clad young women.
CoinGeek sought to fill the gap with Jane Moore, Head of Payments and Digital Assets at the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial regulator, which was picked up by BitMEX Research:
For those that thought the UK’s @TheFCA doesn’t have a brilliant record when it comes to crypto & Bitcoin. It gets worse…
The FCA are sending their “head of payments & digital assets” to speak at Calvin Ayre’s BSV conference.
Calvin Ayre is the individual that financed… pic.twitter.com/VBtMhow71Z
— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) July 3, 2025
The backlash seems to have taken the FCA unawares, and just three working days later, Moore was quickly and quietly removed. Palmer’s speaking arrangement is also set to be scrapped, with a source showing FullyCrypto an email in which Palmer states that he was unaware of the conference’s connection to Ayre and that he “will cancel” his spot. It appears, therefore, that the campaign to inform speakers of what they are really putting their names to is having the desired effect.
With just three months to go to the event and with a concerted campaign apparently afoot to alert speakers of the true nature of the conference and its backer, organisers must be praying that no one else pulls out, with the pool becoming shallower and shallower. Few outside of Ayre’s orbit will cry too many tears over this, however, with many feeling that he is getting his just desserts.
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Mark Hunter