{"id":861205,"date":"2025-07-09T19:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T00:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/09\/why-is-the-london-blockchain-conference-shedding-speakers\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T19:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T00:13:11","slug":"why-is-the-london-blockchain-conference-shedding-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/09\/why-is-the-london-blockchain-conference-shedding-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the London Blockchain Conference Shedding Speakers?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"page\">\n<div id=\"content_box\">\n<header>\n<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b5363381b9fb67e5d83a7331644feccb6ac7671ad22cc5b5555df342567c3bb?s=32&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g\"  height=\"32\" width=\"32\" decoding=\"async\"><\/p>\n<p><span><span>By <a href=\"https:\/\/fullycrypto.com\/author\/mahu_bs\" title=\"Posts by Mark Hunter\" rel=\"author\">Mark Hunter<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<p>14 hours ago<span>Wed Jul 09 2025 09:56:37<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<p><img width=\"1300\" height=\"890\" src=\"https:\/\/fullycrypto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Why-is-the-London-Blockchain-Conference-Shedding-Speakers.png\" alt=\"Why-is-the-London-Blockchain-Conference-Shedding-Speakers\" title decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-layzr=\"https:\/\/fullycrypto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Why-is-the-London-Blockchain-Conference-Shedding-Speakers.png\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span><span>Reading Time: <\/span> <span> 3<\/span> <span>minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>The London Blockchain Conference could see up to four speakers withdrawing in the space of a week<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>The conference, slated to take place in October, rebranded from the CoinGeek Conferfence in 2023<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>It appears that speakers are unaware of the ties to the propagandist news outlet, although a campaign is afoot to educate them<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>The London Blockchain Conference seems to have a speaker problem, and it\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span>When Rebrands Fail<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>The London Blockchain Conference has been running since 2023, bringing together \u201cindustry pioneers\u2026thought leaders\u2026innovators and changemakers\u201d to discuss the current and future state of blockchain technology. However, until 2023, the conference went by another name: The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fullycrypto.com\/coingeek-conference-mocked-for-attendance-and-streaming-issues\"><span>CoinGeek Conference<\/span><\/a><span>. This was a nod to the online crypto news outlet which, for six years, trumpeted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fullycrypto.com\/craig-wright-satoshi-nakamoto-or-egotistical-fraud\"><span>Craig Wright\u2019s fraudulent attempt<\/span><\/a><span> to con the British courts into confirming him as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fullycrypto.com\/who-is-satoshi-nakamoto-part-1\"><span>Satoshi Nakamoto<\/span><\/a><span>, 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As we know, the entire thing was a lie, a lie which CoinGeek perpetuated through one-sided \u2018reporting\u2019 through fake authors, including advertising a $5,000 bounty to doxx the Bitcoiner Hodlonaut, one of Wright\u2019s legal targets. CoinGeek\u2019s proprietor is Craig Wright\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span>One In, Three Out<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>As late as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/6yQo6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span>1 July<\/span><\/a><span>, 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 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/londonblockchain.net\/speakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span>list of speakers<\/span><\/a><span>, with FullyCrypto learning that both asked to be removed once they were informed of Ayre\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>CoinGeek sought to fill the gap with Jane Moore, Head of Payments and Digital Assets at the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK\u2019s financial regulator, which was picked up by BitMEX Research:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">For those that thought the UK\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheFCA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheFCA<\/a> doesn\u2019t have a brilliant record when it comes to crypto &#038; Bitcoin. It gets worse\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The FCA are sending their \u201chead of payments &#038; digital assets\u201d to speak at Calvin Ayre\u2019s BSV conference.<\/p>\n<p>Calvin Ayre is the individual that financed\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VBtMhow71Z\">pic.twitter.com\/VBtMhow71Z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BitMEXResearch\/status\/1940746772608847995?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>The backlash seems to have taken the FCA unawares, and just three working days later, Moore was quickly and quietly removed. Palmer\u2019s 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\u2019s connection to Ayre and that he \u201cwill cancel\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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\u2019s orbit will cry too many tears over this, however, with many feeling that he is getting his just desserts.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fullycrypto.com\/why-is-the-london-blockchain-conference-shedding-speakers?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=why-is-the-london-blockchain-conference-shedding-speakers\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Mark Hunter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mark Hunter 14 hours agoWed Jul 09 2025 09:56:37 Reading Time: 3 minutes 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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":861206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4644,3966],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-861205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blockchain","8":"category-london"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}