The Blockchain Africa conference began on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, despite the growing concerns about the coronavirus epidemic.
The first cases of South Covid-19 was confirmed at the beginning of the month. As of March 11, thirteen South Africans were tested positive for the virus.
Despite the relatively low infection rate in the country, the South African government has adopted a proactive and cautious approach to the virus. They based their considerations on the disastrous situation in countries like China and Italy.
However, the current crisis and travel restrictions have led to difficulties in the participants of the Africa Blockchain. Several days speakers were struck by the official program, and Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, founder and honor speaker, completely canceled his trip to South Africa.
Tone Vays, the famous cryptocurrency investor, conducted his commitment as one of the key speakers of the event, after having traveled in South Africa more than a week before the Blockchain Africa.
During a round table, Vays recognized that the world situation surrounding the coronavirus could potentially have a direct effect on the cryptocurrency markets:
“I could see this as being bad enough for Bitcoin. We are already seeing a massive global economic disruption that affects the global markets. If there is a huge economic disturbance, the closure of the company and people stop investing. People will not speculate on Bitcoin. If you lose your job, you do not buy Bitcoin, you probably sell it to put food on the table.”
The conference is organized at the headquarters of Johannesburg of Investc. Initially, the organizers expected more than 500 delegates attending the two -day top.
The event organizer, Sonya Kuhnel, told Cintelegraph that a little less than 300 delegates had been expected on the first day. However, only about 230 people officially registered when the event began.
A mention was also made of the planned effect of coronavirus on the global economic markets. Richard de Sousa, founder of the local cryptocurrency exchange, Altcointrader, told Cointelegraph that the figures of significantly low participants were probably due to the viral epidemic:
“I think that the conference was fairly well timed, since the coronavirus is not yet so bad. I think that if we had this conference for a few months, we would have seen much worse. But it wreaked havoc on the number of participants this year.”
De Sousa also conceded that the difficult economic climate could have a kind of effect on negotiation volumes, partly due to the impact of the virus in different countries.
Binance South Africa Country Manager, Tanya Knowles, serves as MC for the event. She admitted that climbing had made things difficult in the past few days:
“Fortunately, with technology, we were able to go ahead with the conference, some speakers choosing to send pre -recorded presentations, while some delegates have chosen to look at live delivery. But the coronavirus has stress on the organizers.”
Frisco d’Anconia, founder of the African Blockchain University, traveled from Maurice to attend the conference. He said he had not been put off by Coronavirus fears:
“I am not worried about the situation. I think it’s over-type. In my work line, if I don’t travel, I can’t make money.”
