The World Economic Forum (WEF) holds its annual meeting for 2024 starting today (January 15) in Davos, Switzerland. In addition to the discussions centering on pressing economic issues, the event appears to be gearing up to tackle several matters related to cryptocurrencies as it will be attended by several high-profile players in the industry.
Crypto Companies At 2024 WEF
According to Bitcoin Suisse, we will see the presence of notable crypto companies at the 2024 WEF. Among the confirmed participants from the sector will be from Ripple, Coinbase, Circle, Hedera, and Stellar.
It’s not yet clear what the personalities from the mentioned crypto firms will specifically tackle. However, we expect them to join talks related to blockchain, cryptocurrencies, digital IDs, tokenization, cyber threats, deepfakes, and other emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) as these have been heavily featured on the WEF’s official website.
The latest entries on its site explored how blockchain can contribute to advancing access, security, privacy, patient tracking, and record-keeping in the healthcare sector. It also released a post delving into the nature of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their use cases. Given these, it’s safe to assume that these may be included in the forum.
The latest happenings in the crypto space like the recently approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the hacking incident that occurred prior to the historic Wall Street event may be brought up as well. Likewise, it may be hard to ignore the regulatory hurdles that some of these companies have been experiencing in certain jurisdictions if a related topic ever comes up.
Speaking of which, three of the five mentioned firms here are currently or at some point under the crosshairs of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Hedera and Stellar may be out of the regulator’s scrutiny at the moment, but knowing the wide implications of the lawsuits involving their colleagues in the industry, this subject may be considered an elephant in the room that needs addressing.
The 2024 WEF Event
The 2024 WEF meeting runs from January 15 to 19 at the Davos Congress Centre. It should be noted though that other related events may be conducted outside of the venue.
The meeting will be participated by 100 governments, some heads of state, all major international organizations, 1,000 forum partners, and representatives from various sectors of the society. The special addresses in the forum will be delivered by distinguished heads of state and international unions, including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Argentine President Javier Milei, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, French President Emmanuel Macron, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Based on the press release of the WEF, “The 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum will provide a crucial space to focus on the fundamental principles driving trust, including transparency, consistency and accountability.”