Coronavirus: Bitcoin conferences in virtual reality

The Coronavirus emergency caused the lockdown of several European countries, such as Italy and France, and this gave rise to “virtual reality” conferences on Bitcoin, blockchain and more.

In fact, the closure of public premises and the ban on gatherings have effectively cancelled many conferences that were scheduled these days. Moreover, at the EthCC in Paris, which was held in early March, cases of Covid-19 contagion were detected. Fortunately, the Internet and virtual reality make it possible to replace physical meetups with those online or in VR. 

One such experiment was held by Udi Wertheimer on March 21st. All the instructions to take part in the meeting “BTCPay Server, not just payment processing” were posted in the special Telegram chat published via twitter: schedule of the meeting, an app to download (Altspace VR), and lastly, everyone was told that the special glasses for virtual reality were recommended but not necessary. 

🛑LIVE NOW: @BtcpayServer, Not Just Payment Processing, with @britttttkelly! Join our next meetups: https://t.co/umvwcjhKzI https://t.co/8kn3AEgFkP

— Udi Wertheimer (@udiWertheimer) March 21, 2020

The meeting was focused on BTCPay and the new Bitcoin payment methods for merchants. According to twitter comments, the initiative and the way it was organized seems to have been a success.

Virtual reality and online conferences seem to be the new standard for meetups, at least until the Coronavirus emergency is over. 

Even the Bitcoin Cash community had to turn to virtual reality for the two events in Tokyo and Osaka. The two Japanese events were in fact made available also in virtual reality for those who were not willing to attend the physical meetup. The events were held last week.

Consensus 2020 will also be in VR. No conference in a physical place, everything moves to virtual reality and for the organizers (the Coindesk magazine) this is nothing but an opportunity to involve even more people. The event was supposed to be held next May 11th in New York. But the United States is also struggling with the health emergency that has led the Big Apple to opt for the lockdown. 

In short, the emergency is changing everyone’s social habits. The isolation in which many cities and countries are confined is giving rise to new ways of gathering, online or in virtual reality, but in any case “virus-free”.