LONDON, April 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Huobi, the world's second largest exchange for crypto currencies by daily trading volume, hosted an official meetup in London on April 17, 2018. Attending the event were industry experts, crypto currency traders, representatives of Huobi's Elite Members program, various media organizations, and select projects.
From the 42nd floor of the Leadenhall Building in the City of London, guests enjoyed magnificent views of the Tower of London and the Thames from one of the city's tallest buildings. The high altitude setting was an appropriate reminder of the heights to which Huobi has soared in the crypto space. Huobi's exchange platform cleared over $1 billion in trading volume in the 24 hour period leading up to the event, with users in more than 130 countries across the world.
An expert panel concluded the morning session with a lively discussion on emerging regulations and the future of ICOs. One of the panelists pointed out that nearly 50% of ICO projects were currently trading at prices below their initial listings. While to some extent that may reflect the general downturn in the market, the same panelist suggested that regulatory actions from the SEC will soon bring "smart" institutional money into the space which will induce further price corrections on crypto currencies, and drive more liquidity into projects with sounder technology and better growth prospects for the real economy.
Huobi invited four select projects to present at the meetup, including Elastos, Penta, Linkeye, and BitCapital Vendor. Penta's CEO, David Ritter, delivered one of the day's most animated speeches. Concerned that many projects in the crypto space were becoming more centralized in order to solve problems of scalability, Mr. Ritter and his co-founder, Dr. Steve Melnikoff, launched Penta to be a public blockchain platform that can achieve scalability while maintaining decentralization. Mr. Ritter introduced the audience to Penta's unique consensus algorithm, Dynamic Stake Consensus (DSC), which he called "the most democratic and equitable consensus algorithm in the blockchain space." And to demonstrate the kinds of problems blockchain technology can achieve in the real world, Mr. Ritter told the audience about some of Penta's successful projects. Mobile phones around the room recorded images of Penta's Blockchain Rice, a food security blockchain that enables consumers to scan a QR code on a bag of rice and see the entire supply chain process from rice patty to point of sale. Notably, Penta has not yet listed its PNT token on any exchange, leading some members of the audience to wonder whether Penta's presence at the Huobi meetup was auspiciously timed.
London is a major stop on Huobi's world tour, a nod to Europe's most active trading scene. Huobi is making efforts to expand into new markets and attract more investors and traders to its platform as it attempts to take its trading platform mainstream. Traders at the meetup hoping for good news after a few bad months found optimistic market forecasts.
