Back
Go Back
Past Eevent

Blockchain for Justice: 2019

Second summit on blockchain’s impact on reparations and empowerment, with keynotes from Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao and Congresswoman Plaskett.
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Date
Sep, 2019
Organizers
BillMari, BitHub Africa

Black Blockchain Summit 2019 (2nd Annual)

The second annual summit carried the theme “Reparations and Revolutions,” examining how blockchain innovation can help remediate past injustices and transform the economic future of Black communities​. Over two days, attendees engaged in discussions on using cryptocurrency to create a more equitable society. Notable keynote sessions featured high-profile speakers such as H.E. Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao (African Union Ambassador to the U.S.) and U.S. Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett, highlighting blockchain’s potential in policy and empowerment​. Panels and workshops focused on practical applications of blockchain for financial inclusion and reparative economic models.

Relevant Event
Wired
It’s the sixth annual Black Blockchain Summit, and organizers are quietly removing a couple rows of chairs from the room. The Howard University auditorium we’re in looks a third empty. There are at most 100 people in the crowd today—a far cry from the 1,500 who attended the summit over three days last year, when Sam Bankman-Fried was still hailed as crypto’s boy wonder. Now, in late September, he’s weeks away from being convicted for an $8 billion fraud scheme.
The Washington Post
It is a space for discussing the relationship between money and man, the powers that be and what they have done with power. Online and in person, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., an estimated 1,500 mostly Black people have gathered to talk about crypto—decentralized digital money backed not by governments but by blockchain technology, a secure means of recording transactions—as a way to make money while disrupting centuries-long patterns of oppression.
Time
Inside the World of Black Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency started out as mostly a hobby for tech-savvy, financial wizards who had money to play with — cultivating an image of its users as young, White “Bitcoin bros.” But today, a growing number of Americans of color are participating in the $2 trillion global industry as a way to build wealth outside the traditional banking system, which many say has historically excluded and discriminated against their communities.
Wired
It’s the sixth annual Black Blockchain Summit, and organizers are quietly removing a couple rows of chairs from the room. The Howard University auditorium we’re in looks a third empty. There are at most 100 people in the crowd today—a far cry from the 1,500 who attended the summit over three days last year, when Sam Bankman-Fried was still hailed as crypto’s boy wonder. Now, in late September, he’s weeks away from being convicted for an $8 billion fraud scheme.
The Washington Post
It is a space for discussing the relationship between money and man, the powers that be and what they have done with power. Online and in person, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., an estimated 1,500 mostly Black people have gathered to talk about crypto—decentralized digital money backed not by governments but by blockchain technology, a secure means of recording transactions—as a way to make money while disrupting centuries-long patterns of oppression.
Time
Inside the World of Black Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency started out as mostly a hobby for tech-savvy, financial wizards who had money to play with — cultivating an image of its users as young, White “Bitcoin bros.” But today, a growing number of Americans of color are participating in the $2 trillion global industry as a way to build wealth outside the traditional banking system, which many say has historically excluded and discriminated against their communities.
Wired
It’s the sixth annual Black Blockchain Summit, and organizers are quietly removing a couple rows of chairs from the room. The Howard University auditorium we’re in looks a third empty. There are at most 100 people in the crowd today—a far cry from the 1,500 who attended the summit over three days last year, when Sam Bankman-Fried was still hailed as crypto’s boy wonder. Now, in late September, he’s weeks away from being convicted for an $8 billion fraud scheme.
The Washington Post
It is a space for discussing the relationship between money and man, the powers that be and what they have done with power. Online and in person, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., an estimated 1,500 mostly Black people have gathered to talk about crypto—decentralized digital money backed not by governments but by blockchain technology, a secure means of recording transactions—as a way to make money while disrupting centuries-long patterns of oppression.
Time
Inside the World of Black Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency started out as mostly a hobby for tech-savvy, financial wizards who had money to play with — cultivating an image of its users as young, White “Bitcoin bros.” But today, a growing number of Americans of color are participating in the $2 trillion global industry as a way to build wealth outside the traditional banking system, which many say has historically excluded and discriminated against their communities.