- date: 21 November 2019
- location: Tecnologico University, Veracruz, Mexico
- announcements: eventbrite, twitter
- visitors: 140+ attended
- attendees: @francov_, @luisantoniocrag
Swag distributed:
- T-shirts: 30
On November 21, the Decred meeting concluded in Veracruz, Mexico.
The conference was divided into 3 presentations: @francov_ started with an introduction on blockchain and alternative digital economy, taking Bitcoin as a quick example, then @luisantoniocrag with a Decred introduction and then our partner Luis Miguel García who talked about tokenization. (Luis M. García is a contact we have thanks to the Monterrey blockchain community, who encouraged us to attend the University and managed the open space for us).
The space was filled with 180 attendees of which 140 were initially occupied but after a hour and half many students began to leave because they had classes and only contemplated that time. At the end, 30 attendees stayed. From there we opened a panel of questions and that is where the interesting thing happened as we began to answer their questions. One of them that struck me most was about quantum computers, how it would affect cryptocurrencies long-term.
It should be noted that many of the attending students who stayed until the end are doing their thesis in cryptocurrencies and blockchain, so the theme came in handy. What entertained us the most was that 2 public finance teachers and a systems man attended, with whom we started a debate on Decred vs. Mexican peso.
If it is already complicated to discuss with Bitcoin maximalists, imagine a debate with fiat money maximalists.
The debate was so intense with reasonable arguments from each side that we kept those 30 attendees for another 20 min, in addition to taking advantage of distributing Decred T-shirts that were available for everyone who had stayed.
The most interesting part of the debate was the question: who will back up my money in Decred? Arguing that if something happens to FIAT money at least someone will answer for it.
I don't blame them for this, it's the system that lived cheating us all this time.
The answer was Decred may not be for everyone, we are an alternate digital economy, with our own system of governance and where the community has its own voice about the future of its own money.
If you are happy with the current system, the answer is that this technology is not for you, but if at least you feel uncomfortable, I recommend you review the project.
In the end they were reflecting on it, and they told us that it would be excellent to set up a workshop or some deeper conference so that they understand the use of Decred and blockchain technology and how Decred improves the way decisions are made in Mexico and LATAM.
Conclusion: the debate was very good because we gave points of view where there was evidence that "money" is a very volatile concept in human matters, but that we can correct all those details that have led us to make mistakes and we can land it and be objective thanks to the technological advance that we have, which makes it possible.
Create a decentralized economic alternative.
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As a curious anecdote, among the public was a professor who teaches systems at that same university, who also at the end debated why cryptocurrencies have no future, and his argument was based on the fact that cryptos are made of "faith of religion" because they will only work if people believe in them, but that that will be impossible because as money can be something that is not touched or seen, it is a blind faith.
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We debated for a while but at the end we noticed with the comments we exchanged with the professor of computer systems who does not know how technology is currently being used in financial sector. He does not know how an interbank transfer works, use of banking apps and paying with QR code.
- Introduce the blockchain to university students in the area of engineering and economics, due to the lack of information in this city.
- Introduce Decred Project, as an innovative and inclusive project to develop the economy in Mexico and LATAM.
- Teach about a blockchain governance model that is very different from the current political system of a traditional economy.
- Motivate economics students to study blockchain for payment methods and the implications.
- The Decred presentation was good. In each meetup we are polishing the way to present Decred.
- The presentations were good, and more fluid, although we would like to modify certain information to emphasize that cryptocurrencies are already a present reality and take away the idea that they are utopian projects.
- We learned how to debate and deal with people who disagree with cryptocurrencies more because of their ideology and not knowledge.
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