SXSW 2018 Weekly Update

This is our weekly SXSW 2018 update for all those attending or wanting to come to Austin for one of the most popular annual festival nationwide.

This week it was announced that Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music at YouTube and Google, will be the newest addition for the Music Keynotes during SXSW 2018. Also, a new group of Featured Speakers comprised of industry trailblazers, dynamic storytellers, and creative visionaries joins the SXSW programming lineup.

Other featured SXSW speakers include Giphy CEO Alex Chung; actor and musician Common; journalist and author Katie Couric, songwriter and musician Kim Deal; XPRIZE Foundation founder and Executive Chairman Peter Diamandis; Uber Chief Brand Officer Bozoma Saint John; the cast of NBC drama This Is Us; actress, producer and Emmy Award-winning writer Lena Waithe; and others.

SXSW Music Festival announced their selection of Australian artists performing at SXSW 2018. is one of the largest annual music events in the world. To view the list click here.

Ten of the most intriguing blockchain sessions  at SXSW 2018 include:

  • $100,000 Blockchain Investment Challenge. See the most promising Blockchain startups at SXSW get grilled by expert judges on stage. Five finalists will pitch and one will win a $100,000 investment right there on stage!
  • Austin: A Global Center for Blockchain Innovation. Top Central Texas innovators will highlight Austin’s most exciting blockchain companies, why Austin has become a hotbed of crypto innovation and the role that the Austin Blockchain Collective is playing in putting Austin on the global blockchain map.
  • Blockchain & The Crisis in Healthcare. It’s time to change the conversation around health care. Blockchain has the potential to resolve long-standing, fundamental issues that are pushing our country deeper in to a crisis in cost and quality of care.
  • Blockchain and the Decentralization of Finance. This session will explore key economic, technological, and legal consequences of blockchain technology, including changes driven by the disintermediation and decentralization of financial services, enterprise blockchain adoption, and the growth of token marketplaces.
  • Blockchain and the Future of Global Governance. The potential transformational benefits of blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) are many: assisting the world’s most vulnerable populations, transforming foreign aid and global trade, promoting government efficiency and transparency, countering corruption, promoting accountability, reducing costs, enhancing cybersecurity, and more
  • Blockchain for Refugees: Economic Passports. Platforms like BanQu use blockchain to restore basic human dignity and existence to those that need it most. Cryptocurrency is all the rage today, yet the true value lies in simple day to day examples where a refugee can use blockchain to prove their child’s immunization record or education received in the camps.
  • Blockchain Opportunities in Mobility and Logistics. Blockchain technology has the potential to reduce friction in transportation verticals and make them secure. This panel will unlock opportunities and challenges for blockchain in logistics, supply chain and shared mobility.
  • Don’t Sweat The Tech: Mom Can Use Blockchain Too. In this session, we’ll talk about how the best blockchain applications will be those where you don’t even know you’re using it, because they’ll be just as focused on the customer’s experience as they are on the technology behind the curtain.
  • What Blockchain Means for Media & Entertainment. The decentralized digital ledger means content creators can track sales and distribution across the Internet, from three-bar loops to full-length works. Blockchain’s “trustless finality” has implications for monetizing content, protecting copyright and stopping fake news at its source.
  • Why Ethereum Is Going to Change the World. Forbes Senior Editor, Laura Shin interviews Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys and co-founder of Ethereum: the most powerful blockchain system that can be publicly and permissionlessly accessed from anywhere in the world.

Register now for SXSW 2018 and buy your badge by Friday, January here: https://www.sxsw.com/attend/.

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Source: SXSW