Karan Bharadwaj, CEO of Singapore-based PLMP Blockchain and former CTO of XinFin talks about his experience at Echelon Asia 2018

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I’ve spoken at many blockchain and technology events, and I remember e27’s Echelon 2018 event quite fondly. I think the culture of Echelon is the biggest draw for both speakers and participants alike.

The organisers were extremely helpful and the staff assigned to me made sure I had been introduced to my co-panelists, had my paperwork for travel in order, and even made helpful suggestions about my stay in Singapore.

I had a chance to come early to the event and take a look at the other talks and panels. The diversity of the crowd was very refreshing. Echelon featured young startups and mature companies rubbing shoulders with each other, which, I feel, always leads to the emergence of interesting perspectives.

The panel I was speaking on was about the ‘limitations of blockchain technology’. I was expecting contradictory views but was surprised at our consensus on the fundamental issues with the ecosystem. I do remember having quite an intense discussion with one of my co-panellists before the the panel actually started. It reminded me of my run-ins with bitcoin maximalists!

Another unique aspect of Echelon was the format/arrangement of the venue. Because of a number of simultaneous stages I could simply walk into an area that caught my fancy. I quite literally stepped off stage and joined the crowd to listen to other speakers.

Also Read: Registration is now open for Echelon Asia Summit 2019

The speakers’ lounge was an excellent place to talk to entrepreneurs from all walks of life. The sheer diversity of the speakers was an enriching experience in itself. I had not planned on networking too heavily, but I incidentally made quite a few interesting connections.

I also had an interesting experience at the venue. I was sitting in the speakers’ lounge and was having a call with my business team back in India, before my panel started. We were discussing our possibilities of our token being listed. We really wanted to list the tokens on Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.co, and had been talking to them for a while.

After my call, I picked up a conversation with the two guys sitting next to me in the speakers’ lounge and I realised halfway into the conversation that they were both wearing Huobi shirts! It turned out that I was talking to two senior executives of Huobi Southeast Asia. I told them ‘hey, we are trying to list our token on your exchange, but no luck so far’. They smiled at me and asked to email them. I did so and they followed up within an hour and got us the help we needed.

Also Read: Why TOP100 made the decision to host a private pitching competition

Overall, Echelon was a great experience for me. We expect e27 to continue the good work in future as well.

I wish all the best for e27 and the Echelon team.

(As told to our Editor Sainul Abudheen K)

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