A number of cryptocurrency-related conferences across Asia are being delayed in response to the regional coronavirus outbreak.
TOKEN2049, a major crypto event held annually in Hong Kong, is the latest one to postpone its conference. Originally scheduled for mid-March 2020, TOKEN2049 will now instead be taking place on October 7-8, 2020.
The TOKEN2049 team announced:
“Over the past weeks, we have been monitoring the global developments around the coronavirus closely. Whilst Hong Kong is managing the situation well and has taken strict precautions to contain any potential impact, uncertainty prevails.”
Crypto firms in Hong Kong cease operations amid coronavirus and political protests
Hong Kong, which reportedly announced its plans to close border crossings with mainland China in a further push to control the deadly virus, has been experiencing even more uncertainty due to local anti-government protests.
As was recently reported by Cointelegraph, a major local blockchain remittance startup called Bitspark abruptly announced its closure earlier this week, citing internal restructuring issues alongside coronavirus and political protests.
Binance Blockchain Week Vietnam and Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020 were also put on hold
TOKEN2049 is not alone in postponing its event. On Jan. 3, popular global crypto exchange Binance announced the delay of its Binance Blockchain Week Vietnam, which was originally scheduled from February 29 to March 4, 2020. Binance said that it will reimburse registered guests, noting that a new date for the event would be announced later:
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by the delay. If you have registered for the Binance Blockchain Week, you can get a full refund through the event registration platform […] We will inform everyone soon regarding further updates on this event.”
In late January, another major conference, Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020, announced that it will put the event scheduled for March 2020 on hold. The event organizer said that they will make a public announcement of the new date as soon as it is determined.
Crypto community fighting against the deadly epidemic
While the coronavirus outbreak has impacted the crypto and blockchain industry, a number of people and companies in the space have announced initiatives to tackle this fast-spreading epidemic.
As reported by Cointelegraph, blockchain-enabled applications developer Acoer recently launched a data visualization tool to track the deadly coronavirus. In order to fight against the epidemic, a blockchain-based platform called Hyperchain was launched in China, serving as a medical supply donations portal to support local hospitals. On Feb. 5, an academic at the University of Hong Kong claimed that blockchain and AI-based technology could better tackle the coronavirus epidemic by providing transparent recording of donations.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao previously announced that the exchange pledged to donate $1.5 million in order to help victims of the coronavirus in Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China.
