Blockchain is conquering the world (and Azerbaijan proves this)

Blockchain is spreading around all the world, gaining trust and investments and the latest proof comes directly from Azerbaijan.
The South Caucasus region will, indeed, host its first Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference, that will take place the next September 27th in luxurious Hilton hotel of Baku, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, the capital and commercial hub of Azerbaijan.
Organized by Smile-Expo, the event is entirely dedicated to the blockchain market, cryptocurrencies, and ICOs, and will bring together world-renowned blockchain and cryptocurrency specialists from Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the UK, along with Azerbaijan entrepreneurs and investors, to discuss the conditions and regulations of the country’s crypto market and share case studies of blockchain integration, but also to provide businessmen, lawyers, managers and marketers working in this field with useful tools to start with.

“A positive dynamics of Azerbaijan’s crypto industry development is noted by both the business community and lawmakers. The country allows using cryptocurrencies freely. Moreover, they will be included in the legal environment due to the Ministry of Taxes. In April, one established the Center for the Study and Development of the Market for Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technologies,” asserted the Event Coordinator Anastasiya Kulakova.

While in the exhibition area international companies will present mining hardware, component parts for mining farms, software, blockchain platforms, and consultancy services for ICO projects, speakers will present legislative regulation and prospects of crypto business in Azerbaijan and all over the globe, crypto market analysis, blockchain-based business solutions, review of cutting-edge technologies and technical aspects of working with them, ICO successful launching, the efficient conduct of token sales, cryptocurrency trading, use of blockchain in business, and investment opportunities of innovative technologies.

The conference will, indeed, gather the brightest industry players, renowned specialists and crypto gurus, developers, entrepreneurs, representatives of payment systems, foreign experts who will share their vision of blockchain development in Azerbaijan, Europe and all over the globe. Among them there are: Elnur Guliyev, Founder at Kriptoinvest.az, a crypto consulting agency and Internet resource and Co-Founder at Azerbaijan Blockchain Center, with more than 10 years of experience in banking, that will discuss the current state of digital technology market in Azerbaijan.

Maryam Taghiyeva, Chief Systems Architect at the Centre for Citizenship Enterprise and Governance and author & co-author of several academic papers on the blockchain technology and two patents in banking. She has spoken and moderated panels at a number of international and national events, such as the World Blockchain Summit and has worked with UN, European Commission’s tech & youth initiatives and NATO. She will hold a speech titled “Where is McKinsey of Blockchain? The quest for an institutional blockchain consultancy and advisory”, in which she will analyze:
• blockchain technology as a basis for the development of fast, economically viable, transparent, and reliable services;
• difficulties connected with blockchain adoption: the problem of insufficiently developed industry;
• the goal of reliable and independent providers of blockchain services is the creation of a premium class brand;
• prime of the blockchain technology: evolution vs revolution.
Artem Koltsov, head of the Expert Council on digital economy and blockchain technologies at the State Duma of the Russian Federation, and Batyrbek Umarov, Founder and president of the Association of Blockchain Developers and Users BlockchainKZ, will deepen the “Chinese dragon” ICO investments, giving a full view of the Central Asian market of cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets and eventually Alex Sudadze, Founder and CEO at Bitcoin Embassy Georgia will hold the final speech, titled “Emerging trends in ICO launching: the beginning of a new financial era”, which will analyse
• a right way to develop an ICO conception;
• where to find talents for a successful team;
• how to convert an idea into an out of the box product;
• meeting obligations: how to stay clear of a SCAM list;
• who controls obligations meeting;
• the nature of ICO investors and how to communicate with them;
• aspects ICO investors should draw attention to;
• successful models of ICO campaigns;
• statistics of recent 3 years: failing and scam ICO campaigns;
• how the market of initial token offering grows: what to expect in a year.

Would you ever imagine that this region at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia could be in the forefront of the world crypto and blockchain market?
Until the last year the authorities in the energy-rich nation kept a conservative stance on cryptocurrencies: the chairman of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, Elman Rustamov, stated that cryptocurrencies were not recognized as a legitimate means of payment and declared that they were “a dangerous instrument for investing”.

Then something changed. What has happened in the former Soviet republic to make it become a meeting point for company and experts from all around the world?

In September 2015, it was reported by Cointelegraph that Azerbaijan was actively discussing the possibility of creating a “Cryptomanat” coin — the cryptocurrency equivalent of its national currency, the Azerbaijani manat. One year later, Azerbaijan had its first Bitcoin exchange service provider, BTC.AZ. Its founder, Tabriz Aliyev, declared that, at the time, there were only a few people who really have heard of Bitcoin, and even less who understand what blockchain technology was. So they started to educate local people, to explain to them how the system works, what were the pros and cons of using bitcoin, and also the risk of owning bitcoins; as there was a lack of information material about Bitcoin in Azerbaijani language, they had first to translate a lot of materials. Then the service started to act as a dealer by providing customers a service for buying and selling bitcoins through them, with the payments options still in cash and credit cards. It was and still is unclear whether Bitcoin is considered a currency or an asset by the government: as a business, you can’t accept bitcoins for your products and services, but buying and selling bitcoins is not prohibited.

But 2015 had been a bad year for Azerbaijani Manat as it was devalued two times in a single year, so people and authorities started to believe Bitcoin could serve as a way for storing their wealth.

Despite the growing demand for cryptocurrencies in 2017, Azerbaijan does not have laws to regulate the cryptocurrency activity, that remain in a grey area. Nevertheless, the authorities of the country are seriously going ahead to solve issues connected with the legal status of the field: for instance, the Center for the Study and Development of the Market for Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technologies was established in the country in April of 2018 with the aim of carrying out the awareness-raising work, developing offers on the cryptocurrency market regulation, providing consultancy services, running special trainings for media experts and attracting international blockchain experts to consult financial institutions concerning the advantages of distributed ledgers and token sales.

A month later, things started to change: the Ministry for taxes announced that all cryptocurrency deals would be taxable, that is to say, legal entities will pay a corporate income tax for cryptocurrency operations, and physical entities. This is a clear declaration of the intention to create a stable and reliable environment for running a crypto business in the country.

And, as a consequence, Osman Gunduz, Chairman of Azerbaijan Internet Forum, during his speech in June at the conference organized for representatives of the private sector by Azerbaijan National Confederation of Entrepreneurs’ Organizations and the Center for the Study and Development of the Market for Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology — which focuses on awareness-raising, preparation of proposals on the regulation of the cryptocurrency market and blockchain, and the provision of consulting services in this area — showed Azerbaijani entrepreneurs the advantages of applying the blockchain technology in their activities “The entrepreneurs were presented in detail the opportunities of using blockchain technology and told about how they can use tokens and get into the ICO. The latter is especially important for the companies that cannot attract the investment they need,” Gunduz said, highlighting the fact that there are a number of companies in the country that have got into the ICO, as well as a number of government agencies — such as the Central Bank of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Taxes — that began to use blockchain technology.

The volume of cryptocurrency trading is growing in the Eurasian country, rich in oil, gas, and other natural resources, and the state hopes to increase budget revenues through crypto taxation. Crypto markets registered rapid growth between May and December last year. “During that period, even small investments of $10 or so, in almost any cryptocurrency, were profitable,” Elnur Guliyev, founder and CEO of Crypto Consulting declared.
The conference will be the starting point of a new era for cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the Caucasus region: and we can just imagine the impact that this will have on the global crypto market.