Wyoming Blockchain Stampede Taps Top Leaders for Annual Gathering of Innovators

The fourth annual Wyoming Blockchain Stampede and WyoHackathon, which begins today (Tuesday) at the University of Wyoming, aims to solve the insatiable appetite for curated, industry-led content regarding the disruptive blockchain space.

To register for the virtual and in-person conference, visit Wyoming Blockchain Stampede 2021 (www.wyohackathon.io).

Wyoming is the place where companies that innovate on the blockchain will find support, talent and favorable legislation. Chairing the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede is Caitlin Long, CEO of Avanti Bank, who is credited with cultivating favorable legislation establishing the state as the progressive leader in blockchain policy. Long is the keynote speaker at opening ceremonies today to officially kick off the six days of events.

Industry leading keynote speakers include Gov. Mark Gordon (R-Wyo.); U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.); Charles Hoskinson, founder and CEO of Cardano; Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum; Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation; Joel Neidig, CEO of SIMBA Chain; Jay Patel, founder of Edge196; Kui Wang, CEO of Bitdeer; Lane Kasselman, chief business officer of Blockchain.com; and Chris Snook, CEO of SDK Co.

The opening ceremony also hosts academic and governmental dignitaries such as Tyler Lindholm, state policy director for Lummis and a former state legislator who helped guide blockchain legislation; Rep. Jared Olsen (R-Cheyenne) and Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie), current co-chairmen of the legislative Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology; and Steven Lupien, director of the UW Center for Blockchain and Digital Innovation (CBDI).

The executive producer of the conference -- Rich Kopcho, co-founder of SDKco.io, a blockchain hardware and software company -- says the conference has experienced exponential growth since its first year, reaching 190 countries and registering more than 5,000 attendees for the 2020 event.

Ten Tracks, Six Days and Over 40 Speakers to Cover All Aspects of Blockchain

Day 1

Sept. 21, 8 a.m.-8 p.m., UW Conference Center -- The Startup Stampede, presented by EDGE196, will highlight the blockchain companies of the future. Startups will pitch their ideas at the event, where global investors will evaluate in real-time investment viability.

Sept. 21-22, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Room 506, Coe Library -- The Wyoming Legislature’s Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology will hear testimony from the public on opportunities to improve the blockchain laws.

Day 2

Sept. 22, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., UW Conference Center -- Future Forward with UW President Ed Seidel, who will discuss key opportunities ahead with the National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan.

Key panelists on Future Forward also include blockchain leaders such as Hoskinson; Patel; Neidig; Ben Goertzel, CEO of Singularity.net; Russell Cann, of Core Scientific; and Anoop Nanra, blockchain leader at AWS. Others include Ian Taylor, of the University of Notre Dame; Jeffery Downard, of Northern Arizona University; Daniel Conway, of the University of Arkansas; Jarek Nabrzyski, of Notre Dame; Mike Borowczak, of UW’s Department of Computer Science; Emma-Jane Alexander, of UW’s School of Energy Resources; Laurel Ballard, of the Wyoming Department of Education; Angie Schrader, of FlowState; and Gabrielle Allen, of UW’s Office of Research and Economic Development.

Gregaard will provide a 30-minute presentation on the foundations of work toward positive global change.

The daylong Future Forward session will be led and moderated by Cheryl Goodman, chief innovation officer of SDK Co.

Sept. 22, 5-8 p.m., Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center -- The Sandcastle Invitational seeks the best and most promising blockchain startups the world over to compete for the top cash prize.

Day 3

Sept. 23, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., War Memorial Fieldhouse -- The Stampede Law Conference will examine the new laws in Wyoming that impact blockchain and crypto businesses and help form the ecosystem.

Sept. 23, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., UW Conference Center -- The Stampede Finance Conference offers a deep dive into the evolving world of finance; how blockchain technology is pushing decentralized finance; and what impact that will have.

Day 4

Sept. 23-24, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., UW Conference Center -- The Stampede Business Conference is two full days of conversations helping attendees understand business opportunities of blockchain and use cases.

Sept. 24, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., UW Conference Center -- DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) Day features technical workshops and speakers explaining what DAOs are and the role they will play in our future -- also, how Wyoming is leading the way in terms of DAO legislation.

“DAO Day is a celebration and sharing of all of the community DAO experiments with ecosystems, philosophies and governance models. We’re celebrating the spirit of interoperability and acceptance for multi-chains and multi-protocols. We are learning from one another and those foundational DAOs who set patterns for success,” Kopcho says. “Moreover, we’re excited to share during the NFT-DAO session plans for granting more than a dozen cross-discipline scholarships to UW students.”

Sept. 24, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., War Memorial Fieldhouse -- The Stampede Developers Conference features technical speakers and workshops to help attendees prepare for the WyoHackathon challenges and to introduce new technologies, concepts and emerging standards.

Days 5 and 6

Sept. 24, 5 p.m., and Sept. 26, 10 a.m., War Memorial Fieldhouse -- The WyoHackathon presents challenges and bounties for developers, entrepreneurs and business professionals. Participants will use the weekend to come up with the best solution to the problems presented.

Title Sponsors

Title sponsor for the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede is Blockchain.com.

Title sponsor for the WyoHackathon is IOHK.

Presenting Sponsors

SIMBA Chain, Blue Ocean Digital Management, Brock Pierce, Harmony.One, Outlaw.io and Edge196.

Innovator Sponsors

Avanti Financial Group, Testamint, SDKco.io, Finxflo, Rensa Games and Murphy & McGonigle.

About the University of Wyoming

Established in 1886, the University of Wyoming is Wyoming’s flagship and land-grant institution, offering 80 undergraduate and more than 90 graduate academic programs through seven colleges and multiple interdisciplinary institutes and schools. With a small student/faculty ratio of 15:1, UW is a community of scholars and learners committed to excellence.

About the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede

The 2021 Wyoming Blockchain Stampede, now in its fourth year, comprises multiple free virtual events covering major blockchain themes such as sources, impact and implementation that look to unite worldwide participants with thought leaders, legislators and change makers at the forefront of major impacts to the world’s future in blockchain technology.

For more information about the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede, in addition to the website at >www.wyohackathon.io, follow on Twitter; join on Telegram at https://t.me/WyoHackathon; connect on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/wyohackathon; or visit Facebook.

About SDKco.io

SDK Co. builds technologies powering personal choice. SDK Co. is a decentralized organization that’s building a more equitable web 3.0 ecosystem, re-imagining humanity’s relationship with technology and presenting a viable, more humane hardware architecture and operating system that provide choice to the marketplace.