Media

London Calling, Calling in at London

February 2020
A surprisingly bright and sunny February morning seemed almost a portent for the week that Blockpass would have in London. On the 4th and 5th of February, Blockpass attended two simultaneous events in London. The first was the Security Tokens Realised 2020 which was held at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in the heart of the city. The second was the the behemoth which is ICE - which took place at the Excel Centre. Members of the Blockpass team who work in the UK were present as well as a number who flew in specifically for the events.

The main purpose behind both events was to showcase Blockpass and its potential to those that might have sore need of it. KYC and AML regulations, whilst vital, are not typically quick or easy for companies to comply with. Blockpass met with many people over the two days of events to show how it can not only be a fast and painless process, but cheaper than you might think. At STR2020 the audience consisted mainly of financial institutions or companies working in that area whereas at ICE the clientele were mainly involved with the gaming and gambling industries. These areas are open to exploitation by fraudsters and malicious actors and so have stringent regulations to meet. Attendees at both events spoke on the time consuming and costly nature of KYC and AML and the hassle it causes; thus, the reason for Blockpass to reach out to provide a simpler alternative.  

Whilst a relatively small event, Security Tokens Realised 2020 represents an audience well versed in the problems and necessity of KYC. Catering primarily to well known financial service providers, STR2020 proved to be an excellent opportunity for Blockpass to showcase its potential. Blockpass’ CEO Adam Vaziri and CMO Hans Lombardo both spoke at the event, generating much interest. Vaziri spoke on compliance in digital markers and the future of KYC. Lombardo provided expert knowledge on a panel discussing the use of technology to support industry. Many interesting and promising conversations were had after both spoke with a lot of interest in Blockpass' compliance potential. The merits of Blockpass were excellently highlighted at the end of the second day of the event when Blockpass won the 'Biggest Contributor to Digital Securities' award from a panel of independent judges!

Only a few miles away at the Excel centre, the ICE event is becoming a traditional event for Blockpass team members to attend. With the number of users and rapidity of their movements between online gaming platforms, onboarding new users is potentially huge issue for companies in the gambling industry. Customers aren’t interested in waiting to pass KYC and AML regulations when they are wanting to gamble - they simply want fast and easy access. Companies themselves may also experience low customer retention as they flit between different platforms and services. Blockpass chose to exhibit at ICE as the potential for fast, cheap, simple and secure identity verification services to the gaming and gambling businesses is of great interest. Operations Manager Ruslan Tarasov and Partnership Executive Alexander Savy were both in attendance to showcase Blockpass and speak to all those who were interested. CEO Adam Vaziri also stopped by the event to meet and converse with interested parties. 

Blockpass was incredibly well received at both events; a welcome validation to the work we do, backed up by the winning of the award. It was a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new acquaintances, many of whom we hope to work closely with in the future. Blockpass will be attending other events throughout the year and we hope to meet some of you there. To find out where we will be, check out our events page. Alternatively, if you can’t make it to see us in person, get in touch via email or social media channels to talk about how Blockpass can provide a superior KYC option to anything you’ve seen before!