One of the biggest events on the annual tech calendar has passed without many major announcements from bitcoin or blockchain industry firms. The 2016 Consumer Electronics Show ( CES ), held in Las Vegas last week, saw a notable decrease in the number of industry startups attending, with 2015 attendees including Blockchain , BitPay , Circle and Kraken indicating they did not participate.
Further, of the assembled participants, a lineup that included lesser-known names such as BitCircle, BitRouter, Bits Limited, HyprKey and Ledger, only the latter company had a booth showcasing its technology or an announcement as it unveiled its new flagship bitcoin hardware wallet, Ledger Blue .
Ledger co-founder Thomas France told CoinDesk during the conference that he noticed a particular absence of peers at the event.
"We’re the only bitcoin startup this year. There’s a couple of bitcoin [people] that came to the stand, but no other bitcoin products,” France reported last week.
The development is a contrast to 2015, when 10 industry startups combined efforts to launch the ‘ World of Bitcoin ‘, an effort led by bitcoin payments processor BitPay to showcase the emerging technology and then-new products like its Copay wallet.
In statements, BitPay largely dismissed its lack of presence at the event, stating that attending simply wasn’t in line with its current strategy.
Marketing associate James Walpole told CoinDesk: "Right now we’re focused on growing transaction volume and improving the BitPay platform for our users. Attending the show this year isn’t in line with that focus." The World of Bitcoin is the latest educational outreach initiative to be disbanded by the bitcoin payment processor amid staff reductions, following its decision to end its sponsorship of the postseason college football game, the St Petersburg Bowl last year . Reasons unclear
When reached for comment, most bitcoin startups did not provide […]
