“It is the longest-running event of its kind in the United States,” boasts Sinclair Skinner, Co-founder of Black Blockchain Summit. The sixth edition held at the iconic Howard University drew hundreds of attendees and featured renowned speakers from across the United States, Caribbean, and African continent.

“The summit is a movement to make sure technologies, like blockchain, are relevant and can positively impact our communities,” Skinner, whose known for his “I Love Black People” t-shirts, told me.

During a recent television interview with FOX 5 in Washington DC to discuss this year’s conference, he said, “We can leverage scalable tools through emerging tech to help solve our problems ourselves.”

The multi-day forum of panels, workshops, hackathon, pitch competition continues to attract senior executives, developers, founders, experts, community builders, as well as prominent sponsors who want to engage this large segment of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.

Summit organizers coined “Satoshi Is Black” as their rallying cry at the inaugural event in 2018 and it remains a popular refrain in the crypto ecosystem. Black communities are not just the earliest adopters of Bitcoin
BTC
, they have spent over a decade laying a foundation for economic opportunity and wealth creation.

So, why is the Black Blockchain Summit important and thriving? It is because of the infrastructure Black pioneers and visionaries have built over the last 14 years. Here is a snapshot, though by no means exhaustive.

Future Frontier: Pivotal Milestones

2008

2009

  • First Bitcoin is mined in January.
  • Bitcoin ‘original’ Ernest Mbenkum, founder of Interstellar, was an early blockchain users in 2009. He is also credited for helping to start the Bitcoin and blockchain movement in Canada with Vitalik Buterin, Peter Todd, Anthony and Di’Iorio when they came together in a downtown pub in Toronto on 11/2/12 to create Ethereum
    ETH
    .

2011

  • Bitcoin surpasses value of one U.S. dollar for the first time in February.

2012

  • Sinclair Skinner launches 1911 United Political Action Committee, which will later become the first super-PAC in the United States to accept bitcoin contributions in 2014.

2013

  • Reggie Middleton is CEO of Veritaseum.

2014

  • Sacramento Kings is first pro sports franchise to accept bitcoin for tickets and merchandise.
  • Detroit native Arthur Hayes is CEO and Co-founder of BitMEX.

2015

  • Movie Dope, directed by Rick Famuyiwa, is released in theaters and accepts Bitcoin for ticket purchases. Producers and executive producers of the film include Forest Whitaker, Pharrell Williams, and Sean Combs.
  • Sinclair Skinner and Christopher Mapondera launch BitMari, a bitcoin startup to foster economic growth in Zimbabwe.

2016

  • Second Bitcoin halving takes place in July.

2017

  • Bitcoin hits nearly $20K for the first time in December.
  • Georgetown Law Professor Chris Brummer hosts inaugural Washington DC Fintech Week.
  • Dr. Ali Emdad, Associate Dean at Morgan State University’s Graves School of Business, creates the Center for the Study of Blockchain and Financial Technology.
  • Samson Williams and Maureen Murat launch Axes and Eggs.
  • Gentlemen of Crypto podcast airs.
  • Deidra McIntyre creates Black People & Cryptocurrency Facebook group, which has more than 10K members.
  • Developer Tavonia Evans creates a cryptocurrency, Guapcoin, to advance Black empowerment. Today $Gaup is listed on exchanges and has over 10,000 wallet holders.
  • Lindsay Nuon launches Women of Color in Blockchain group.

2018

  • David Burt, Premier of Bermuda, is part of first blockchain delegation to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos.
  • Rapper Akon launches Akion and announces plans to create a crypto city in Senegal.
  • Inaugural Black Blockchain Summit at Howard University hosted by Sinclair Skinner and John Wainaina Karanja.
  • Actor Erika Alexander is using blockchain to make journalism more inclusive through her company, Color Farm Media.
  • Teana Baker-Taylor is Executive Director of the Global Digital Finance, a not-for-profit initiative fostering discussion on global policy and governance for digital assets with policymakers, regulators and industry.
  • Olayinka Odeniran launches Black Women Blockchain Council.
  • Lamar Wilson launches Wacionda, a Black Facebook group that is centered around cryptocurrency and financial education.

2019

  • Professor Tonya Evans, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, creates and directs the first-ever Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Law Online Professional Certificate Program in the United States.
  • HBCU Morgan State University joins Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative.
  • Isaiah Jackson publishes his signature book, Bitcoin & Black America.
  • Inaugural Congressional Briefing of Women of Color in Blockchain on Capitol Hill hosted by Blockchain Association and the National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain brings a delegation of 25 diverse female leaders to Capitol Hill.
  • Basketball player Spencer Dinwiddie creates blockchain-powered DREAM Fan Shares platform to launch his token through SD8 LLC.

2020

  • PopCom CEO Dawn Dickson delivers testimony before the U.S. House Small Business Committee blockchain Hearing: “Building Blocks of Change: The Benefits of Blockchain Technology for Small Businesses.”
  • Bahamas becomes first nation in the world to launch a central bank digital currency.
  • Lamar Wilson and Isaiah Jackson hosts the largest Bitcoin club on Clubhouse, creating Black Bitcoin Billionaire.

2021

  • 45 geographically dispersed industry leaders from across multiple disciplines submit official letter to Biden Administration to advocate for inclusion as the new Administration deliberates a policy framework for blockchain and cryptocurrency.
  • Micah Johnson, a former MLB player-turned artist, sold a whopping $1.4 million worth of his AKU NFT
    NFT
     in just one minute by mobilizing the Black crypto community.
  • Lady PheOnix collaborates with Christie’s Auction House on first-ever NFT sale of its kind.
  • EMTECH
    ECH
     CEO Carmelle Cadet delivers testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Hearing: “Digitizing the Dollar – Investigating the Technological Infrastructure, Privacy, and Financial Inclusion Implications of Central Bank Digital Currencies.”
  • Actor Hill Harper and Najah Roberts launch Black Wall Street App and Digital Wallet.
  • Circle brings on former Libra Vice Chair Dante Disparte.
  • Black leaders submit legislative proposals to U.S. Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey to tackle financial Inclusion, foster economic empowerment, increase America’s economic competitiveness.
  • The Central Bank of Nigeria launched the eNaira, the second CBDC fully open to the public after the Bahamas.
  • Barbados announces that it is opening a diplomatic embassy in the metaverse.

2022

  • Commodity Futures Trading Commission Commissioner Kristin Johnson convenes the first of two Roundtables with Black crypto leaders focused on digital asset policy, innovation, legislation and regulation.

2023

  • Morgan State University’s 4th National Blockchain and Fintech Conference, October 27-28, 2023.
  • Inaugural Blockchain Braintrust Retreat on Martha’s Vineyard, a convening of senior Black crypto industry leaders.
  • Dr. Tonya M. Evans delivers testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee On Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion Hearing: “Coincidence or Coordinated? The Administration’s Attack on the Digital Asset Ecosystem.”

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