The Oasis

Gonna start a running thread of interesting quotes and thoughts from each panel. 

From the opening address: 

“We have an opportunity to impact the Bahamas from the bottom and the top with crypto”  - @stefdelev  

Oasis is picking up the pieces in the wake of FTX and shining a light on the Bahamas 🇧🇸

Building out the Oasis Onchain ecosystem (www.oasisonchain.xyz) 🏝️

channel /Oasis 

First panel of the day: 

Innovators in the Caribbean: Pioneering Lasting Change in New Markets

They’ve got some heavy hitters on the panel from CeFi, to VC, to education and engineering. From the Bahamas, Trinidad, Guyana, and Barbados—true representation of the islands 🏝️

Co-founder @blvkhvnd /blvkhvnd 🔛
Play & compete w /stadium 🎮
Discover magic w /occulture 🔮 Get handmade gifts from /sirsubox Fly with me on /747air

Getting USD to the individual in the Caribbean is difficult but the most important priority. The basic need for access towards financial independence will be built by folks in the Caribbean 🤌🏿

- Mark Pereira & Kimberly Adams

(Not quite a quote but the essential of what their work is / mission)

“Ask for forgiveness, not permission.” - Kimberly Adams (in response to the above—there’s an opportunity here to make things shake. We just have to do it 🫣)

“You need financial inclusion in order for this to work” @alysiatech in describing the general experience of the Caribbean being a cash dominant ecosystem and the challenges they face when dealing with digital banking and finance.

Currently the Caribbean is tourist dominant but with crypto inclusion, artists (as an example) can be paid instantly from international vendors thereby enabling globalization for a region brimming with talent. 

- Alysia Huggins

“We need to create a culture around investment and finance in the Caribbean” - Kimberly Adams 

“If it’s in our art, then it shifts the culture domestically” 

“It acts as a signal for locals but also international interest to say “oh we can invest here”” - Alysia

Caribbean people love to give back, to the tune of $800m that is remitted to emerging markets. 

One of the issues is that a significant portion is siphoned from fees back to banks. 

But with a crypto protocol there’s arbitrage opportunities through remittance. Incentive from $ to come in and out ✨

- Mark Pereira

Second Panel of the day: 

When Worlds Collide: Infrastructure for Consumer Growth 

Feat @tonyolendo  @nftmami  @dylandewdney  @marvelgirl

This talk is starting with infrastructure definitions of protocols, and consumer crypto (apps). 

@tonyolendo takes lead to define protocols as a standard framework to determine how we communicate on a given network and using TCIP & HTTP as examples.

In talking about infrastructure enabling consumer experiences, @nftmami and @dylandewdney mention @bend.eth’s claim flow to redeem drinks at the bar. 

@tonyolendo speaks directly to the challenges with scaling comes from security proofing and ensuring that we build safe rails for consumers.

“At the end of the day it’s a human interaction with technology not a technological interaction with a human being—and sometimes I think we confuse them.” @dylandewdney 

Furthering the conversation related to the experiences in building consumer apps in crypto and the disconnect between apps we use daily.

“I’m building for my sister and the next generation—“ @nftmami and the need to work towards full abstraction of crypto for more seamless experiences for crypto applications.

“If you think about the world we are building, there are certain primitives that need to be in place” @tonyolendo doubling down on a focus of security at the protocol level. 

He made mention of an article at the Guardian in which a woman was SA’d in a virtual world—“what world are we building?”

Leaning into privacy, @marvelgirl speaks to feminine health data being shared with governments and due to the overturning of Roe v Wade puts many women at risk 

The evolution of zk proofing could be a big step toward sovereignty

“How do we find a way to build applications that people actually use without leaning toward speculation?” - @dylandewdney in speaking about the abysmal performance of DAU / MAU metrics related to the challenges of consumer growth.

@tonyolendo makes mention about the next wave of consumer crypto comes from enabling global south to push their cultures onchain and points out an image problem with existing crypto communities.

“The most common image is a monkey” 🙈

Third panel of the day: 

Tales from the Crypt: Proactive Steps for Crypto Safety moderated by @stefdelev

On the topic of Risk, Simone of SBC describes their process of onboarding & vetting clients, Stacey from KPMG speaks to the job of compliance as a constant practice of risk management hopefully to be benefit of client and company.

From a technical side, Tory from @osec talked about auditing and how risk management is also about the prioritization of what risks are worth addressing vs which ones can be dealt with later.

“Risk is a challenge that stops you from achieving your objective” 

Just wanted to tweet this quote lol

“Crypto moves so fast, legislation often lags behind.” - Simone

It’s imperative for those who build in crypto to act in good faith as incentive for legislators to take action in a positive way as they catch up.

Moving toward a more technical conversation about auditing, Tory asks “what would 4chan do if they had a hold of your platform, app, etc?” 

Thought experiment of how things can go wrong is an opportunity to learn about the risks associated with what you’re building and how to protect users from malicious actors.

“Everyone wants security, but the levels of security you need to have to protect your assets is intrusive—there needs to be a balance here.” - Simone

While issues related to the capacity to build the right tech natively across the Caribbean, the Bahamas does have a forward thinking approach to pushing for crypto adoption and businesses. 

- Jillian Bethel