Consensus 2022 is in full swing! Follow Concept Art House to see what's on the agenda for Day 2.

First, we participate in a panel with World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and Emily Parker. Garry discusses real world use cases for how crypto is being used for humanitarian efforts. In previous news reports, Garry said he wouldn't be surprised if cryptocurrencies replaced the U.S. dollar within 10 years. Garry Kasparov argues that BTC is "digital gold" that can hold its value if inflation rises. "In the United States and Europe, there has been a lot of issuance of dollars, and basically the dollar is devalued," he says. Meanwhile, Garry Kasparov also sees technology as a way to protect hard-won wealth. BTC is what he sees as digital gold, and other cryptocurrencies are the way to the future.

Next agenda was in Washington’s Crypto Awakening: The Lawmaker Town Hall , where many different participants expressed their views on the current crypto environment. Senator Gilsten Gillibrand said: "We’ve added layers and definitions to the Howey Test…so this industry can continue to thrive and innovate.."

Pat Toomey, a Republican US senator, said: "I’m more optimistic than most… having a legislative framework in place will stop the competitive turfs. I’m bullish on stablecoins but we need regulatory certainty on the space. I think we will get stablecoins regulation done this year."

PatrickMcHenry, a citizen from North Carolina’s 10th District in the United States Congress, said: "There is no federal definition for what is a stablecoin… the definition and treatment for digital assets is important to get right. Next year we will have multiple bills that deal with the financial assets category. I’m optimistic."

At the same time, Senator Gilsten Gillibrand added: "We are working together (the 4 of us) to move forward to get the conversations happening now (on stablecoins)."

About Consensus 2022, CoinDesk's CCO said that there are similarities with Consensus 2018. But, but this year's event is different in many aspects. This year’s Consensus is the first in-person iteration of the conference since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The most recent attendance number I’ve heard for this year’s event is 17,000.

An even more interesting comparison to 2018 is the vibes, man. The 2018 event

came after a brutal market crash, with bitcoin (BTC) trading at about $6,600 during the event (down 66% from the local peak just shy of $20,000 the preceding December). The mood was fairly grim. This year’s event was also preceded by a market crash. Bitcoin is down 57% from its all-time high of $67,000 set last November. But unlike in 2018, it’s hard to find a downcast eye or frowning face at Consensus 2022.

The convention center is packed with curious attendees hungry for knowledge about decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), Ethereum scaling solutions and all kinds of relatively arcane, future-forward or speculative matters that don’t have much to do with the current market but could pay off big-time in the long run. It’s true that markets in crypto are highly tied to sentiment – but for the most dedicated, it’s increasingly clear that sentiment isn’t entirely tied to markets. And that group is growing.

Another notable new presence at Consensus: real, widespread, in-your-face diversity. We’ve been talking for years about how the openness of crypto would make it accessible for a much broader spectrum of people, and we’re starting to see that really happen.

Consensus 2022 is still on going. What will happen next? Let's look forward to it......