Consensus 2022 wrapped up as one of the largest Blockchain and crypto community gatherings of the year. Open Forest Protocol dove into Regenerative Finance (ReFi) solutions, educating Consensus attendees about the importance of ReFi, and connecting with both current and future partners.

As CoinDesk’s largest annual event, Consensus unites crypto and blockchain innovators, leaders, actors, and enthusiasts worldwide. Attendees have the opportunity to discuss new developments in the space, share their projects, and network with community members in the ecosystem. Now in its eighth year, Consensus returned to an in-person format for the first time since the pandemic, and was held in the Web3-friendly city of Austin, Texas.

“The future of cryptocurrency and blockchain is exciting… Every day this disruptive revolution becomes more and more mainstream. Austin, a city of early adopters where new and great ideas flourish, embraces this new world and is eager to “welcome home” Consensus 2022,”- Steve Adler, Mayor of Austin.

Consensus 2022 was a smorgasbord of opportunities and OFP was represented by our Product Development Lead Luke Schubert and Head of Growth Jeremy Epstein, who served up the latest on our exciting avant-garde open Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) protocol.

ReFi’s Kung Fu is growing stronger

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), climate change is the biggest challenge of the 21st century, and the urgency to act grows by the second. ReFi, in the image of Web3, is emerging as a revolutionary offering thanks to the underlying notion of creating shared value that not only cares about nature but also prioritizes it.

What does all of this mean for OFP? Our pivotal role in bringing value to field monitoring and nature-based solutions is greater than ever. ReFi is drawing major attention from all around the ecosystem and is fortified to build, develop and support solutions within the space. The growing acceptance of ReFi gives added impetus to OFP’s MRV solution.

Connecting at Consensus

With over 400 sessions and 20+ speakers scattered over four days, there was plenty of time to talk OFP. We connected with partners and innovators, and caught up on the newest projects in the crypto ecosystem, particularly the ReFi space.

Luke and Jeremy were on their A-game, linking up with incredible contributors in the space.

We launched into Consensus talking about the current scene of the Web3 space with NEAR Co-founder Illia Polosukhin, and Protocol Labs founder Juan Benet.

We connected with members from Filecoin Green, Flowcarbon, cLAbs, Flori Ventures, and Unfinished, who hosted an incredible Web3 Impact summit with participants from Afropolitan, and notable attendees such as Kimbal Musk.

Closing out Consensus in Style

A great ReFi brunch allowed us to discuss with very active names around the ReFi space, including Awesome People Ventures and Latin America Offramp. We also had a wonderful time talking about climate action and innovation with Robbie Heilberg and Angle Skelly, our partners from dClimate, over tacos.

NEAR Austin Hacker House

OFP capped Consensus by presenting our mission at the NEAR Hacker House on the last day of the event. Luke gave an engaging product demo, complete with Tree ID pop-quizzes. Together, OFP brainstormed the dynamic future of ReFi with those who attended. It was encouraging to meet so many eager and intelligent minds interested in how developing Web3 technology can be leveraged for more climate-positive action.

Leaving Austin

We rounded up Consensus 2022 with high morale for the ReFi, especially as more attention was garnered from members all around the community. For the Open Forest Protocol team, we are riding the wave of our upcoming mainnet launch. We look forward to continuing our pivotal role as builders of a nature-based solution to climate change. It is the connections we make at conferences like Consensus that collectively drive us forward.

On that note, we say a huge thank you to CoinDesk for organizing, and to all who attended and contributed their points of view. Stay tuned for our mainnet launch date announcement, and more updates to come!

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