The Blockchain Africa briefing kicked off on Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, despite rising concerns near the Coronavirus outbreak.

South Africa's first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed at the beginning of the month. As of March eleven, xiii Southward Africans take tested positive for the virus.

Despite the relatively depression infection rate in the state, the South African government has taken a proactive and cautious approach to the virus. They have based their considerations on the dire situation in countries like People's republic of china and Italy.

Nevertheless, the ongoing crisis and travel restrictions have led to some difficulties for Blockchain Africa'south attendees. Multiple day-i speakers were struck from the official plan, and Cardano founder and keynote speaker, Charles Hoskinson, cancelled his trip to Southward Africa entirely.

Tone Vays, the renowned cryptocurrency investor, carried out his delivery as one of the cardinal speakers at the event, having travelled to Southward Africa more than than a week earlier Blockchain Africa commenced.

During a panel discussion, Vays best-selling that the global situation surrounding Coronavirus could potentially accept a straight result on the cryptocurrency markets:

"I could see that as existence pretty bad for Bitcoin. We are already seeing massive global economic disruption that is affecting global markets. If there is a huge economical disruption, visitor's close and people stop investing. People won't be speculating on Bitcoin. If yous lose your job, you lot're not going to be buying Bitcoin, you'll probably sell it to put food on the tabular array."

The briefing is being hosted at Investec'south Johannesburg headquarters. Initially, Organizers expected over 500 delegates to attend the 2 24-hour interval summit.

Event organiser, Sonya Kuhnel, told Cointelegraph that just under 300 delegates had been expected on day ane. Even so, but effectually 230 people had officially registered by the time the event got underway.

Mention was as well made of Coronavirus' anticipated effect on the global economical markets. Richard de Sousa, founder of local cryptocurrency exchange, AltCoinTrader, told Cointelegraph that the noticeably low attendee numbers were likely due to the viral outbreak:

"I think the conference was pretty well timed, considering that the Coronavirus isn't that bad notwithstanding. I think if we had this conference a couple of months we would have seen a lot worse. Just it has taken a toll on the numbers of attendees this yr."

De Sousa also conceded that the tough economic climate could have some sort of effect on trading volumes, in part due to the virus' impact on dissimilar countries.

Binance S Africa Country Director, Tanya Knowles, serves as MC for the outcome. She admitted that the escalating state of affairs had fabricated things difficult over the past few days:

"Luckily with applied science we were able to go alee with the conference, with some speakers choosing to send in pre-recorded presentations, while some delegates opted to watch the livestream. But the Coronavirus has put some stress on the organisers."

Frisco d'Anconia, founder of African Blockchain University, travelled from Mauritius to nourish the briefing. He stated that he had non been put off by Coronavirus fears:

"I'm not worried near the state of affairs. I recall it's beingness overhyped. In my line of work, if I don't travel, I can't make money."