Zencon0 – the Opportunity to Meet the Horizen Community
In September 2022, the first ZenCon, the conference dedicated to the Horizen ecosystem, took place. It was the first opportunity to gather the whole team and the community around the same event.
If you follow Horizen news, you’ve heard about Zencon0, the first event organized by Horizen Labs for the Horizen ecosystem.
After five years, it was time to celebrate Horizen’s accomplishments surrounded by those who were there to help lay the foundations of the project and all those who, along the way, came to bring their strength to take Horizen’s ecosystem even further.
At this level of expansion, it was essential to exchange thoughts. Horizen’s growth was made in the image of its decentralized blockchain. The team and community members are spread across all continents. To me, that’s what makes the project so strong. It’s a machine that never sleeps, designed with the help of a multitude of different cultures and interests. A successful scalability challenge!
Since its inception, the goal has evolved to reflect the community as it grows and changes.
That’s Horizen: In essence, it provides privacy through zk-SNARKs, and for all, it’s bringing privacy to life. This is an important issue for everyone who goes online and is careful with their digital footprint.
Another facet of Horizen is decentralization. The project started its Secure Nodes and Super Nodes system in 2018, which has since been in the top 3 most extensive networks, surpassing Ethereum and Bitcoin combined: It is unbounded by design.
Since then, Horizen has become the zero-knowledge-enabled network of blockchains, thanks to its impressive team of cryptographers.
That’s Horizen: A project that has brought together enough passion and talent to evolve continually.
This story was told at Zencon0, through panels, presentations, brainstorming sessions, and aperitivos. It was an absolute pleasure and hype machine to work together, or simply to gather with blockchain and technology experts and enthusiasts at the center of all discussions for three days in a row.
Among the guests, I would like to highlight four Zenvangelists who were present. Michael, Guan, Jonghung, Jongchan, and Psyrax are more than Zenvangelists; they are OGs. Without them, the Horizen community would be very different. It was truly fantastic to meet all of them.
Interviewing Horizen’s Zenvangelists
Michael
We’ll start with the one from Australia, Telegram, Korea, and/or Discord, our dear Michael. If you’ve interacted with the Horizen community, you’ve probably come across him. He is now a Zenvangelist that cannot be ignored!
Q: What did you think about Zencon0?
It was an amazing experience meeting the teams behind Horizen and Horizen Labs. Being able to see firsthand how the companies and teams operate from such a professional standpoint really gave me a lot of confidence in the future success of Horizen. I have walked away inspired and with a lot of ideas to build something great on Horizen.
Q: What was your favorite moment?
Meeting everyone in real life! I felt like I knew so many people, even though we had only previously connected online. Being able to meet in person was really special.
Q: If we do a Zencon next year, will you be there?
I will definitely be there!
Guan
Without Guan, the Horizen community in China would not be the same. It feels like Guan was there when Horizen was founded. So much so that he has become essential. It was great to meet him finally to talk about Horizen, and his cats face to face.
Q: What did you think about Zencon0?
I think the zencon0 is good because everyone in Horizen’s ecosystem can meet each other in person.
Q: What was your favorite moment?
My favorite part was I visited the Horizen Labs’ workplace. I witnessed the huge team expansion.
Q: If we do a Zencon next year, will you be there?
Yes, it’s an amazing event, and I will be there next year!
Psyrax
Psyrax also joined us. If you have needed support from Horizen, I am sure Psyrax assisted you. He is our node, mining – well – global Horizen expert. Psyrax also protects our Discord and Telegram communities by protecting them from scammers and bots!
Q: What did you think about Zencon0?
I thoroughly enjoyed Zencon0. It was a really amazing experience to hear about what has been going on behind the scenes and listening to a great cross-section of society that can use the ecosystem. I really liked Sebastien Micke’s perspective and use case for NFTs and photographers retaining their digital rights to their productions.
Q: What was your favorite moment?
I can’t say that I had a favorite moment, as the whole experience was great, but if I had to choose, I would say that networking across the conference with the new people that I met and being able to put faces to names I have only known through the computer.
Q: If we do Zencon next year, will you be there?
I will definitely be keen to attend next year. If the team announced dates and locations, I would book our flights in a heartbeat.
Jonghun
Last but not least is Jonghun, our Korean OG. He was a long-time community member and has done a fantastic job promoting Horizen in his country. Thanks to him, our Korean community is bustling and passionate about the project!
Q: What did you think about Zencon0?
It was such an honor for me to be able to attend this gathering of people interested in Horizen from all over the world. Also, I was excited to be able to announce the start of Horizen Korea in Korea for the first time at Zencon0. It was very beneficial because it was a place where people from various fields could share their thoughts on blockchain and Horizen. It was an opportunity for me to broaden my insight personally.
Q: What was your favorite moment?
I liked all the moments when I could see everyone in one space regardless of time zone. We communicated, but there were some delay issues due to the time zone, but the moment we communicated with everyone in one place was memorable. The discussion about Horizen Community is also very memorable.
Q: If we do a Zencon next year, will you be there?
Absolutely!
Community Spotlights at ZenCon
The community was in the spotlight throughout the conference, with three slots dedicated to the community. We even had the honor of sharing a panel with Lou Kerner to talk about the Horizen community’s presence in Asia, thanks largely to Guan and Jonghun, whom we introduced earlier.
Even our Marketing team OGs went on stage. Thank you, Lucy and Erica, for shining a light on this beautiful Horizen community.
To conclude, I would say that the Horizen community is terrific. Everything started in 2017 as a cryptocurrency. Five years later, Horizen is an entire blockchain ecosystem, soon to have an EVM-compatible sidechain. Meanwhile, these steps would have been for nothing if we hadn’t done them with the community. Together, we are building the future of blockchain.
If you want to become a Zenvangelist and support the community and Horizen ecosystem, apply today!
