#RWA Conference

[carlaswafford]

Newsletter: Author Carla Swafford - Excerpt

Reminder for the readers who have bought Jake: A Southern Crime Family Novel, in the back is an unedited excerpt of Sen (from his POV), the second book in the series. But I decided to offer another excerpt (from Tessa’s POV) in celebration of it being completely edited. Estimated release date is November 25, 2025. A little info before the excerpt, Tessa Quinn is deaf and uses American Sign…

[mariannedonley]

The Second Half of the Year Has Begun–Already!

I’ve had a fun few weeks–including my usual writing. Plus, I heard that the Dog Writers Association of America, of which I’m a member, was looking for humorous articles for their upcoming issue of RUFF DRAFTS, their publication. . .

I’ve had a fun few weeks–including my usual writing. Plus, I heard that the Dog Writers Association of America, of which I’m a member, was looking for humorous articles for their upcoming issue of RUFF DRAFTS, their publication, so I of course had to submit a short article about how my puppy keeps me from concentrating on my writing by insisting that I play fetch with her while I’m sitting at…

[ryanlanz]

Three Steps to Prioritizing Your Writing

When I sat down to write this blog entry, it was going to have a different title. I started listing all the reasons why it’s been nine months since my last post, why I failed to cling on to the enthusiastic optimism I found at last year’s RWA conference and why I have not achieved even a tiny portion of the goals I set for myself. Continue reading Three Steps to Prioritizing Your Writing

[brendaonao3]

The RWA filing for bankruptcy is the best news I've had all month (although fuck them entirely for blaming it on Courtney Milan and DEI, and not their own blatant and long-standing racism and everyone and their mother - including me - leaving the organization because of it)

I mean, I'm cackling, but I'm also really sad. The RWA writers' group I was part of is directly responsible for me moving to LA and my film/TV career. They made me a better and stronger writer. Some of the friends I made at RWA conferences and events and groups are still some of my closest, to this day.

But fuck the leadership and fuck their lack of urgency and fuck them a million times over for marginalizing women of color and sidelining their books and careers. This is long overdue.

Hopefully a newer and better and more inclusive organization can rise from the ashes.

[theseratio]

Join @olingataeed to discuss #RWA #ESG project 10,000 #coffee acres Asili Estates and 10,000 Bean You cafes, at Digital and #Crypto Funds exclusive conf on 26 Nov on Sunborn Yacht moored in Gibraltar, run by Informa Connect https://informaconnect.com/gibraltar-digital-and-crypto-funds-conference/speakers/olinga-taeed/ #ideologyincode #seed2urheart

[wenix-online-conference]

The Future of DeFi: Trends and Challenges in 2025

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has rapidly evolved, offering an alternative to traditional banking by removing intermediaries and providing global access to financial services. As 2025 unfolds, DeFi is experiencing both significant advancements and ongoing hurdles. What can we expect in the coming years?

Key Trends in DeFi for 2025

Institutional Participation and Regulatory Developments

Regulatory frameworks around DeFi are becoming clearer, allowing institutional investors to participate with greater confidence. Hybrid models that integrate compliance measures while preserving decentralization are emerging, paving the way for broader adoption.

Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization Gains Momentum

Blockchain technology is now being used to tokenize physical assets like real estate and commodities. This innovation enhances liquidity, democratizes investment opportunities, and brings real-world value into the DeFi space.

Cross-Chain Integration for a Seamless Experience

Early DeFi applications were often confined to a single blockchain, limiting their functionality. In 2025, cross-chain compatibility is a priority, enabling seamless transactions and liquidity sharing across multiple networks. This shift is making DeFi ecosystems more efficient and user-friendly.

AI-Enhanced Smart Contracts

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing DeFi by optimizing risk assessment, automating investment strategies, and improving security. AI-driven monitoring systems are helping identify and mitigate fraudulent activities in real time.

Smarter Yield Strategies and Sustainable Staking

Yield farming and staking remain essential parts of DeFi, but new mechanisms such as liquid staking and dynamic APY models are improving the sustainability and reliability of passive income strategies.

Challenges DeFi Faces in 2025

Compliance and Regulatory Pressures

While regulations provide legitimacy, they also pose challenges. KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) requirements could conflict with DeFi’s decentralized nature. Navigating these regulations while maintaining accessibility remains a key issue.

Security Vulnerabilities

Despite advancements, security remains a pressing concern. Smart contract exploits and cyberattacks have become more sophisticated, prompting developers to focus on stronger auditing and real-time threat detection.

Scalability and Cost Efficiency

Ethereum’s Layer 2 solutions have improved transaction speeds, but high gas fees continue to be a barrier. Alternative Layer 1 blockchains and enhanced rollup technologies are addressing these issues, but achieving a balance between decentralization and efficiency is still a challenge.

Simplifying User Experience

Despite its potential, DeFi can still be complex for newcomers. Improving user interfaces, offering intuitive tools, and expanding educational resources are critical for making DeFi more accessible to a mainstream audience.

Looking Ahead

As DeFi matures, its future will be shaped by a combination of innovation, regulation, and enhanced security measures. The integration of AI, cross-chain functionality, and institutional participation could lead to a more scalable and resilient financial ecosystem.

Those interested in staying informed about the latest DeFi developments will have the opportunity to gain insights at Wenix Online Conference 2025, where industry experts will explore the evolving landscape of decentralized finance.

Wenix Online Conference 2025

[unchainedsummit]

Unchained Summit Dubai 2025: The Web 3.0 Revolution Begins Here

The future of the internet is being rewritten, and Dubai is set to host its most pivotal chapter yet. The unchainedsummitdubai crypto event—scheduled for April 28–29, 2025—promises to unite the brightest minds in Web 3.0, blockchain, AI, and decentralized innovation under one roof. This isn’t just another conference; it’s a catalyst for global transformation. Here’s why you can’t afford to miss it.

Why Unchained Summit Dubai?

Dubai has emerged as a global hub for blockchain and Web 3.0 innovation, and the unchainedsummitdubai crypto event solidifies its position at the forefront of this revolution. With sessions spanning DeFi, AI integration, real-world asset tokenization (RWA), regulatory frameworks, and Web 3.0 gaming, the summit is a melting pot of ideas, partnerships, and disruptive technologies.

Key Highlights

Visionary Speakers: Learn from pioneers like Yat Siu (Animoca Brands), Roger Bayston (Franklin Templeton), and Kostas Chalkias (Sui Blockchain). These industry titans will share insights on scaling Web 3.0 infrastructure, institutional crypto adoption, and the future of decentralized AI.

Action-Packed Agenda: Dive into panel discussions on trending topics like meme coins, DePIN networks, and crypto ETFs. Participate in pitch competitions to secure funding or join investor meetups to forge strategic alliances.

Networking Redefined: Connect with 1,000+ attendees, including founders, investors, regulators, and developers. Exclusive VIP lounges and an electrifying afterparty ensure opportunities to collaborate linger long after the sessions end.

Dubai’s Ecosystem Advantage: Leverage Dubai’s progressive regulatory environment and thriving tech scene to accelerate your projects.

Who Should Attend?

Startups & Builders: Pitch to global investors and gain exposure.

Enterprises: Explore blockchain integrations and digital transformation strategies.

Investors: Discover high-potential projects in DeFi, gaming, and AI.

Developers: Master cutting-edge tools for building scalable Web 3.0 solutions.

Join the Movement

The unchainedsummitdubai crypto event isn’t just about learning—it’s about doing. Whether you’re launching a tokenized asset, fine-tuning a decentralized app, or navigating regulatory hurdles, this summit equips you with the knowledge and network to thrive.

Secure your ticket today and be part of the conversation shaping the next decade of the internet.

[marisacleveland]

August New Year

The first day of a brand new year for me… RWA’s Conference ended yesterday. I am full of motivation, excitement, and… fear. My husband encouraged me to embrace my dream, an agent decided to take a leap of faith in me, and my critique partner already finished more than several manuscripts. So starting right now, I will indulge in my wildest fantasies, superglue my fingers to the keyboard, and…

[maniour]

Opinion: Bitcoin May Become "Mainstream" Currency Under Trump Administration

Jonathan Steinberg, CEO of WisdomTree, believes that Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto assets are on the brink of "mainstream" adoption and will achieve this status in the coming years.

In a July 29 interview with CNBC, Steinberg expressed his belief, citing regulatory clarity, the emergence of publicly traded crypto asset funds, and the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) as major catalysts for this trend.

Steinberg emphasized the significance of former U.S. President Trump's speech at the BTC 2024 conference on July 27 and the long-term chain reaction it will trigger for the industry.

According to the WisdomTree CEO, Trump's ambitious promise to clarify regulations for crypto and digital assets marks a pivotal moment for the industry.

Steinberg added, "This regulatory framework will have a profoundly positive impact on crypto assets and blockchain finance as an asset class."

"BTC has been the best-performing asset class over the past 15 years and will continue to outperform the market. The recognition of BTC by regulators will further drive its adoption."

Steinberg stated, "BTC is the natural evolution of currency, much like smartphones replacing landlines. Digital assets will eventually become the mainstream form of transactions."

"In the realm of currency, we had gold, then paper money. Now we are moving towards programmable money, which will fundamentally transform financial services."

Steinberg also highlighted that discussions around crypto assets are expanding from core assets like BTC and Ethereum to the broader tokenization of real-world assets.

He explained, "Crypto assets are an asset class, followed by the broader tokenization of all real-world assets. We are seeing everything converge."

Steinberg noted that traditional financial institutions have begun to enter the RWA market, citing examples such as BlackRock's BUIDL and Franklin Templeton's FOBXX.

Meanwhile, Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs is set to launch three new tokenized products for institutional clients later this year.

According to McKinsey & Company, the RWA market is projected to reach $2 trillion by 2030. However, the company also noted that the industry faces a "cold start" problem, mainly due to limited liquidity and transaction volume.

[pat7garcia]

WEP Gathering February 2024

Image by Olga Godim January was a busy month for me. I decided to take a Flash Fiction course and also had the opportunity to attend an online conference for Self-Publishing given by the RWA (Romance Writers of America), which I enjoyed tremendously.  Now, I am playing catch-up, but that is okay.  I look forward to what 2024 will bring.  Take care. Shalom shalom Pat Garcia

[carlaswafford]

Newsletter: Author Carla Swafford - Conferences

On and off over the years, I’ve attended RWA or RWA chapter conferences. And this year, I’m going to the Romance Writers of America’s conference in July. It’s being held at the Crowne Plaza in Niagara Falls, Ontario. If you’re planning to attend the conference or the book signing, be sure to look for me and say hi. In 2001, merely as a tourist, I visited Niagara Falls with a friend and enjoyed…

[ailtrahq]

On September 29, Boutique crypto research firm Reflexivity Research — via a series of posts published on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) — provided an in-depth analysis of the crypto market’s performance over the past month. The thread, powered by VeloData, covers various aspects such as centralized exchange volumes, implied volatility, open interest, and more. According to Reflexivity Research, centralized crypto exchange volumes have been consistently dropping. This trend mirrors the decline in on-chain volumes, liquidity, and even social and Google search trends related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The thread also mentions that Deribit’s implied volatility index has been on a downward trend. Reflexivity Research interprets this as a sign of reduced expectations for significant price movements in the crypto market for the foreseeable future. Reflexivity Research points out that after the multibillion-dollar open interest wipeout that occurred last month, futures open interest has continued to decline. This trend is evident in the chart of Bitcoin’s USD-denominated open interest. The open interest for Bitcoin CME futures also shows a similar declining trend, as per the thread by Reflexivity Research. In the thread, Reflexivity Research recalls that in late Q2 and early Q3, a significant driver of Bitcoin’s price action was trading during US hours. However, this US-driven demand for Bitcoin has now clearly diminished, falling below the cumulative return of APAC trading hours over the last six months. Reflexivity Research notes that the GBTC discount to net asset value (NAV) has slightly rolled over in the past month but has closed in significantly year-to-date. The current GBTC discount to NAV stands at 23%. The thread mentions that the SEC has just 15 days left to decide how to respond to Grayscale’s win regarding their initial denial to convert to a spot ETF. Reflexivity Research suggests that this is a crucial point to monitor for clues about the SEC’s upcoming decision. Outside of leading digital assets, Reflexivity Research observes some pockets of idiosyncratic bidding for select mid-large cap altcoins. Maker (MKR) is one such example, driven by the RWA narrative in the current higher-for-longer interest rate environment. Another standout mentioned by Reflexivity Research is Chainlink (LINK), which has outperformed most large caps over the last week. This performance is likely due to the success of CCIP and the upcoming SmartCon conference on 2 October. Reflexivity Research sums up that September was another lackluster month for the crypto markets, characterized by liquidity, volatility, open interest, and volume declines. However, they note that there have been pockets of idiosyncratic outperformers for savvy market participants. September has been yet another lackluster 30-day stretch for the crypto markets.Let’s take a look under the hood at if/how market structure has shifted during September, powered by @VeloData:[THREAD] pic.twitter.com/gIbPZeWRp8— Reflexivity Research (@reflexivityres) September 29, 2023 Featured Image via Midjourney

[ryanlanz]

Three Steps to Prioritizing Your Writing

When I sat down to write this blog entry, it was going to have a different title. I started listing all the reasons why it’s been nine months since my last post, why I failed to cling on to the enthusiastic optimism I found at last year’s RWA conference and why I have not achieved even a tiny portion of the goals I set for myself. Continue reading Untitled

[spikewriter]

Buckle up, folks, because I'm going to bitch about Diana Gabaldon for a moment. I've watched this series of book and how it's been marketed--by both her publisher and her-- since I first got online back in 1991, shortly after Outlander was published.

Yes, I probably shouldn't bitch about a fellow author, but Gabaldon's shown herself fairly immune to criticism and all of this has to do with how the book is officially marketed, the author's comments as to what genre it is, what many readers think it is, and how one of the largest genres in the business is leveraged for that sweet, sweet romance money and held in contempt at the same time.

I first encountered Outlander when I signed onto the Compuserve Romance Novel forum. The forum was almost exclusively focused on this book. Gabaldon was a presence on the forum, and interacted with folks. It felt, in some ways, as if you really could have called it the Outlander Forum at that point. A hardcover of Dragonfly in Amber was in the goodie back for my first RWA conference in 1992. So, it's a romance, right?

Some quotes from the article:

A romance is a courtship story. In the 19th century, the definition of the romance genre was an escape from daily life that included adventure and love and battle. But in the 20th century, that term changed, and now it’s deemed only a love story, specifically a courtship story. When I first wrote the books, we sold them to an editor who just loved the story. And then the publisher asked her, “Well, now what kind of book is it? We have to think about marketing.” And she stared at it and said, “Well, I really couldn’t tell you. There’s a wonderful love story …” And they’re like, “Oh! That’s romance. Bosoms. Fabio.” And she said, “Oh no, it’s also got time travel and it’s a historical novel …” The historical aspect is accurate, but you don’t want to market it like a Ken Follett novel. So the publisher sat on the book for 18 months. They were afraid that if they put it out as general fiction, no one would be able to understand what it is, and it would fall flat. So they very nearly came close to actually giving me back the book and canceling the contract. I didn’t learn this until much later, but they mostly didn’t cancel because my editor said she would quit if they did. [Laughs.] Finally, my agent called and he said, “Well, they finally decided what to do with your book! The hardcover will go out with the other hardcover fiction, but they’d like to try to sell the paperback as romance.” I had two objections. If you call it a romance, it will never be reviewed by the New York Times or any other respectable literary venue. And that’s okay. I can live with that. But more importantly, you will cut off the entire male half of my readership. They would say, “Oh, well, it’s probably not for me.” So my agent said, “Well, we could insist that they call it science-fiction or fantasy, because of the weird elements, but bear in mind that a bestseller in sci-fi is 50,000 in paperback. A bestseller in romance is 500,000.” And I said, “Well, you’ve got a point!”

:: Clears throat :: So, not a romance, but, hey, that romance money is nice. Remember, she was active on the Compuserve ROMANCE Forum.

So you agreed to sell the paperback as romance? Provided we had dignified covers — we wouldn’t have bosoms and Fabio and things like that — and also that if the books became visible, they would reposition them as fiction. Which they did. When Voyager, the third book of the series, hit the New York Times bestseller list, they very honorably redesigned the covers and started calling them fiction. Barnes & Noble, however, wasn’t having any of this. They just said, “The first book you wrote was called romance, so everything you write for the rest of your life is a romance as far as we’re concerned.” It took me eight years to disabuse them of this notion, but I finally won.  Whenever you’re dealing with something that’s difficult to describe, that you can’t get across to someone in a sound bite, it sounds like the normal default is to pick what’s easiest, and in the case of fiction written by women, fiction involving women, fiction involving any sort of relationship, the word that comes to mind is romance. It’s canned stuff: “It’s steamy, it’s stirring, it’s sizzling, it’s a bodice ripper.” And as I say, in romance novels, those are courtship stories. Once the couple is married, that’s the end of the story. And in our story, that means we would have stopped at episode seven.

Now, I would argue romance is at the heart of Outlander. With all the other crap that goes on, the core is the love story between Jamie and Claire. If that wasn't there, I don't readers would put up with a number of things. But that these two come from different worlds, different times, and keep fighting as hard as they can to be together despite everything that the world throws at them is amazing. I think Gabaldon's wrong, that a couple being married is not necessarily the end of the love story. Okay, back in 1991, the convention was that way, but even then there were books where the love story continued after the wedding, especially with historical.

But, as you can see, she doesn't want it classed as a romance. The first book is under three categories on Amazon: Time-Travel Romance (which seems absolutely appropriate), Historical Fantasy, and Romantic Fantasy. Guess which category has the highest ranking? Right. Time-Travel Romance. Where is it located in a bookstore? Romance. Barnes & Noble? Romance. In fact, the "Note From Your Bookseller" calls it a romance within the first five words.

So I agree anyone who picks up these books and is surprised that there is romance and sex hasn't been paying attention to the cultural zeitgeist around the series. But if you were to only read the blurb on Amazon, and not scroll all the way down to the categories, one could get the impression this was a historical novel and the romance wasn't the focus. (The Kindle version of Outlander does quote a review that mentions sex and romance; this is not on any of the other formats.)

So that's my beef. Yes, it's foolish to complain about a book that is largely regarded as a romance because you didn't bother to look at the reviews or comments. But it's disheartening to see the publisher and the author try to play both sides because romance is, well, Fabio, but, boy does it sell.

If I ever need a perfect bookish example of “Dead Dove — Do Not Eat,” it’s gonna be the people who complain that Outlander is filled with sex and romance.

Yes. People complain that a historical romance novel has too much romance in it. Because apparently they couldn’t be arsed to find out anything about the book they were reading before they started reading it.

[caridadpineiro]

#ThrowbackThursday – RWA National Conference at Disneyworld Last year's RWA conference was so much fun on so many levels. Great workshops, wonderful book signings and most of all, getting to spend time with both old friends and new ones!