Ethereum (ETH) – As the novel coronavirus continues to spread around the world infecting celebrities and world leaders it should not surprise us that COVID-19 has entered the crypto space after two ill-advised conferences in early March; ETHLondon and Ethereum Community Conference in France.
Dozens of attendees have since reported testing positive for COVID-19 including developer and co-founder of Torus Labs Zhen Yu Yong and ex-Ethereum developer and programmer, Afri Schoedon.
The coronavirus started in Wuhan, China and has quickly spread around the world infecting a million plus and killing over 40,000 people so far. Zhen Yu Yong tweeted on March 10 that he was feeling ill.
I fell ill yesterday and have just been diagnosed with #COVID2019. Everybody who had close contact @EthCC_ or @ETHLondon with me should take extra precautions and/or get tested
— Zhen (@zenzhenyu) March 11, 2020
Yongs tweet was met with a huge outpouring of support from the cryptocurrency community. Yong was also quick to thank everyone that showed concern for his health including ETH co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Yong has been recovering in Singapore where he is in isolation. According to Yong, doctors who treated him speculated that he must have contacted the deadly disease while he was in either the US, France or the Uk. Yong issued the following warning on twitter:
Everyone who had close contact at the EthCC or ETHLONDON with me should take extra precautions and/or get tested. My symptoms turned up the night before last and in general, they are; fever, breathlessness, cough, and a running nose – although you don’t have to have all of them to have it.”
Ex-Ethereum developer and programmer, Afri Schoedon also tested positive for the coronavirus announcing his diagnoses on twitter.
https://twitter.com/a4fri/status/1238494329288691715
Besides the two developers, dozens of fans who attended either the ETHLondon or Ethereum Community Conference in France have also tested positive for coronavirus. One anonymous attendee in her 20s who tested positive said there weren’t many precautionary measures at the event in Paris. She stated:
“There were a few people with masks and hand sanitizer, but not many. Most of the EthCC attendees were young and still thinking the virus wouldn’t affect them. The one thing they don’t tell you about is it basically makes it so you’re not able to breathe … it basically feels like you are drowning. I’m really surprised that EthCC wasn’t canceled and the whole thing held virtually. … I think it should have been completely virtual.”
More cancelations:
Consensys 2020 is scheduled to take place on May 13, 2020 and if the coronavirus continues to spread as it has shown it will this event will likely be cancelled too. ConsenSys Labs investor Min Teo tweeted that anyone who attended the conference (referencing the ETHLondon and Ethereum Community Conferences), regardless of symptoms, should self-quarantine.
For years crypto enthusiasts have stated that virtual currencies will serve as a ‘hedge’ if the financial markets were to collapse. However, this assumption has been thoroughly debunked as btc followed the collapse along with the rest of the markets. In a tweet, Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan said of Bitcoin: “At this point in time, Bitcoin is trading very much inline with the stock markets and generally behaving like a risk-asset. Bitcoin is often used as a hedge against inflation, governments, and central banks. As coronavirus has yet to affect those things, there’s little reason to see it as a safe haven for now.”