When I first heard of Token2049, I did not realise it was the largest crypto event for the industry. I knew about ETHDenver, Consensus, and a bunch more that is based in the US and Europe. Since most of the projects are Western-based, it did not occur to me that an event in Asia would have much attention. Boy was I wrong and I was right glad of it!
Held at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore’s premier site for large-scale events, the conference attracted more than 20,000 attendees from all over the world. Just looking at the speakers listed on the website shows that this event is a top-tier gathering for crypto’s who’s who. This fact was amply displayed with the tickets. Early-bird tickets were $699 apiece, while the regular price crossed the $1000 mark. That’s not counting the special pass tickets which gave attendees the opportunity to hob-nob with the speakers in the speaker’s lounge.
I managed to grab the early-bird ticket on its last day and counted myself very lucky for that. It also helped that I had free accommodation I could count on, courtesy of family. If it weren’t for that, I doubt I would’ve made it to the conference.
Perhaps it wasn’t by coincidence that the conference was held during the same weekend as the F1 races. The result was skyrocketing hotel prices and a real threat of pushing a crowded city to its maximum level of tolerance.
The main conference itself lasted two days but there were about 800 side events taking place around that time, giving plenty for attendees to choose from. It was certainly the best place to network, promote, gain attention, and learn about what’s going on in the crypto world in a real-life setting.
It also made me realize how small the corner of crypto I occupy compared to the vastness of everything else that is going on. No longer is crypto a secret society only for the initiated, even if it still feels like it on a larger scale. Too much emphasis on that made me forget that the crypto world is still a really big place. Like Doctor Who’s phone booth, it’s larger inside than it is outside.
The Conference Itself
While the conference had allocated registration areas for attendees in terminals 2 - 5 at Changi airport, I arrived at 1, so I had to do registration on-site. Upon arriving at the entrance of the conference, the registration area had volunteers lined up in front of multiple terminals for checking-in. A QR code was emailed to attendees beforehand. All one had to do was show the QR code for scanning, proof of ID for name check, and a tag and wristband was provided. Both these items were irreplaceable.
To enter the conference area upstairs, one had to go through security/bag check. Once again, multiple rows were set up for efficient processing. I was pretty amazed by the number of staff/volunteers for this event. They really threw a lot of people into this!
I got there quite early so managed to grab some breakfast while surveying the area. That was when I unintentionally picked up the habit of checking out everyone’s badges to see who’s attending. I flipped mine backwards for privacy purposes, even though it only has my name on it.
Still too early for the opening event, I had a walk around the conference area. The majority of the booths and stages were held on two floors. Most of them were empty as the staff manning the booths had still yet to show up.
It was pretty fascinating and somewhat overwhelming, seeing the names on the booths. There were a mixture of known crypto projects with more unknown ones, like seeing a bunch of familiar faces of people I don’t know anything about mingled with strangers in a street party. In some ways, it’s like any trade fair/conference I’ve been to previously, regardless of the industry. Conferences are where people meet to get business and/or information and make connections. A crypto conference is no different.
The event started later than planned as I waited patiently at the main stage, sponsored by OKX, a crypto exchange that has been making some moves into the Web3 space with its own UI as a packaging over various DeFi products. Despite some misgivings about this giving people an incorrect impression of how crypto works, it is also a way to get them interested without having to know too much about the nuts and bolts of things, at least to begin with.
The energetic emcee did his best to pump up the temperature in the room and his efforts were rewarded to a certain degree. I noted down in the agenda the speakers / topics I’m interested to hear from. Arthur Hayes, Vitalik Buterin and Edward Snowden were top on my list, same as with most people, I reckon.
It was pretty exciting seeing them on stage in person. Even though their keynote speeches were short, it was impactful and they delivered well the message they had for the audience. Arthur Hayes brought our attention to the Fed rates and the Japanese carry trade (borrowing cheap yen to invest in high yield US products), and to watch out for the USD/JPY rate after what the Fed decides.
Another interesting speaker for me was Balaji Srinivasan, author of The Network State. His message was about technodemocracy. Basically, anyone can start their own political party online and voting done through the blockchain. There was a lot of emphasis on the fairness of the system and how to fund the projects (need to put some money backing your vote) which all sounds fine and dandy.
But what he failed to address, at least to me, was accountability. If we voted someone based on a particular platform and with some agenda that we agree with, what can we do if they didn’t deliver? Or at least make steps towards delivery? Can we rescind our vote for that person?
Edward Snowden, delivering his speech from some unknown location via video call, was a sobering one, reminding us of the possibility of mass surveillance in the coming years. Most of that could be taking place with every piece of convenient device we invite into our homes and lives (Reminds me of inviting vampires into your home). Self-censorship in speech could take on even more significance. It’s one thing choosing not to tell a fat person they are fat to their face. Yet that fine line between not being rude and not saying what’s really on your mind is what we really need to look out for.
Unlike most of the attendees here who came with a specific goal in mind, I had no agenda, which seems a bit like a waste because this would’ve been a good networking opportunity regardless. However, I chose to focus more on the discovery/learning aspects as I walked around each booth, marvelling at what was on offer for the full two days when I wasn’t in one of the halls listening to a speaker or dozing off in one of the beanbags provided on the side of the stage.
Here’s what I learnt in the two days I was there:
A number of booths claimed to be DePIN (Decentralised Physical Infrastructure Network) projects. For me, DePIN is like Filecoin (FIL) /STORJ, where people can “rent out” the space on their computers to store other people’s stuff, or Helium (HNT), which is offering network access without directly relying on telco providers. In other words, instead of one company building up a lot of infrastructure and selling that to customers, each one of us has the ability to get into this game with these DePIN projects. Some require a hardware component, like HNT needs you to buy a device.
There were also a similarly-equal number of booths linking blockchain and AI in some capacity. Many of these booths specialised in….
Bowlfuls of word salad were getting tossed in the air from each booth, some much more than others. This likely contributed to the snake-oil merchant vibe that was also quite present at the conference. A simple question that I asked around, “Where is the demand for this blockchain’s blockspace coming from?” helped me tell who knows / don’t know what they are talking about.
Using crypto for payments. Many Fintech-looking firms are getting into the “issue credit card that accepts crypto deposits converted to fiat for regular spending”. Not quite the same as depositing and spending crypto outright but it is a step in the direction.
A bewildering variety of services and products offered, from seemingly legit ones (many booths selling all sorts of hardware wallets) to grey area ones (offering tax shelter advice), up to the somewhat sketchy ones (Palau residence ID for sale). It wasn’t just about the blockchain projects but things that cater to the users.
Sooo much money being sloshed around, although not as much as when a bull run was happening…. still, there were booths offering all kinds of free snacks (gelato, popcorn, multiple barista stations), massage rooms, rejuvenation areas, mini-rock-climbing. And of course, the parties and drinks. How many of these booths would still be around next year is really anyone’s guess. The only certain thing is that the sloshing will continue regardless of market conditions. Projects rely very much on network effects for success and sloshing is a way to get a foot into that door.
The male/female ratio looked somewhat more normal than I’d expected. I was very heartened to see heaps of women participating in the space in various capacities. There were still booths that employed leggy models to walk around and hand out stuff to attendees. I guess that’s always going to stay. Fortunately, not too many of those around.
Token2049 is where news is created and important announcements made. The movers, shakers and true influencers are here. Any of the sessions with the speakers could have reverberating effects and provide enough podcast and interview fodder for months to come.
It is also an intense experience which would need quite a bit of time to parse and understand all the information gathered in this very short period of time. The issue of information overload is very real. Having the ability to discern what is and isn’t useful knowledge is a huge help and this can only be achieved through regular build-up throughout the year.
The crypto industry has broken through into the mainstream, starting with the ETFs. Tokenisation of real-world assets could be the next logical step after. While memecoins and NFTs will always have a place in degens’ hearts, it’s still the practicality that matters the most. How it can be a part of one’s everyday life. For me personally, that would be the payment rails part, being able to deposit crypto and use the funds in everyday spending.
Vitalik said it best at the conference:
