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The Aptos Experience: New York is officially done and, no exaggeration, one for the books. Traveling outside of Asia for the first time (and enduring a 16-hour flight) was worth every second. New York is really amazing, and massive thanks to Jacy and Po On for making it all possible, inviting out 37 people from Farcaster and beyond.
The Aptos Experience is a two-day event showcasing the Aptos ecosystem, its projects, partners, and builders, all under one roof. It’s more than just a crypto conference; it’s where you get to see the vision of Aptos unfold IRL. Talks, new announcements, booths, and of course, the energy of meeting internet friends face to face, it’s all here.
I’m writing this so you can feel like you were there, or at least imagine being part of the chaos, the laughter, and the surreal moments of being surrounded by the future of web3.
I landed early to soak in New York as both a tourist and a wannabe local. Target runs, Trader Joe’s snacks, a Chipotle bowl, and a proper sidewalk hotdog, check. I devoured a Shake Shack burger, tried a Katz Philly Cheesesteak, and even saw the Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 Memorial. I rode the subway a million times, had pancakes and bacon with orange juice for breakfast, and yes, spotted a New York rat (a rite of passage, obviously). I even rubbed the Wall Street bull’s balls for luck. I hope I did it like a local.
Then came October 14, when there was a pre-event at Royal Palms Shuffleboard for the Aptos Experience. We got to hang out and chill before the main event, and I even made a short video showing what we did there. It was truly amazing to finally see people you’ve only met online. I finally got the chance to meet Jacy, Po On, Thedude, Aivan, Shanelle, Cait and Blake from Boys Club, and Bobby Thakkar of Propaganda. I didn’t get the chance to play shuffleboard, but the vibes were immaculate. Honestly, just being there and soaking it all in was more than enough.
Oh, and before that, I got the chance to visit the Aptos office, and it was pretty cool stepping inside a crypto headquarters and seeing firsthand where things actually move.
October 15 was the first day of the Aptos Experience, and it honestly didn’t disappoint. The venue was only a 10-minute walk from where we stayed, and the setup was really nice. Upon entering, we were greeted by a concierge who quickly found our names on the guest list. It was the kind of conference where there were a lot of people but you could still move freely without bumping into anyone. Once inside, we saw booths for projects like Hyperion, Aptos Labs, Decibel, Geomi, Merkle, Petra, Goblin, Santa, and many more.
As someone who spent most of their crypto life on Ethereum, stepping outside my comfort zone was a great experience. It felt like getting a first-class seat to everything being built beyond what I usually see on my feed. Talking to projects IRL instead of URL hits different, and I can now officially say I’m omnichain. There was a coffee booth where we could choose from different caffeinated drinks (I got matcha, obviously), an ice cream truck, and talks running all day in both the main stage and the Builders House.
We supported two people from Farcaster that day: Bobby Thakkar, who gave a talk on Good Tech and Bad Design about how bad UX kills adoption.
Laura Shin, who interviewed Aptos CEO Avery Ching.
The Farcaster crew showed up for sure. Earlier in the day, we also met more Farcaster people like Nounish Prof, Adrienne, Plantsnft, Jachian, and Haele, and more. Finally putting faces to PFPs we see online will never not be a good experience.
There was a booth where they took your photo and read your aura (we got auras now, people). There was also a massive merch booth that never ran out of stuff, customizable shirts with Aptos patches, scarves, bonnets, hoodies, tons of shirts, long sleeves, caps, pins, tote bags, and basically every crypto merch imaginable.
There was even a giant train setup we could “ride” en route to the Aptos Experience.
Me and Jacy played a classic arcade machine with just two buttons and a move button. Pure nostalgia. And of course, there was a walking mentalist who blew our minds and food trucks outside serving amazing food. A solid first day through and through.
After the day 1 of Aptos Experience, we headed to Barclays Center for an Aptos side event called Barclays Invitational. Honestly, I was so happy to go here as someone coming from a basketball-dominated country and honestly couldn’t believe I got to say that I played on the Barclays Center court.
There were tons of fun games, a pop-up basketball shooting booth, free-flowing Barclays Invitational merch, custom shirts, and a photo booth to get your rookie photo taken, plus great food and drinks. There was a three-point contest that I sadly didn’t win (we were in it for the vibes). Then came the knockout game where you had to shoot before your opponent did—this became part of Farcaster lore because 100 people joined and plantsnft came in second! Well, if Plants permits us to tell the full story, we will, but until then it’s a huge lore moment that only Plants can share. GG to him for coming in second place! There were also several 3v3 games, and people got serious about it. We saw different teams compete for the crown, and we came to support Michael, Avery, and a bunch of people from the Aptos team. They won one of the games in overtime with a game winner, a truly fitting end for a truly great day.
Day 2 of the Aptos Experience was just as exhilarating as Day 1. The talks we looked forward to most were Debbie Soon’s FUD to Fandom.
The Boys Club session on marketing, both attended by the Farcaster crew. We gotta support Farcasters, right? The energy stayed high throughout the day, and by nightfall, we were ready for the afterparty.
Special thanks to Jachian and Serendipity for showing us around Chinatown before heading to Chinese Tuxedo. I still think about that pancake from Golden Diner. The afterparty itself was a full-on celebration, with three packed floors of Chinese Tuxedo filled with laughter, music, and pure good vibes. It was an absolute banger way to end the Aptos Experience.
We’ve heard there will be more Aptos Experience events in the future, and we can’t wait to be there with you all again.
Aptos Rebranding: Aptos now positions itself as infrastructure for billions, powering global value transfer across payments, trading, and data, with 10x improved performance.
Aptos Foundation Investment: $2M seed round for RhunaIO, building stablecoin payment infrastructure for entertainment, ticketing, and rewards.
Aptos Tech Infrastructure Updates: Next-gen tech stack including Archon, Block-STM v2, encrypted mempool, and event-driven transactions.
Aptos Assembly: A 4-week intensive program for builders (applications still open!).
TAPT Standard: A new onchain authentication system enabling one-touch auth, signing, and transactions via NFC devices, perfect for devs, stores, and enterprises.
CTRL+MOVE DeFi Hackathon Results: From 900 applicants, Nexo, StrataFi, and Kizo emerged as winners.
Decibel Testnet: Coming this November.
Shelby Launch: Devnet is live, with Testnet launching soon.
Aptos x Privy: Aptos support is live on Privy.
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